Recognizing corporate leadership

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking began as a way to assess the largest publicly-traded companies in the United States based on their non-financial disclosures and how they impact communities, workers and the environment worldwide.

The 100 Best Corporate Citizens now serves as a valuable benchmark for sustainability performance and transparency in the Russell 1000 Index. Since its launch in 1999, the ranking has become increasingly competitive as companies strengthen their disclosures and elevate their sustainability performance. At the same time, 3BL has continuously modernized the ranking methodology to keep pace with global regulations, industry norms and stakeholder expectations.

Methodology

3BL develops the 100 Best Corporate Citizens ranking in partnership with ISS-Corporate, the data and analytics arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. Once 3BL establishes its methodology, ISS-Corporate processes the ranking using data researched by ISS STOXX.

All data and information considered for the ranking must be publicly available through corporate websites, financial filings, policies, reports and reputable third-party sources such as GRI, SBTi and the U.N. Global Compact. While there is no formal outreach, companies can validate key data and information through an online data verification portal accessible at no cost to all companies in scope for the research. Russell 1000 companies can email contactus@iss-corporate.com to request online portal access and add users.

The 2026 methodology considers 221 factors across seven pillars — Climate Change; Employees; Environment; Governance; Human Rights; Stakeholders and Society; and Overall Performance — to measure performance and transparency across the Russell 1,000.

Please see the 2026 Methodology for a list of individual factors and an explanation of year-over-year changes. We also welcome feedback on the methodology so we can improve year over year — please use the contact form.

2026 takeaways

Hewlett Packard Enterprise ranked as the top Corporate Citizen of 2026, with Owens Corning, Trane Technologies, HP and Graphic Packaging Holding Company rounding out the top five.

• Five companies — Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Owens Corning, HP, Graphic Packaging and Ingersoll Rand — retained their place in the top 10 year over year, making way for new top-10 entrants Trane Technologies, International Flavors & Fragrances, Ecolab, Cisco Systems and Xylem.
• Of the 25 industries within the Russell 1000, companies from 21 appeared in the 100 Best (see FAQs for industry details).
• VF Corp. (No. 60 overall) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (No. 1 overall) were awarded a "Green Flag" bonus by our partners at InfluenceMap for using their influence and lobbying efforts in support of Paris Climate Agreement-aligned policies.
• Recognition for the Technology Hardware & Equipment industry continues to increase year over year. Eleven Technology Hardware companies placed in the top 100 in 2026 — including No. 1 Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP (No. 4) and Cisco Systems (No. 8).
• Four industries — Transportation, Insurance, Telecommunication Services and Media and Entertainment — have no companies in the top 100 in 2026.
• Only six companies have made the ranking each year since 2009: Cisco Systems, Colgate-Palmolive, General Mills, Intel, PepsiCo and Weyerhaeuser. We applaud these leaders for their consistency and commitment to the transparent disclosure of sustainability data and information.