CIGNA Earns Ranking Among World's 20 Most Sustainable Companies

Because “people’s health and the health of our environment are inextricably linked” the CIGNA Group has placed a priority on environment leadership, which was recently recognized by TIME magazine in its ranking of the world’s top 20 most sustainable companies.  Connecticut-headquartered CIGNA ranked tenth, and was one of only two U.S.-based companies ranked in the top ten  The other was Illumina, headquartered in San Diego, which was ranked fifth.

The CIGNA website explains that “we prioritize environmental sustainability for healthier lives on a global scale,” stating that the company acts “as a responsible environmental steward” and “makes strategic investments to reduce our footprint.”

The company also points out “our environmental targets inform our path to long-term decarbonization of operations, procurement of renewable energy, reduced water consumption at high-risk and high-priority sites, and reduced waste and increased landfill diversion rates.”

The other U.S. companies earning a place on the rankings were MasterCard (13th), PayPal (16th), Agilent (19th) and HP (20th).  The top four were Schneider Electric (France), NEC (Japan), Moncler (Italy), and Brambles (Austrailia).

TIME partnered with Statista to identify the World’s Most Sustainable Companies for 2024, aiming to highlight corporate responsibility and promote sustainable practices.  The magazine noted that “by featuring these leading entities, the ranking sets a benchmark for other businesses, fostering transparency and accountability and encouraging the integration of sustainability into core corporate strategies.”

The ranking process, according to the magazine, began with a comprehensive selection from over 5,000 of the world's largest and most influential companies, considering factors such as revenue, market capitalization, and public prominence. The evaluation process involved a rigorous 4-step methodology including 20 data points.

The CIGNA Group’s Environmental Policy Statement includes this: “As a company whose mission is to improve the health and vitality of those we serve, we take a precautionary approach to our environmental sustainability efforts. We believe that environmental stewardship also makes sound business sense as we are able to identify new efficiencies and make strategic investments that reduce our operating costs.”

The company’s Statement adds “We also aim to serve as a connector and catalyst for change to protect global access to healthy air, water, soil, and food. Because we are keenly focused on the connection between planetary health and human health, we consider managing environmental risks and opportunities to be important to our business. For example, climate change may present global public health challenges, such as those relating to extreme weather events, decreases in water supply, heat exposure, and declining crop yields.”