We scored hundreds of companies on sustainability. Here's what we found.
The average SINK score, the sectors at the bottom and the scores that surprised us. The headline findings from our database.
We built SINK because the sustainability ratings industry is broken. Companies pay to be rated. Methodologies are secret. Results are paywalled behind enterprise contracts costing tens of thousands per year. The result is that ExxonMobil can get an 'A' from one agency and 'below average' from another in the same year.
SINK is the alternative: one formula, public data, open methodology. Anyone can reproduce any score. If they can't, the score is wrong and we fix it.
We have now scored 1,023 companies. Here's what the data tells us.
The average score is 38/100
The questions are hard to score well on. A score of 60 or more means clear leadership, and only a handful of companies reach it. Most companies are doing the minimum.
The top of the table
The highest score today belongs to Ecosia at 71/100. The scale penalty means even the best large companies face a ceiling based on absolute emissions. A company emitting 50 million tonnes of CO₂e gets a 0.60× multiplier however many solar panels it installs.
The worst-performing sectors
Average score in each sector today:
Oil and gas and fast fashion sit near the bottom of the leaderboard. The formula is the same for everyone. These industries score low because extracting fossil fuels or making disposable clothing at huge scale does a lot of physical damage, and the maths reflects that.
Scores that might surprise you
- Tesla: 23/100. An EV company with 55.9Mt CO₂e total emissions, no SBTi targets, no net-zero date, and $99M in regulatory fines. The product helps, but the company's own footprint is enormous.
- Microsoft: 39/100. Claims 'carbon negative' but absolute emissions have risen significantly due to AI data centre expansion. Marketing and reality diverge.
- Patagonia: 50/100. Good, not great. The scale penalty applies and the supply chain still has significant impacts. Being better than average isn't the same as being sustainable.
- SHEIN: 15/100. Critical concern. Minimal transparency, no checked emissions data, and a business model built on disposability.
Banking: a sector in denial
The big banks score low. JPMorgan Chase: 32. HSBC: 32. Barclays: 35. Goldman Sachs: 31. The reason is simple: the emissions of what they lend to and invest in (financed emissions) dwarf their own. HSBC's oil and gas lending alone accounts for 35.8Mt CO₂e. Banks can run their offices on 100% renewable energy and it barely moves the needle.
How the scoring works
(0.3 × Base Impact + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale PenaltyBase Impact is a fixed ceiling per industry: oil and gas starts at 20, SaaS at 70. You can't score high if your core business is extracting fossil fuels. Performance is 10 questions scored 0–10, covering emissions, energy, biodiversity, water, targets, transparency, and controversies. Scale Penalty reduces the score for absolute emissions volume, because the total tonnes are what the climate feels.
What happens next
Every score on SINK can be challenged by anyone with evidence. A source URL is required. Challenges are published publicly, and if the evidence supports a correction, the score updates. We'd rather be corrected than wrong.
If your company isn't in the database yet, you can get it scored, free. Same formula. Same standards. Scores are free. Nobody can pay to change a score, speed it up or hide it.
Browse the full leaderboard at sinkproject.com. Read the full methodology.
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Run a business? Score it free.
Your own public score, from your published evidence, with every source shown. Free, and companies can never pay for anything about their own score.