– The first corporation to top the Corporate Knights Global 100 twice
– 14th consecutive year in the Global 100, 7th time in the top ten
– Strong results in key ESG rankings for 2024
Rueil-Malmaison (France), January 22, 2025 – Schneider Electric, a leader in digital transformation in energy management and automation, has been named the World’s Most Sustainable Corporation 2025 by Corporate Knights and is the only company to be ranked first twice in the Global 100. For the first time, Schneider Electric topped this annual list of the most sustainable public companies with annual revenues over $1 billion in 2021. This unique achievement underscores the company’s long-term commitment to sustainability and its integrated approach to achieving the best environmental, social and governance (ESG) results.
“For many years, sustainability has been at the heart of Schneider Electric’s business. For IMPACT, it is not just a corporate goal, but a driving force that drives our business decisions and inspires our employees,” said Olivier Blum, CEO of Schneider Electric. “Being named the second Most Sustainable Corporation in the World by Corporate Knights, along with other key ESG recognitions, is a testament to the meaningful, long-term positive impact we are making.”
This year’s top spot for Schneider Electric reflects its leadership in sustainability, including its gender balance among executives and board members, as well as its innovative solutions for energy efficiency, electrification and decarbonization. Schneider also received high marks for its efforts to decouple energy consumption and carbon emissions from business growth, as well as for its significant investment in sustainable research and development. Corporate Knights also noted the correlation between the executive compensation system and the company’s sustainability goals and ESG ratings.
The annual Global 100 index, compiled by Canadian media and research company Corporate Knights, is based on openly available quantitative data on resource use, employee and supplier policies, sustainable revenues and investments. The Global 100 methodology uses both fixed and variable key performance indicators to compare companies among their competitors. Schneider Electric has been included in the Global 100 for the 14th consecutive year and the 7th time in the top 10, a record for its electrical equipment industry.
The awarding of this title in 2021 and 2025 coincides with the beginning and end of the five-year period of the latest Schneider Sustainability Impact program. This program measures the company’s progress against a number of key ESG goals set for the end of 2025 and helps maintain a sustained focus on achieving both global and local ambitions.
Schneider ‘s leadership in sustainability is also recognized by recent high scores from leading ESG rating providers:
See also:
– Schneider Electric latest sustainability performance reports
– Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) FAQ
About Schneider Electric
Schneider’s purpose is to create impact by empowering everyone to make the most of our energy and resources, ensuring progress and sustainability for all. We call it Life Is On.
Our mission is to be a trusted partner in sustainability and efficiency.
We are a global technology leader, bringing world-class expertise in electrification, automation and digitalization to smart industries, reliable infrastructure, future-proof data centers, smart buildings and intuitive homes. Drawing on our deep industry expertise, we provide integrated end-to-end AI-enabled industrial IoT solutions with connected products, automation, software and services, creating digital twins to drive profitable growth for our customers.
Ourmain resource is our 150,000 employees and more than a million partners operating in more than 100 countries to ensure proximity to our customers and stakeholders. We support diversity and inclusion in everything we do, guided by our meaningful purpose of a sustainable future for all.
The total dividends paid by the world’s largest companies by the end of 2024 amounted to $1.747 trillion, according to a report by UK-based Janus Henderson Investors.
This is a record and 6.6% higher than the previous year.
In 17 of the 49 countries whose representatives were taken into account in the study, dividend payments reached historic highs. These include the US, Japan, France and China.
The leaders in the amount of payments were Microsoft Corp., Exxon Mobil, HSBC, Apple Inc., China Construction Bank Corp., PetroChina Co., China Mobile, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Chevron Corp. and Johnson & Johnson, whose dividends totaled $145.9 billion (or 8.4% of the total). Next came Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Verizon Communications, Abbvie, Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras), BHP, Broadcom, Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., Home Depot Inc. and Toyota Motor – their payouts totaled $101.7 billion.
Companies such as Meta, Alphabet Inc. and Alibaba declared their first-ever dividends last year.
About 88% of companies increased their payouts or kept them the same.
American companies increased dividends by 8.7% (up to $651.6 billion), Japanese companies – by 15.5% (up to $86 billion), European companies excluding Great Britain – by 5.6% (up to $313 billion), representatives of the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan – by 2% (up to $163.5 billion).
In the fourth quarter, the world’s leading companies paid $371.7 billion in dividends, which is 7.3% higher than in the same period in 2023.
According to Janus Henderson’s forecast, by the end of 2025, the total amount of dividends paid globally will grow by 5.1% to $1.83 trillion, i.e. will once again renew the record.
Janus Henderson’s quarterly study, which analyzes global trends in dividend payments, takes into account data from 1.2 thousand of the world’s largest companies by market value. It has been conducted since 2009.
In his seven years as Bank of England governor, Carney was charming and self-confident but had a volcanic temper
Smart, smooth, tough and a liberal globalist to the ends of his fingertips. That was how Mark Carney came across in his near seven-year stint as governor of the Bank of England. Judging by how he ran the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street, Donald Trump should not expect too much flattery from Canada’s new prime minister.
Quite the opposite, in fact. From the moment he took over as governor from Mervyn King in 2013, it was clear Carney considered himself to be the smartest man in the room and wanted to make sure everybody knew it. He was not a man to suffer fools gladly, so the scene is set for a mighty clash of egos when prime minister meets president.
Carney arrived in the UK with a reputation as the rock star central banker and was quite the contrast with his predecessor King. Where previous governors had avoided the limelight, Carney quickly became something of a celebrity. That was not really for what he did but for how he looked.
