The key performance indicators used in the assessment include Energy Productivity, CO2 Productivity, Water Productivity, Waste Productivity, Leadership Diversity, CEO-to-Average Worker Pay, % Tax Paid, Sustainability Leadership, Sustainability Pay Link, Innovation Capacity & Transparency.

The 2010 Global 100 tapped intelligence from the world's largest sustainability research alliance, put together by Legg Mason's Global Currents Investment Management. The aim was  to isolate the top ten percent of companies from 3,000 global stocks. The selected companies were then transparently ranked based on 10 indicators, with data sourced from ASSET4 and The BLOOMBERG PROFESSIONAL® service. It includes companies from 24 countries, encompassing all sectors of the economy, with a collective enterprise value of USD 4 trillion and three million employees.

Mr Hemant M Nerurkar MD of TATA Steel was reported to have said said, “We are pleased to note the announcement of the top Global 100 Sustainable Companies. Over the last one hundred years that we have been in business, we have always strived for inclusive growth by following responsible business practices that focus on social and environmental sustainability, and are aimed at creating value for all our stakeholders.”