Another month, another accolade rankings list of companies from a prominent media publication. This time, from Newsweek.

On Dec. 6, the publication unveiled its 2024 ‘America’s Most Responsible Companies’ list, which awards companies for their environmental, sustainability and governance (ESG) efforts and supporting their local communities.

For a fifth straight year, Newsweek partnered with global research and data firm Statista for the feature, which ranks 600 companies in 2023 based on metrics inclusive of quantitative data from 30 different KPIs, as well as a corporate social responsibility reputation survey of 17,000 U.S. residents. The initial analysis focused on the top 2,000 U.S.-based public companies by revenue.

Newsweek noted that 243 companies on this year’s list have placed for at least four consecutive years, with 156 earning a spot for all five years. The 2023 feature lists out to 600, up from 500 in 2022. Interestingly, this year’s No. 600 company has a higher score than last year’s 500th.

“The survey results suggest that companies have been making improvements in certain areas over the last three years, with social responsibility scores notably on the rise,” Newsweek quoted Michael Bausch, Senior Analyst at Statista. “This positive trend indicates a commitment to enhancing corporate practices, particularly in response to societal expectations. The data reflects a gradual but encouraging evolution in companies’ efforts to fulfill their responsibilities, highlighting a positive shift in their overall approach.”

This year’s top overall spot is held by pharmaceutical giant Merck, with a score of 91.98 out of 100. Water solutions manufacturer Xylem was close behind at 91.27, followed by HP (90.29), Cisco Systems (90.03) and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (88.37) in the top five.

Following my late November blog recapping where distributors ranked on Forbes’ 2023 List of America’s Largest Private Companies, this blog will do the same for Newsweek’s Most Responsible Companies list, as we’ve found our MDM audience is always interested in these kinds of rankings lists.

Related: Digi-Key Leads Distributors on Forbes’ Best Employers Lists (February 2023)

Related: Here’s Which Distributors Made Fortune’s 2023 ‘Most Admired’ List (February 2023)

Of course, those looking for the best who’s who list in distribution should look no further than MDM’s 2023 Top Distributors Lists, which displays the sector’s largest North American-based distributors of industrial, commercial and building supply products by revenue within 17 different verticals.

Here’s which distributors, as well as those companies with significant B2B distribution operations, made the Most Responsible list and their score. 

93. Masonite International (Tampa, FL) – 81.26

95. Univar Solutions (Downers Grove, IL) – 81.17

137. Cintas (Cincinnati, OH) – 79.24

149. Lowe’s Companies (Mooresville, NC) – 78.94

166. The Home Depot (Atlanta, GA) – 78.27

• The Home Depot Pro Institutional is No. 7 on MDM’s Top Industrial Distributors List, No. 5 for MRO

169. Franklin Electric (Fort Wayne, IN) – 78.11

232. Air Products (Allentown, PA) – 76.41

238. W.W. Grainger (Lake Forest, IL) – 76.25

• No. 1 on MDM’s Top Industrial Distributors List, No. 1 for MRO

277. Avnet (Phoenix, AZ) – 75.34

• No. 2 on MDM’s Top Electronics Distributors List

281. Wesco International (Pittsburgh, PA) – 75.29

• No. 1 on MDM’s Top Electrical Distributors List, No. 12 for Industrial

423. Henry Schein (Melville, NY) – 71.62

495. Veritiv (Atlanta, GA) – 69.36

• On MDM’s unranked Top JanSan Distributors List

505. The ODP Corp. (Boca Raton, FL) – 69.26

516. Applied Industrial Technologies (Cleveland, OH) – 68.82

• No. 12 on MDM’s Top Industrial Distributors List

563. Performance Food Group (Richmond, VA) – 67.57

Check out the full rankings here. It includes numerous industrial manufacturers. I debated listing them here as well, but that’d involve having to decipher which manufacturers on there are ‘industrial’, and some would’ve inevitably been left out.