Heathrow Airport sustainability score: 41/100
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited owns and operates Heathrow, London's largest airport, which handled 84.5 million passengers in 2025. It runs the terminals, runways and airfield services and is a major hub for UK international aviation and cargo.
More about Heathrow Airport
The group is privately owned; revenue was £3.6 billion in 2025, with about 8,100 staff.
Founded 2006Head office Hounslow, United KingdomStaff ~8,094Revenue £3,623M (FY2025)Website ↗
Heathrow's own operational emissions fell slightly, but its total reported footprint rose year on year and is 7.7% below 2019. Cruise and supply-chain emissions are rising. The UK Climate Change Committee says a third runway, which would add about 4.4 Mt CO2 a year, has no credible pathway within UK climate commitments under current policy. Water and waste goals are rated as needing more work.
Heathrow Airport scores 41/100 (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 Heathrow Airport joint 390th of 1,023 companies scored, and 1st of 2 in Airports / Transport Infrastructure.
What is Heathrow Airport doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (8/10, 7/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Water Impact (2/10, 4/10).
Where Heathrow Airport 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
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow its emissions are falling.
- Its effect on waterMeasure its water footprint and set reduction targets.
- How it uses materials and handles wasteReport measurable waste or recycling targets publicly.
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 chain7/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling2/10No evidence its emissions are falling.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature6/10No verified restoration beyond its own footprint, or supply chain not mapped for nature risk.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets7/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- How openly it reports7/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- Its record on controversies6/10Points 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 Heathrow Airport's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Heathrow Airport's score based on?
17 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
24% of them were published by Heathrow Airport itself; the rest come from independent sources.
13 of 17 sources are independent of the company.
“Total scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions(2) 26,998 32,116 28,054 26,681”
“£3,623m”
“stem from Scope 3 emissions (from airlines), which are outside Heathrow’s direct control.”
“Around half of aviation emissions in 2025 resulted from use of Heathrow airport”
“Heathrow currently manages approximately 170 hectares of land across 13 biodiversity sites for nature conservation purposes.”
“The tower has been created to raise awareness of Heathrow's Nature Positive Plan”
“five rivers would need to be diverted, hundreds of homes demolished, and a tunnel built under the M25”
“a 15% cut in ‘in the air’ carbon emissions by 31 December 2030, compared to a 2019 baseline”
“It is the first airport to achieve the accreditation with SBTi’s updated standards.”
“Heathrow is the first airport to achieve this status with SBTi’s updated 1.5 degrees standard.”
“Historically, periods of cold weather have been followed by fungal blooms and linked to the use of glycol as a de-icer at the airport.”
“Carbon emissions from flights at Heathrow in 2025 had fallen to 7% below 2019 levels”
“Heathrow's on the ground carbon emissions dropped by 18%, but the supply chain carbon emissions had risen by 16%.”
“Our sustainability strategy openly acknowledges Heathrow’s environmental, social, and economic impacts (both positive and negative).”
“there is no credible pathway for Heathrow expansion within the UK s climate commitments under current policies.”
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How does Heathrow Airport compare with other airports / transport infrastructure companies?
Heathrow Airport is the highest-scoring airports / transport infrastructure company we've rated.
Among the 2 major airports / transport infrastructure brands we've scored, Heathrow Airport sits 1st of 2.
Who comes next in Airports / Transport Infrastructure?
Heathrow Airport leads its sector. This is the next company down.
See the full Airports / Transport Infrastructure table →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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