Change the World

When the Fortune Change the World list made its debut in 2015, the business world was beginning an unprecedented pivot—publicly embracing social responsibility. Widening income inequality, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008–09, and a growing awareness of climate change had made the public increasingly skeptical of businesses’ motives. CEOs responded with commitments to do better for people and the planet. “Stakeholder capitalism” was in; pure profit-seeking was out.

Since then, as society has become more polarized, it’s gotten harder for business leaders to highlight efforts like these; some critics dismiss them as lip service, while others deride them as “woke.”  But our list has spotlighted hundreds of companies that let their actions speak for them—harnessing the creative impulses of capitalism to address social problems, and generating revenue while doing so. This year’s edition, our 10th, showcases 52 businesses that continue that legacy, selected by our reporters and editors from a short list of about 250. This year, we've once again arranged some of those companies into supergroups—clusters of two or three companies that are having important impacts in closely related fields. That’s the case for our No. 1 entry, the three companies launching “Satellites for a Better Planet, ”as well as No. 7 (“Tech Educators”), No. 18 (“Energy Innovators”), and two others.

With 2024 on track to be the warmest year on record, environmental impact remains a central focus of our list. And companies that are creatively deploying AI make a major mark on this year’s roster—as do the companies training young people, by the hundreds of thousands, to use it well. You’ll find these innovators and many more on this year's Change the World list.