Banco Santander sustainability score: 39/100
Better than 65% of Financial Services / Banking
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Banco Santander is a multinational banking group headquartered in Santander, Spain, operating across Europe, the Americas, and Asia with over €1.7 trillion in assets. Founded in 1857, it ranks among Europe's largest financial institutions by market capitalisation, providing retail, commercial, and investment banking services.
Founded 1857Head office Santander, SpainStaff ~210,000Revenue ~€62.4BWebsite ↗
Santander operates strong renewable energy and operational emissions reductions but masks systematic financed emissions weakness. The bank weakened fossil fuel policies after raising billions for LNG, funds deforestation-linked agribusiness in Brazil, and ranks among Europe's top fossil fuel financiers. Green rhetoric collides with documented evasion.
Banco Santander scores 39/100 (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 May 2026.
That places Banco Santander joint 451st of 1,023 companies scored, and 22nd of 61 in Financial Services / Banking.
What is Banco Santander doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Energy Source (7/10, 7/10). Weakest on Nature & Biodiversity Impact and Targets & Commitments (3/10, 3/10).
Where Banco Santander 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
- Its effect on natureAssess its effect on nature and publish a basic environmental policy.
- Its climate targetsSet specific targets with dates.
- Its record on controversiesDeal with the findings under question 10, in public.
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 chain4/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling5/10No evidence of a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
- How clean its energy is7/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste4/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets3/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports6/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- Its record on controversies3/10Points 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 Banco Santander's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Banco Santander's score based on?
15 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
40% of them were published by Banco Santander itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Scored on 6 April 2026 under an earlier version of our method. We're re-checking it under the current method.
9 of 15 sources are independent of the company.
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
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How does Banco Santander compare with other financial services / banking companies?
Where Banco Santander sits among financial services / banking peers.
Among the 61 major financial services / banking brands we've scored, Banco Santander sits 22nd of 61.
Who scores higher in Financial Services / Banking?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Banco Santander.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, reports operational emissions comprehensively but excludes financed emissions—its material impact lever—from reduction targets.
See the breakdown →Grupo Cajamar's financed emissions rose 8.6% in 2025 to 12.4 MtCO2e as its lending grew.
See the breakdown →NatWest has cut operational emissions 66% since 2019 and achieved 100% renewable electricity, but undermined these gains by voluntarily withdrawing SBTi validation in 2025 and weakening oil & gas lending policy in February 2026.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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