Aberdeen sustainability score: 34/100
Better than 48% of Financial Services / Banking
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Aberdeen is a UK-based asset manager headquartered in Edinburgh, managing approximately £511 billion in assets under management across equity, fixed income, and alternative investments. Founded in 2017 through a merger, it serves institutional and retail clients globally with a workforce of around 4,000 employees across 25+ offices.
Founded 2017Head office Edinburgh, United KingdomStaff ~4,000Revenue ~£1,370MWebsite ↗
Aberdeen is a £511bn asset manager with operational emissions down 74–80% since 2018, but this masks a fundamental problem: financed emissions of ~111.7 billion kg CO₂e dwarf operational progress. The company holds $7.1bn in fossil fuel bonds, lacks any coal exclusion policy despite PPCA membership, and uses intensity targets instead of absolute reductions for its portfolio—a material gap between stated climate commitments and investment reality.
Aberdeen scores 34/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Nobody can pay to change a score, speed it up or hide it. Last verified August 2026.
That places Aberdeen joint 598th of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 28th of 61 in Financial Services / Banking.
What is Aberdeen doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (7/10, 7/10). Weakest on Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain and Resource Use & Waste (3/10, 3/10).
Where Aberdeen lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
What would raise this score
- Emissions from its supply chainAssess where its supply-chain emissions come from.
- How it uses materials and handles wasteShow active waste reduction, reuse or repair.
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations7/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
- Emissions from its supply chain3/10No assessment of where its supply-chain emissions come from.
- Whether its emissions are falling4/10No evidence of a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste3/10No active waste reduction, reuse or repair shown.
- Its effect on water5/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets4/10Its targets aren't science-based or committed to the Science Based Targets initiative.
- How openly it reports7/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
- Its record on controversies4/10Points deducted for controversies or its business model. The finding is under question 10.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Anyone can send us new evidence, free. How to send it.
How is Aberdeen's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Aberdeen's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
58% of them were published by Aberdeen itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Founded shows 2017, the year the current legal entity was formed by the merger of Standard Life plc and Aberdeen Asset Management. It is not the age of the business: both predecessors are far older, and the Standard Life name was later separated from the group and is listed here as its own company. The date describes the entity being scored, not its heritage.
“Total Scope 1 and 2 (location based) 1,726 2,161 9,736”
“Abrdn's investments in the 20 highest polluting companies in its portfolio resulted in the equivalent of 4.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) entering the atmosphere in 2022”
“we still have more to do to collect data for some material Scope 3 categories, such as emissions related to our supply chain”
“We have committed to reducing emissions from energy use by 50% by 2025, procure 100% renewable electricity for our buildings”
“Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. Target is against 2018 baseline for all operating activities”
“Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) Forum members — The TNFD Forum is a global multi-disciplinary consultative group of institutions with over 650 members”
“We want to help shape a sustainable future by supporting inclusive growth and a just transition to a low-carbon economy”
“An overview of Aberdeen's 2025 sustainability progress, with insights from Group Head of Sustainability Kristina Church”
“Asset managers that remain signatories to NZAM include Aberdeen Investments, Amundi, Impax AM, Sarasin, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management”
“abrdn has no policy to stop new, or phase out existing, investments in coal”
“C-Performance Band · 59% Organization Score”
“Abrdn ranked alongside BlackRock, Invesco and Vanguard as financiers of the worst fossil fuel bonds in 2023, with investments in BP, Conoco Philips and Eni totalling $7.1bn”
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How does Aberdeen compare with other financial services / banking companies?
Where Aberdeen sits among financial services / banking peers.
Among the 61 major financial services / banking brands we've scored, Aberdeen is tied =28th of 61, with 4 others.
Who scores higher in Financial Services / Banking?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Aberdeen.
Barclays operates with operational emissions under control but finances fossil fuels at scale—$34–35bn annually—undercutting climate commitments.
See the breakdown →Octopus Group does not publish the emissions it finances on the standard PCAF basis, so the financial-sector size deduction applies; the figure it gives, about 242,000 tCO2e, halved mainly because £2.8 billion of funds moved to another manager.
See the breakdown →M&G manages £375.9B in assets while holding £1.5B in coal exposure and material fossil-fuel investments.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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