Barclays sustainability score: 35/100
Better than 57% of Financial Services / Banking
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Barclays PLC is a universal bank headquartered in London, United Kingdom, providing retail, corporate, and investment banking services globally. Barclays PLC was incorporated in 1896 as Barclay & Company Limited; its roots go back to 1690.
More about Barclays
It operates across personal finance, wealth management and institutional markets, with about 94,700 employees and £29.1bn total income in 2025.
Founded 1896Head office London, United KingdomStaff ~94,700Revenue £29,140M (FY2025, total income)Website ↗
Barclays operates with operational emissions under control but finances fossil fuels at scale—$34–35bn annually—undercutting climate commitments. Financed emissions lack a single reported total, intensity targets dominate, and only 41% of in-scope lending is covered by 1.5C-aligned targets. Greenwashing in sustainable-finance labelling persists.
Barclays scores 35/100 (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 October 2026.
That places Barclays joint 572nd of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 25th of 61 in Financial Services / Banking.
What is Barclays doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (8/10, 7/10). Weakest on Nature & Biodiversity Impact and Water Impact (3/10, 3/10).
Where Barclays 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 effect on waterMonitor its water use and take measures to reduce it.
- Its record on controversiesDeal with the findings under question 10, in public.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain5/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- 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 nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water3/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets5/10Its 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 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 Barclays's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Barclays's score changed?
Barclays's score has moved from 39 to 35 across 3 recorded reviews, down 4 points.
- 33 → 35+225 October 2026
Re-scored under v2.5.19 (RE100 UK pre-v2.5 re-score, owner-approved 2026-10-25; docs/rescore-plan-2026-10.md)
- 39 → 33-611 October 2026
v2.5.7 financed-emissions rule applied retroactively (record last scored before the rule): scale 0.82 -> 0.7, score 39 -> 33. No question marks changed.
- Scored 398 February 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Barclays's score based on?
9 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
0% of them were published by Barclays itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“Scope 1 CO 2 e emissions (000' tonnes) 5 3.6 5.2 3.6 8.9”
“enhanced its Sustainable and Transition Finance Frameworks in February 2026 to integrate nature-related activities that contribute to the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF)”
“Barclays has been by JBS's side for the last decade, providing nearly $7 billion in finance”
“Barclays has topped the list of fossil fuel financiers in Europe again.”
“British bank Barclays was the largest fossil fuel financier Europe in 2024”
“Barclays was the biggest UK financer at around $34 billion”
“Barclays worked on $41bn worth of deals for the fossil fuel industry last year that were classified as sustainable”
“continues to leave the door open to pour millions into polluting fossil fuel finance”
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How does Barclays compare with other financial services / banking companies?
Where Barclays sits among financial services / banking peers.
Among the 61 major financial services / banking brands we've scored, Barclays is tied =25th of 61, with 2 others.
Who scores higher in Financial Services / Banking?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Barclays.
Santander operates strong renewable energy and operational emissions reductions but masks systematic financed emissions weakness.
See the breakdown →UBS cut its own operational emissions 48% since 2023 and reports financed emissions of 10.4 MtCO2e under PCAF, covering about 61% of its lending.
See the breakdown →Revolut measures emissions but publishes no absolute figures, sets no targets, and discloses no trajectory despite rapid growth doubling headcount and revenue.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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