Refugee Integration Insights Publishes New Ranking of Top 50 Corporations Based on Their Contribution to Refugee Economic Integration
Refugee Integration Insights (RII), the first specialized provider of private sector refugee data and insights, today published the first-ever ranking of the 50 top-performing global companies based on actions taken to address the refugee crisis through economic integration. The full report, "Corporate Leaders in Refugee Economic Integration," is available at https://bit.ly/RIIReport2023.
NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- — Ranking is based on analysis of 1,807 publicly listed global companies across 39 quantitative and qualitative criteria
— Top five performers are: Unilever, Citigroup, Inditex, BBVA and Starbucks
Refugee Integration Insights (RII), the first specialized provider of private sector refugee data and insights, today published the first-ever ranking of the 50 top-performing global companies based on actions taken to address the refugee crisis through economic integration. The full ranking, including details on RII's methodology and interviews with Unilever (#1 in RII's ranking) and Generali (#9), is available in RII's new report, "Corporate Leaders in Refugee Economic Integration," available at https://bit.ly/RIIReport2023
The magnitude of the refugee crisis poses a clear systemic risk – not just to social cohesion and geographic stability, but also to global financial markets. UNHCR estimates that there are now more than 100 million forcibly displaced people globally, including 32 million refugees. This number is growing exponentially as climate change and geopolitical conflict reshape how and where people live. Studies show that the effects of climate change alone will lead to the displacement of 1 billion people by 2050.
RII Co-Founder Sindhu D Janakiram said: "Systemic risks require systemic solutions, and while governments and NGOs provide critical immediate support, the private sector is needed to meet the scope and scale of the growing crisis. Businesses can be part of helping refugees to integrate economically and socially so that they may regain their stability, dignity, and self-reliance. More and more companies also realize the value that can be unlocked by supporting refugee self-reliance, not just in their local communities but in their bottom lines. To get more companies on board, the market needs transparency into which companies are contributing the most toward refugee economic integration. We want to meet this information gap, providing investors and other organizations with data and insights on corporate activities."
The top 10 companies based on their Refugee Integration Score are as follows:
#1 — Unilever (68.9%)
#2 — Citigroup (66.1%)
#3 — Inditex (54.2%)
#4 — BBVA (52.7%)
#5 — Starbucks (52.4%)
#6 — ANZ Banking Group (51.6%)
#6 — Uber (51.6%)
#8 — Deutsche Post (51.3%)
#9 — Generali (50.7%)
#10 — Adidas (50.5%)
The report spotlights two of the top performers in RII's dataset — Unilever (1st) and Generali (9th) — featuring interviews with key individuals involved in the company's respective refugee programs and refugees positively impacted by these programs.
Key findings from the report:
- There has been a swift corporate response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia's invasion of Ukraine was the main catalyst for what is now Europe's fastest and largest refugee crisis since World War 2. European and U.S. concentration in the Top 50 is partly driven by the corporate response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis.
- Western companies are responsible for the bulk of corporate refugee action. The top performing companies are dominated by European or U.S.-headquartered companies, with 48 of the Top 50 headquartered between the two regions.
- Germany is the leader among the Top 50 companies. The country represents 30% of the Top 50 with 15 listed companies, including Deutsche Post (8th)and Adidas (10th). A key factor driving this performance was the development of "Wir Zusammen" or "Us Together," a corporate network initiative created in 2016 to provide refugees with economic integration opportunities, especially following the influx of refugees stemming from the Syrian refugee crisis.
- U.S. companies welcomed Afghan refugees. The U.S. represents 20% of the Top 50 with 10 listed companies, including Citi (2nd), Starbucks (5th), and Uber (6th).
Emma Ursich, Group Head of Corporate Identity & Executive Officer of The Human Safety Net at Generali, said: "For five years, The Human Safety Net, the Generali Group global initiative for communities, has focused a major part of its work towards the economic inclusion of refugees in their host countries, by means of entrepreneurship and employment opportunities. We have seen the sector grow and become more structured and connected in the face of successive refugee influxes, starting from Syria to Afghanistan to Ukraine most recently. We are happy to contribute the experience, network and skills gathered in these first years to foster collaboration and further growth of the ecosystem serving refugees and supporting their path to integration."
A Unilever spokesperson said: "For years, we have been working to support individuals who have been impacted by devastating natural and man-made disasters. Our behavior change programmes help communities build resilience to emergencies, such as our Hygiene and Behaviour Change Coalition with the UK government, which supported vulnerable communities through the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also there when disaster strikes, providing relief through donations of hygiene products and food, working with key partners including UNHCR, Direct Relief and UNICEF. But we know that the personal impact can last longer than the initial crisis. That's why we support individuals to rebuild their lives through programs like our Up-Collective with TERN and our participation in TENT's LGBTQ+ mentoring program."
The data for this report is based on an analysis of 1,807 public companies across 35 countries, encompassing the companies listed on the S&P 500, Stoxx 600, and ISS ESG Developed Markets Index. RII looked at corporate action on 39 quantitative and qualitative metrics across six pillars, including: Hiring, Entrepreneur Support, Education & Skills Development, Products & Services, Philanthropy, and General. These metrics provide the basis for an RII score out of 100, allowing RII to rank companies across sectors, countries, and overall.
About Refugee Integration Insights (RII)
Refugee Integration Insights (RII) is a specialized provider of private sector refugee data and insights. The company was born after co-founders Sindhu Janakiram and Ignacio Paullier won the 2020 Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge with their product, Refugee ETF, the first public markets investment product focused on refugees. RII seeks to bring transparency to company refugee action and close the refugee data and investment gap by providing investors and other organizations with the information necessary to track and assess corporate refugee action across a range of quantitative and qualitative metrics.
Learn more about RII at https://refugeeinsights.org.
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SOURCE Refugee Integration Insights
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