More Top Global Sustainable Stocks includes articles by financial analysts at S&P and Morningstar. Plus, links to two more articles!

Transcript & Links, Episode 148, February 21, 2025

Hello, Ron Robins here. Welcome to my podcast episode 148, published February 21, 2025, titled “More Top Global Sustainable Stocks.” It’s presented by Investing for the Soul. Investingforthesoul.com is your site for vital global ethical and sustainable investing mentoring, news, commentary, information, and resources.

Remember that you can find a full transcript and links to content – including stock symbols and bonus material – on this episode’s podcast page at investingforthesoul.com/podcasts.

Also, a reminder. I do not evaluate any of the stocks or funds mentioned in these podcasts, and I don’t receive any compensation from anyone covered in these podcasts. Furthermore, I will reveal any investments I have in the investments mentioned herein.

Additionally, quotes about individual companies are brief. Please go to this podcast’s webpage for links to the articles and more company and stock information.

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More Top Global Sustainable Stocks (1)

I’m beginning with this insightful article titled 10 Key Sustainable-Investing Themes and Companies. The referenced overview is by Martin Vezer on morningstar.com. Here are some quotes by Mr. Vezer from his article.

“Morningstar Sustainalytics’ analysts recently highlighted 10 environmental, social and governance themes that they believe will affect corporate value chains in 2025. For each theme, we profiled one publicly listed company that is leading its industry on addressing the ESG issues we identified.

10 Stocks From Sustainalytics

1. Power-Hungry Data Centers: A Dilemma for Big Tech

We compare the carbon intensity of some of the largest software & services players, helping investors identify AI players in the subindustry that are leading in terms of mitigating carbon risks.

Among the seven companies that we sample, IBM (IBM) stands out for having reduced its carbon intensity by 30% from 2020 to 2023.

2. Green Energy Demand: A Boon for Utilities

The adoption of generative AI across various sectors introduces a new set of concerns regarding its energy footprint and the rapid growth of power demand for data centers…

As a renewable power producer, EDP Renováveis (EDRVY) has maintained its very low carbon intensity from generation activities over the years. Its overall carbon intensity is also in line with that of its subindustry peers.

3. AI Innovation Boosts Gains for Healthcare

AI adoption across the healthcare and biopharmaceutical industries has been proliferating in recent years, targeting both cost cuts and innovation gains that are meant to expand and accelerate patient access to quality care, as well as to new therapies and treatment options.

Pfizer (PFE) stands out for utilizing AI not only for drug discovery and development but also to monitor medicine and vaccine safety and to improve its supply chain.

4. AI in Oil & Gas Bolsters Efficiency and Innovation

AI has been an important tool for the oil and gas industry for years, but recent advancements are transforming decision-making and have the potential to meaningfully reduce environmental impacts and improve safety…

Baker Hughes (BKR) is among the oil and gas firms applying AI-driven software to streamline production and reduce emissions.

5. Banks Play a Critical Role in Transition Finance

The growth of transition finance represents an opportunity for banks to diversify the risks of their loan books and safeguard the sustainability of their business models.

Barclays (BCS) is the only bank out of the 10 large banks we analyzed that has set a credible sustainable and transition financing target of USD 1 trillion by 2030.

6. Resilient Infrastructure Is Climate-Smart Investing

Recent weather and climate-related catastrophes, such as the Los Angeles fires, Hurricane Ian in Florida, and flooding in Valencia, Spain, highlight the intensifying risks that extreme weather events have on the construction industry.

Aecom (ACM) is an interesting case study because it generates 60% of its revenue from sustainable products and services and has developed many of its initial green infrastructure projects globally, such as the first LEED-certified airport terminal in the US. These projects are backed by a broad offering of climate adaptation services, including natural disaster preparedness reviews.

7. Lithium Boom Brings New Challenges

Clean technologies, such as solar panels and electric vehicles, are highly dependent on lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. Investors with carbon-and water-related goals may consider opting for lithium for a lower environmental impact and lower ESG risks.

Vulcan Energy Resources (VULNF) is engaged in projects to extract and process battery-grade lithium hydroxide, in addition to producing renewable geothermal energy.

8. Building Responsible Food Supply Chains

Human rights violations expose firms to material risks, including fines, reputational harm, and operational disruptions that erode shareholder value. Compared with other subindustries, packaged foods and food retail have been involved in a disproportionately large number of incidents related to human rights abuses in their supply chains.

Lindt (CHLSY) demonstrates the relatively strong management of these issues. The firm has a robust human rights policy for suppliers and actionable initiatives to support it. Despite an August 2022 controversy linked to child labor in its Ghana cocoa supply chain—a challenge faced by most cocoa companies—Lindt remains transparent and proactively collaborates with local communities to create tailored mitigation and remediation programs.

9. A Future With Less Plastics

Fast-moving consumer goods firms (for example, packaged foods and personal products) that invest in advanced technologies, such as chemical recycling to produce more postconsumer recycled packaging or venturing in biodegradables such as cornstarch or bamboo packaging to replace single-use plastics, are likely to see increased demand and growth.

Among our sample of 11 consumer goods companies, L’Oréal (LRLCY) had relatively few plastics incidents in recent years and performs well on our measures of solid waste management.

10. Alcohol-Free Beverages Are Growing

The industry is undervalued; the average share price in our sample of 26 beer, wine, and spirits firms is trading 20% below Morningstar’s fair price value as of November 2024.

Asahi Group (ASBRF) a leading Japanese brewer, has set several targets to expand its no-and low-alcohol portfolio, and we note that it is one of the few companies in the sample that provides some transparency into its nonalcoholic beer revenue.

To learn more about these themes and the companies noted above, download the report here.”

End quotes.

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More Top Global Sustainable Stocks (2)

This next article titled S&P Global 2025 Sustainability Yearbook is a highly referenced ranking of sustainably oriented companies around the world. It’s by S&P and found on spglobal.com. Here are some quotes by S&P concerning some aspects of its rankings.

“The Sustainability Yearbook distinguishes companies within their industries that have each demonstrated strengths in corporate sustainability.

Yearbook members and distinction levels are selected based on their 2024 Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA) Score, which is the S&P Global ESG Score without the inclusion of any modeling approaches. The selection process also reflects exclusion screening criteria. Distinctions are calculated against the top performing company in each industry, and exclusions applied thereafter. Distinction level and Scores are industry specific.

780 companies made it into the Sustainability Yearbook.

As of January 22, 2025, over 7,690 companies assessed for the 2024 Corporate Sustainability Assessment were considered for inclusion in The Sustainability Yearbook 2025. This year, only 780 companies made it into the Sustainability Yearbook.”

End quotes.

Note: companies are divided into Top 1%, 5%, and 10% of S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment Scores. Among the well-known companies are Coca-Cola HBC AG (CCH.L), Iberdrola, S.A. (IBE.MC), and Ingersoll Rand Inc. (IR) Non-US companies appear to be the majority on the list. Anyone looking for geographical diversification in their sustainable portfolio(s) should find these rankings useful.

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Additional Article Links

Title: 3 Renewable-Energy Stocks That Could Thrive Under Trump on barrons.com. By Avi Salzman.

Article from Canada

Title: Meet the four most sustainable funds on the market for 2025 on corporateknights.com. By CK Staff.

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Ending Comment

These are my top news stories with their stock and fund tips for this podcast “More Top Global Sustainable Stocks.”

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I’ll talk to you next on March 7^th.

Bye for now.

© 2025 Ron Robins, Investing for the Soul