Sustainable companies consistently outperform S&P 500: report

Being more sustainable than other companies pays off: annual returns for 100 companies ranked as top corporate citizens were 2.2% higher than the S&P 500 between January 2022 and July 2025.

This is according to 3BL’s latest research on the 100 Best Corporate Citizens – an annual ranking of the largest publicly traded companies in the United States based on environmental, social and governance criteria.

While the collective 2.2% premium is lower than before (last year’s inaugural report showed cumulative returns 4.2% higher than the S&P 500 from January 2022 to September 2024), the new report suggests that being consistently more sustainable than others yields even higher returns. Those that were listed in the 100 Best Corporate Citizen ranking multiple times from 2020 to 2025 saw returns up to 14% higher than the S&P benchmark.

A ‘nuanced’ sustainability conversation

However, the firm notes that the broader conversation is “nuanced”: “On its face, this is a compelling piece of evidence that consistent leadership in sustainability performance and disclosure is a predictor of market value, but the model also comes with limitations – the clearest being the influence of the country’s two largest companies: Microsoft and Nvidia. Nvidia’s stock alone is up more than 1,400% since 2020, while Microsoft’s rose nearly 150%,” the report warns.

Even when removing these two outliers from the equation, companies repeatedly listed in the best corporate citizen ranking still outperformed the S&P 500, though more modestly.

But the biggest issue may be the lack of awareness from consumers about companies’ sustainability performance: in a survey of 10,000 US consumers, at least 3 in 10 said they didn’t know enough about a 100 Best company’s sustainability programming to give it a score – and  nearly a quarter expressed distrust about what companies say about social impact issues and environmental sustainability. This number is up from 15% just 18 months ago. 

“Even in a volatile market, the 100 Best Corporate Citizens still beat the S&P 500. But with trust in business declining in the United States, companies still have work to do in moving from disclosure to communication that reaches and resonates with the public,” 3BL added.