59 companies that are changing the world: From Tesla to Chobani

Fortune

Electric vehicles, food waste prevention, and helping displaced people find jobs are some of the priorities on this year’s Change the World list, Fortune’s yearly roundup of companies enacting positive impact on people and the planet.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:05 The Change the World list recognizes companies that are using the profit motive

00:09 and using their business models to have a positive impact on people and

00:14 on the planet.

00:15 It's also important to us that you are making money.

00:17 We do wanna make sure that this is not charity, but business.

00:20 The list isn't ranked.

00:23 I like to use the metaphor of a hall of fame, for example, in football or

00:27 baseball, each year a new class of great performers gets elected to the hall of

00:31 fame, but nobody really tries to rank them by how good they are relative to each other.

00:37 This year, especially with climate change awareness becoming more and

00:41 more urgent, we zeroed in a little more tightly on efforts to

00:45 sharply lower carbon dioxide emissions.

00:48 We gave quite a bit of space to companies in the United States that are working to

00:52 accelerate the rate at which Americans convert from internal combustion engines

00:57 to electric.

00:58 Drivers are worried that they might not have access to electric chargers if they

01:02 buy an EV.

01:04 One of the companies that's doing the most to fight against that is a company

01:07 called ChargePoint.

01:08 They operate a huge network of charging stations across North America.

01:14 And all these EVs are gonna need batteries as well.

01:16 So we are recognizing a South Korean company called SK-ON.

01:21 They have been partnering with Ford and Hyundai and Volkswagen and

01:26 other companies to essentially build battery factories here in the United

01:29 States so that the United States has a safe supply chain.

01:33 Food waste actually generates quite a bit of greenhouse gas when it rots in landfills.

01:38 So we looked at companies that are trying to make sure that less of the food that we

01:41 produce winds up getting thrown away.

01:44 This year in particular, we saw more companies than usual that are working on

01:47 figuring out how to reach displaced people.

01:50 There's a record high number of displaced people in the world right now.

01:53 And a lot of companies are trying to figure out how can I give them the skills

01:56 to have some economic security?

01:58 How can I help them find the right place to settle?

02:00 Help them become my customers by making their lives more economically stable.

02:04 For example, we're recognizing Chobani, which launched a few years ago,

02:08 what's called the Tent Partnership for Refugees.

02:11 This is a coalition of about 300 companies worldwide that have all committed to

02:16 providing job training and jobs for these displaced populations.

02:21 That does not immediately generate a profit, but it does create a workforce that can

02:24 then work for those companies.

02:26 So in the long run, they are benefiting by filling their own labor needs with a

02:32 population that really needs the help.

02:35 There's a lot of attention being given by companies to helping younger people and

02:40 people who aren't sort of financially established in their lives get a little

02:43 bit of traction in the broader economy.

02:47 Isusu, they help younger people and people who've been having financial

02:51 difficulties build up their credit scores.

02:54 So what Isusu will do is help these people essentially earn credit for

02:59 things like on-time rent payments.

03:02 Isusu reports those to credit bureaus, the credit bureaus register them,

03:05 and it bumps up the payers' scores.

03:08 That's going to help them down the road when they need to borrow money for

03:10 an auto loan or to get a mortgage.

03:13 Abbott, the big health care company, they have a very innovative program designed

03:17 to help younger employees use the company's 401(k) program to help them pay

03:24 down their student loans.

03:25 Whenever they make a payment on those loans, the company puts a matching

03:29 contribution in their retirement savings.

03:31 That's important because often younger people have to really choose between

03:34 saving for the future and paying off their education.

03:37 Thanks to some recent changes in federal tax law, a lot of other companies are

03:41 going to be able to follow their lead starting next year.

03:45 The population of companies that are trying to have a positive social impact

03:49 is definitely growing.

03:51 Younger workers, millennials, Gen Z, very much want to work for companies that

03:54 have a positive purpose.

03:56 More and more companies are recognizing that to invest in protecting the planet,

04:01 to invest in building up the skills of the people in their communities,

04:05 is going to essentially protect their revenue and their profits and allow them

04:08 to continue to operate and continue to create wealth.

04:13 Fortune publishes the Change the World list partly because we're still quite

04:16 bullish and quite optimistic about the ability of business to solve different

04:21 social problems.

04:22 In fact, in a lot of instances, we think that businesses can act and make a

04:26 difference when governments are struggling to do so.

04:29 At the same time, we're a really established business media brand.

04:34 Our voice means something in the business community, and we believe that by

04:37 recognizing companies that are making a difference, we're adding another

04:41 incentive for people to do great things and boast about them.

04:45 [MUSIC]

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