The Top 100 Low Carbon Pioneers list is researched and published by CNBC European Business’ editorial team with assistance from an external panel appointed to nominate and review candidate companies. The final list was decided on the basis of the degree to which the company had taken a courageous or ground-breaking stance on climate change (typically larger corporations), or that it embraced a future, low-carbon solution in the form of clean technology or renewable energy (typically a smaller SME or recently listed public company.) The underlying philosophy of the list, as in its first edition, continues to be respect for companies that have explicitly connected climate change to their bottom line.
 
The complete list of companies with profiles is available on the CNBC Business website.