Bioscience company Chr. Hansen, Hoersholm, Denmark, said it was ranked as the most sustainable company in the world by Corporate Knights, a specialized Toronto-based media and investment research firm.

This ranking was announced on Jan. 22, 2019, upon the release of “Corporate Knights’ 15th annual Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. More than 7,500 companies were analyzed against global industry peers on a number of quantitative key performance indicators. Chr. Hansen scored 100% on the ”clean revenue” indicator, reflecting that the company’s products have clear environmental and certain social benefits, as stated in Corporate Knights’ definition.

“I believe that one of the reasons why Chr. Hansen has been ranked as No. 1 is because the world is beginning to understand the power of good bacteria and the impact it can have on some of the major challenges the world is facing, such as food waste, antibiotic overuse and the need for a more sustainable agricultural sector to feed a growing world population while preserving our planet for future generations,” said Mauricio Graber, CEO of Chr. Hansen.

Chr. Hansen has been supplying natural ingredients to the food industry since 1874, according to the company. Sustainability remains at the core of Chr. Hansen, reflected by the name of its corporate strategy 2022: “Nature’s No. 1 – Sustainably.” The strategy focuses on developing natural solutions for the global food, health and agricultural industries in a sustainable manner. The UN Global Goals are used as a framework to link the impact of the corporate strategy to sustainable development, and the performance is measured and reported on an annual basis.

“We are far from done,” Graber said. “We still have a long way to go on our sustainability journey, but we sincerely hope that we can use this accolade to raise more awareness of the power and potential of good bacteria as part of a sustainable solution to a number of challenges facing our planet.”