Each year, the Corporate Knights journal publishes its Global 100 ranking* which names its top 100 companies worldwide for Corporate Social Responsibility.

The 2011 Global 100 ranking was published during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 60th last year, Crédit Agricole ranked 8th and the leading French company. Only four other French companies made it into this year’s Global 100: Vivendi, Unibail-Rodamco, L‘Oréal and Danone. 

* The Global 100 ranking is based on a range of criteria including energy efficiency, savings in water, paper and raw materials, corporate governance, the compensation paid to the chief executive relative to that of the lowest-paid employees, the gender balance on the Board of Directors, the ratio of sales to the environmental footprint, product safety, tax paid, ability to innovate, the portfolio of ecological and sustainable products, and transparency.