Enel has been named in the top five of Fortune magazine’s Change the World list, a new ranking that shines a spotlight on businesses that make addressing social challenges part of their business strategy. The Group, which is both the only utility and only Italian company to be included in the list was ranked fifth of 50 companies selected by the magazine, and was hailed by Fortune for “charging the barricades when it comes to clean power”.
The magazine praised Enel for leading a renewable energy revolution, something they usually expect “to be led by tiny upstarts, not established giants”, and highlighted the fact that in 2014 the Group generated 38% of its output from renewable sources, with that figure set to rise to 48% within the next four years. Fortune also singled out Enel CEO Francesco Starace’s commitment to make the Group carbon neutral by 2050.
“We are delighted that Fortune has recognized the key role of the power industry in driving progress in the world and Enel’s leadership within it. Electricity is fundamental for industrial and agricultural production and job creation, it improves education and healthcare, and it opens up new opportunities for growth”, said CEO Starace in reaction to the news. “Our role is to ensure an energy supply that is available to all and sustainable over the long term, and we need to make sure it is delivered in harmony with the needs of the communities it serves”.
The Change the World list was created by Fortune in order to underline its belief that capitalism should be celebrated for its power to do good. To do this, Fortune and nonprofit social-impact consulting firm FSG “enlisted a small army” of business, academic, and nonprofit experts from around the world, asking for their recommendations of companies that are doing good as part of their profit-making strategy.
Fortune and a joint team from FSG and the Shared Value Initiative then vetted more than 200 nominees according to four criteria: the degree of business innovation involved, the measurable impact at scale on an important social challenge, the contribution of the shared-value activities to the company’s profitability and competitive advantage, and the significance of the shared value effort to the overall business. Fortune journalists then further vetted each of the nominees, before the final list of 50 was selected and ranked by the magazine’s editors, based on its own reporting and the analysis provided.
The Enel Group is also ranked 69 on Fortune’s Global 500 index, and is the second-largest utility on that list. It has been on the list for 21 years, and it owes its high placing to both its well-balanced generation mix and its policy of making zero carbon emissions a priority.
To view Fortune’s full list please visit http://fortune.com/change-the-world