The fashion pages analysed the man bag he turned up with at his first big speech at the University of Nottingham. He was photographed at a music festival. He seemed cosmopolitan and glamorous: the George Clooney lookalike who could wax lyrical not just about quantitative easing but about which indie bands he was listening to.
When Carney was appointed by the then chancellor, George Osborne, it was pre-Brexit, pre-Trump, pre-Covid and pre-Ukraine war. A liberal globaliser, Barack Obama, was president of the US, and a liberal globaliser, David Cameron, was prime minister of the UK. Times have changed.
In 2025, liberal globalisers are far thinner on the ground and those that remain now talk the language of populists. The Carney I knew was a strong believer in open markets and free trade. By instinct, he was – and presumably still is – opposed to protectionism. There is no small irony in the fact that liberal globalisers are now being forced to confront the reality of the world they helped to create.
Osborne had to fight hard to secure Carney’s services. When he rejected the financial package on offer to him as governor, Osborne made it more generous. When Carney said he didn’t fancy a full eight-year stint, it was cut to five. But Osborne, who had vastly increased the powers of the Bank of England after the global financial crisis of 2008, was determined to get his man. In the newly beefed-up Bank, Carney was responsible both for monetary policy – which primarily involves setting interest rates – and financial stability. In the end, his term was extended and he only left the Bank in March 2020, just as the UK economy was facing its Covid lockdown.
Carney was intellectually self-confident and worked ferociously hard, but had a central banker’s caution when it came to public statements. His answers to questions often went on for several minutes, making them pretty much unquotable, as I found out the first time I interviewed him. Given a 30-minute slot, I realised after 25 minutes that he had said nothing that would remotely make a news story. The new governor’s views about the UK housing market eventually did the trick in the nick of time.
The verbal obfuscation was quite deliberate and Carney could deliver a crisp soundbite when he thought the moment warranted it. The classic example of that came on the morning of 24 June 2016 – the day after the UK’s Brexit referendum. Britain had voted to leave the EU, Cameron had announced he was stepping down as prime minister, and the pound was in freefall.
Carney thought Brexit a bad idea but knew that at that moment the markets needed reassurance. Standing behind a lectern at the Bank of England, he duly provided it. Showing he can keep a calm head in a crisis should stand him in good stead in his new job.
If he chose to be, Carney could be charming. Once he stepped down as governor he would find the time to chat at events such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. Sometimes this was about his new role, seeking private sector financial backing to combat global heating. But the last time we spoke, Carney was railing against the points deduction imposed on Everton by the Premier League. Canada’s new prime minister has family connections to Merseyside and is a diehard blue.
There was another side to Carney’s character. Journalists sometimes caught a glimpse of his volcanic temper and Bank staff were wary of getting on the wrong side of him. As a governor he was respected but not especially liked.
Larry Elliott was economics editor of the Guardian from 1996 to 2024
PJSC Insurance Company InterExpress (Kyiv) in 2024 collected insurance payments in the amount of UAH 92.334 mln, which is 57.52% more than in 2023.
This has been announced by Standard-Rating agency on updating the company’s credit rating/rating of financial stability (reliability) of the insurer on the national scale at the level of “uaAA”.
Receipts from individuals have grown by 45,35% – to UAH 33,754 mln during this period, and receipts from reinsurers in the analyzed period have amounted to only UAH 197 th. Despite the growth of premiums from individuals, legal entities prevail in the client portfolio of the insurer, the share of which in gross premiums following the results of 2024 has amounted to 63,23%.
RA also informs that insurance payments sent to reinsurers have grown by 26,09% – up to UAH 5,862 mln in 2024 compared to 2023, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums has decreased by 1,58 p.p. – to 6,35%.
Net premiums increased by 60,23% to UAH 86,472 mln, while net earned premiums increased by 56,45% to UAH 83,090 mln.
Payouts for 2024 compared to 2023 more than doubled to UAH 35.698 million and the payout rate increased by 9.55 pp. – up to 38,66%.
Assets of the company as of January 1, 2025 have grown by 45,24% – to UAH 101,851 mln, shareholders’ equity – by 17,52% – to UAH 65,365 mln, liabilities – by 151,52% – to UAH 36,486 mln, cash and cash equivalents – more than 6 times – to UAH 63,662 mln.
IC InterExpress, registered in 2004, specializes in risk types of insurance.
PJSC Inter-Plus (formerly PJSC IC Inter-Plus Kiev) will be reorganized into LLC Interplus Group (Kiev), the company reported in the information system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM).
Such decision was made by shareholders at the meeting on March 3, 2025.
In addition, the general meeting of shareholders approved the procedure and conditions for the implementation of the transformation, elected the personal composition of the termination Commission, established the procedure and term for the application of creditors of their claims.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revoked the licenses for insurance activities of PJSC IC Inter-Plus and excluded the company from the State Register of Financial Institutions.
Earlier, the NBU on April 1, 2024 provided IC Inter-Plus with permissions to exit the market by executing insurance portfolios and agreed on a plan of exit from the market.
The insurance portfolio of IC Inter-Plus was formed at the expense of payments on third party liability insurance, air, water transport liability insurance (including carrier’s liability) – 76,8%, hull insurance – 6,1%, medical expenses insurance – 5,8%.
The volume of insurance premiums amounted to UAH 140,075 mln, formed insurance reserves – UAH 13,006 mln.
