Eight Canadian companies, including three financial services firms, have made this year’s list of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.

The 2011 Global 100, which was announced Saturday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, includes companies from 22 countries encompassing all sectors of the economy, with collective annual sales in excess of $3 trillion and five million employees.

The three Canadian financial services firms on the list are Sun Life Financial Inc. (TSX:SLF), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSX:TD), and Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY).

This year marks the fifth time in seven years that Sun Life has been recognized.

The other Canadian companies on the list are Encana Corp., Enbridge Inc., Nexen Inc., Suncor Energy Inc., and BCE Inc.

The 2011 Global 100 tapped intelligence from the world’s largest sustainability research alliance to isolate the top 10% of companies from a universe of 3,000 global stocks, which were then transparently ranked based on 10 indicators using environmental, social, governance and financial data.

From its inception in February 2005, the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations has achieved a total return of 54.95%, outperforming its benchmark (the MSCI All Country World Index) by more than 16% to Dec. 31, 2010.

IE