Ethisphere today announced the 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies®, recognizing 138 companies for having best-in-class ethics and compliance programs, corporate governance practices, and cultures of integrity.

Alongside the honoree announcement, Ethisphere released the Ethics Premium™, a five-year analysis comparing the stock performance of publicly traded 2026 World’s Most Ethical Companies honorees with a broad global benchmark. From Jan. 1, 2021 through Dec. 31, 2025, this year’s publicly traded honorees outperformed the benchmark by 8.2 percentage points.

2026 marks the 20th annual recognition of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, which includes companies across 40 industries in 17 countries. This year’s honorees are listed at www.worldsmostethicalcompanies.com.

The 2026 Ethics Premium: 8.2 percentage points, and a resilience story

The Ethics Premium has become one of Ethisphere’s most enduring proof points that investing in ethics is also investing in long-term financial success. “Organizations do not have to choose between being ethical and being financially successful,” says Erica Salmon Byrne, Chief Strategy Officer for Ethisphere. “The Ethics Premium shows how ethics can drive success.”

Beyond outperformance, this year’s Ethics Premium analysis shows a clear resilience pattern among publicly traded honorees—organizations that earned the designation in 2026 experienced a 7.1% smaller maximum drawdown, returned to prior highs 10.1% faster, and spent 14.4% less time below their previous peak over the measurement period. In one major stress month (September 2022), honorees declined 12.5% less than the benchmark. These are selected highlights from the 2026 Ethics Premium. The full report released today expands on these findings with additional analyses—including upside/downside capture and rolling 12-month performance consistency—along with methodology and charts.

This year, Ethisphere has expanded how it tells the Ethics Premium story because ethics and compliance leaders still face a familiar challenge: short-horizon arguments against long-horizon decisions, often fueled by a certain “whataboutism” around what competitors are doing, or what quarterly results might be.

“The Ethics Premium tells us a resiliency story,” Salmon Byrne says. “Organizations that have the practices that earn them this designation drop less, stay low for a shorter period of time, and recover more. They are all moving in the same direction, which is towards value creation.”

David Gan, Chief Legal Officer at AECOM, describes that connection between ethics, risk, and performance from the inside: “Our commitment to good ethics has been a pillar of our strong performance over the past several years. We have developed an industry-leading compliance program, and through our comprehensive safeguards, we have built a business that effectively manages risk, honors the trust our clients place in us, and empowers our people to solve problems and do their best work.”

What the designation reflects in 2026

Applying for the World’s Most Ethical Companies takes considerable time and intent. Salmon Byrne applauds those companies that chose to be measured in a year that has rewarded short-term repositioning more often than long-term consistency.

“Over the past several years, she says, companies have debated stakeholder versus shareholder capitalism and argued over equity, inclusion, and diversity,” Salmon Byrne says. “We have seen some organizations embrace those priorities because they matched the moment, only to step away when the environment shifted.”

The companies that stay the course make a different choice by treating integrity as a long-term strategy, rather than a trend. “They sail using their strategy and their values as a compass,” Salmon Byrne says.

And that’s smart business, because intangible assets now constitute approximately 92% of S&P 500 market capitalization—things like reputation, brand, intellectual property, confidential information, and even the creativity and engagement of employees. The things measured by the World’s Most Ethical Companies process protect those very assets, which are only becoming more valuable—and worth protecting—over time.

2026 cohort highlights

This year’s cohort includes 19 first-time honorees, the largest first-time class in the recognition’s history, and six 20-time honorees, companies that have earned the designation every year since the recognition began.

Six 20-time honorees

• Aflac, Inc.

• Ecolab

• International Paper Company

• Kao Corporation

• Milliken & Company

• PepsiCo Inc.

19 first-time honorees

• Alcon Laboratories, Inc.

• Amgen Inc.

• AtkinsRéalis

• Bunge Limited

• CME Group

• Compass Group PLC

• DocGo

• Ferrara Candy

• Gilead Sciences Inc.

• Graphic Packaging International, Inc.

• Grupo Ferrer Internacional S.A.

• Itron Inc.

• LabCorp

• Lear Corporation

• Marvell Technology Group Ltd.

• Motiva Infraestrutura de Mobilidade S.A.

• Sanofi

• The William Carter Company (Carter’s Inc.)

• UST Global

First-time honorees often describe the application as a forcing function: it requires teams to document what they do, compare it to peers, and identify what they need to strengthen.

“Beyond the recognition itself, the Ethisphere application process was highly valuable for Motiva, allowing us to critically assess our governance and compliance framework and identify opportunities for further improvement,” says Miguel Setas, CEO at Motiva. “It was a truly integrated effort, involving Compliance, Governance, Risk, People and Sustainability teams. This reinforces a strong tone at the top and our commitment to ethics as a foundation for sustainable value creation.”

“What unites all honorees is that they have carved out enough space to have a strategic vision for the next few years,” Salmon Byrne says. “They have committed to a set of values that guides the work they do, and they have invested in their commitment to integrity.”

In the long term, Salmon Byrne explains, terrifying people about getting arrested doesn’t really change behavior so much as celebrating strong, ethical behavior and how that builds value.

“That brings us back to the Ethics Premium and the World’s Most Ethical Companies,” Salmon Byrne says. “And that is why these things matter.”

The Ethics Quotient®

To qualify for consideration, applicants complete the Ethics Quotient®, an extensive assessment of more than 240 questions. The Ethics Quotient requires companies to describe and document key components of their ethics and compliance programs, including corporate governance, culture of ethics, speak-up practices, ESG-related approaches, third-party risk management, and more.

Ethisphere Chief Strategy Officer Erica Salmon Byrne describes the Ethics Quotient as a way to keep pace with how quickly risk changes and to evaluate and refresh how your company responds to the risks that are evolving in your business environment.

About Ethisphere

Ethisphere helps organizations measure and improve the ethics, compliance, and culture practices that empower business performance and manage risk. For over two decades, we’ve worked with CECOs, GCs, and risk leaders to turn ethics from an abstract ideal into an operational, measurable part of strategy. Our frameworks, tools, data, and expertise show you how strong your program is, where you can improve it, and how to demonstrate the ROI on doing what’s right. For more information, visit https://ethisphere.com.

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