As the world is reshaped by the AI industry while trying to stave off the worst effects of climate change, corporations have to strike a balance between growth and environmental and social stewardship. TIME and Statista have published the third annual ranking of World’s Best Companies in Sustainable Growth, identifying 500 companies that demonstrate outstanding performance in sustainable development while maintaining strong financial health. The ranking accounts for revenue growth, financial stability, and environmental impact. Only companies transparently disclosing their environmental data are considered for inclusion in the ranking.
Methodology: How TIME and Statista chose the World’s Best Companies in Sustainable Growth
Compared to last year’s list, in the top ten, several companies improved their rankings, and there were some new names appearing on the list as well. Nvidia, a company at the epicenter of AI’s buildup, climbed from no.6 last year to lead this year’s list. Its revenues across its various business platforms like data centers, hyperscale, AI cloud, and edge computing have continued to grow from 2025, with a 106% year over year growth, as reported in its 2027 Q2 earnings, driven by the Blackwell Ultra infrastructure introduced over the last few years. “We’re the only company in the world that creates and builds, offers an entire AI factory platform, a full-stack system. And customers can still mix and match,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said on an earnings call in August. “Most companies just don’t have the skills to do that or desire to do that. And so, there’s an entire part of the market that we experience growth. There’s sovereign AI, there are regional AIs, there are neoclouds, there are AI start-ups, there are enterprises – which represents about half of our business, and that’s growing 100% a year.” (The data for this year’s list does not account for Nvidia’s recent stock dip following the announcement of an investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese spy.)
On the sustainable development side, Nvidia has partnered with industries like healthcare, education, weather monitoring and more to improve and expand services and accelerate innovation. Related discussion around grid demands of AI, Nvidia stated in its 2026 sustainability report that it is working on, for example, power-flexible AI factories that can increase capacity while reducing stress on the grid, especially during peak times. It is also working on designing increasingly energy efficient products including chips. In addition to using creative ways to capture and reuse water on its various campuses, Nvidia stated that it’s deploying closed-loop liquid cooling across its AI factories and leased data centers where applicable. The design of their cooling system “can significantly reduce or eliminate water use for cooling compared to traditional evaporative systems.” Additionally, Nvidia supports industry-wide efforts to validate the source of minerals used in its products with the goal to use “only conflict-free gold, tantalum, tungsten, and tin (3TG).” The company reported that it has removed noncompliant 3TG smelters and refiners from its supply chain to help meet this goal.
E.L.F. Beauty, no. 2 this year, up from no. 13, had a strong-performance year across its portfolio, including with the brand Rhode, which it acquired last year, and Naturium. In a second quarter earnings report in November, its net sales this past March to end of September are up 51% compared to the same period last year. “This marks our 31st consecutive quarter of net sales growth. That is almost eight continuous years of growth. We are one of only six public consumer companies out of 516 that has grown for 31 straight quarters and averaged at least 20% net sales growth per quarter,” CEO Tarang Amin said in the earnings call. “Rhode continues to break records with every launch, including most recently in Sephora Europe, marking the biggest launch in Sephora’s history.”
E.L.F has also leveled up from a C to a B in its CDP climate score during the second year of reporting due to getting more suppliers to use renewable energy, using lower carbon logistics such as hydrogen trucks for shorter delivery on the West Coast of the U.S., and designing packaging with recycling in mind as well as sourcing “smarter materials like FSC-certified paper and wood, and post-consumer recycled and bio-based resins.”
Four international companies in the list’s top ten are new: France-based management consulting firm Wavestone (no. 5), Sweden-based helmet maker Mips (no. 6), Taiwan-based integrated circuit designer Aspeed Technology (no. 7) which provides remote server management chip products, and the U.K.-based real estate company LondonMetric Property (no. 9).
See the full list of the World’s Best Companies in Sustainable Growth below:
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