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Contact: Mark Arend, Editor in Chief, Site Selection
(770) 325-3438
mark.arend@siteselection.com

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www.siteselection.com

Press Release

Atlanta, July 5, 2022: Site Selection magazine has released its annual Sustainability Rankings, based on unique sets of criteria applied to countries, U.S. states and U.S. metro areas. This year Sweden, the United States and Spain top the magazine’s list of Top 10 countries. No. 1 Texas, Illinois, New York, Arizona, California and Colorado (in that order) lead the U.S. state index. And metro Austin, Texas, ranks No. 1 among U.S. metros, just above Dallas-Fort Worth, the Cincinnati region, the nation’s capital region and metro Denver.

Site Selection’s annual Sustainability Rankings go beyond the cosmetic, based on metrics that encompass multiple aspects of ESG (environmental, social and governance). “We don’t just count LEED-certified buildings and solar farms, but the locations and expansions of the plants that build solar modules,” said Site Selection managing Editor Adam Bruns, noting that many of the index’s calculations are performed on both a per-capita and cumulative basis. “In addition to renewable energy metrics, we cross-reference our corporate facility investments database with deep research into companies’ corporate social responsibility profiles from our friends at CSRHub to see where high-CSR firms have the most presence.”

Indeed, as Measurabl founder and CEO Matt Ellis explains in an excerpt from his new book in the feature story, “Once thought of as fluffy, nice-to-have ideals, ESG and sustainability have been endorsed as the right way to evaluate business — especially in real estate … If you’re unable to measure, manage, report and act on ESG, you will be out of business in 10 years’ time.”

The rankings, which include U.S. regional breakdowns by state and metro area, appear in the publication’s July 2022 issue alongside new analysis of global startup and innovation hubs from Startup Genome; a cover story excerpted from a new book on “new industrial urbanism” on how smart cities will get smarter by bringing back manufacturing; a special contribution from Uptime Institute on sustainability requirements for data centers; unique insights into leading rural U.S. counties based on analysis of Site Selection’s own project data; and an exploration of why quality of life is central to the attraction and retention of talent.

Also featured in the July 2022 issue: a look back at 20 years of the Industrial Asset Management Council; industry reports on advanced manufacturing, aerospace, cybersecurity and food & beverage; the Texas Economic Development Connection Intelligence Report; area spotlights on Missouri, New Jersey, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and West Virginia; and Site Selection Investment Profiles of the Columbus Region of Ohio; Greater New Orleans & St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana; Pflugerville, Texas; Spring Branch Management District, Texas; Maryland; Colombia; Abilene, Texas; Indiana Municipal Power Agency; Mississippi; and the High Technology Foundation of West Virginia.

Site Selection magazine, the leading publication covering global corporate real estate strategy and economic development, is in its 69th year of publication, and goes to a qualified circulation of more than 42,000* corporate end users in print, in addition to publishing all of its material at www.siteselection.com. Global corporate expansion experts Conway Data Inc., publisher of Site Selection, state economic development guides under its Custom Content Publishing Division, and the Site Selection Investor Watch newsletter, has been a trusted source of business intelligence to corporations, government economic development and investment promotion agencies around the world since 1954. Conway Data owns and manages Conway Data Events, organizer of the World Forum for FDI and FDI training seminars. Conway Data also manages the Atlanta-based Industrial Asset Management Council, a professional association of 600-plus corporate real estate executives, economic developers and commercial real estate service providers.

*December 2021; all circulation information is publisher’s own data unless otherwise specified.

Countries Criteria:
LEED-certified buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, May 2022)
Renewable energy capacity (IRENA, in megawatts & MW per capita, 2022)
Renewable energy deployment (RECAI index, updated 2022 by EY)
Green industry projects from Conway Projects Database (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as defined by US BLS; tally & per capita) see previous methodology re: use of BLS NAICS codes
CSR rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2019-2021 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub (https://www.csrhub.com/)
Ocean Health Index (2021)
World Happiness Index (2019 – 2021)
Green Future Index 2022 (MIT)

States criteria:
LEED-certified buildings (number & per capita, USGBC, May 2022)
Green industry projects 2019-2021, Conway Projects Database (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as defined by US BLS; tally & per capita)
Energy Star buildings (number & per capita, spring 2022)
Renewable energy deployment (score and per-capita score), U.S. Energy Information Administration
Green laws/incentives (DSIRE database, tally & per capita, May 2021)
CSR rankings: Ranking areas by degree of facility investment tracked in 2019-2021 by Conway Projects Database made by companies with high corporate social responsibility ratings as measured by CSRHub
Solar Jobs Census

Metros Criteria:
LEED buildings (number & per capita), May 2022
Energy Star buildings 2022 (number & per capita, U.S. DOE)
Green industry projects 2019-2021 (investments in “green industry” NAICS codes as defined by US BLS; tally & per capita)
Score in Frontier Group’s Shining Cities report, April 2022