Otter.ai sustainability score: 41/100
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Otter.ai is a US-based SaaS platform providing AI-powered meeting transcription, note-taking, and recently launched AI agents for sales and customer support. Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mountain View, it serves 25M+ users and enterprise customers with cloud-based audio intelligence products built on AWS infrastructure.
Founded 2016Head office Mountain View, United StatesStaff ~200Revenue ~$100M ARR (estimate)Website ↗
Otter.ai has published zero emissions data, targets, or sustainability strategy despite $100M ARR and 25M users. Rapid growth in compute-intensive AI workloads is driving rising absolute emissions with no reporting or reduction plan. No governance, no accountability, no disclosures.
Otter.ai 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 July 2026.
That places Otter.ai joint 390th of 1,023 companies scored, and 27th of 69 in SaaS / Digital Services.
What is Otter.ai doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Controversies & Red Flags and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (7/10, 4/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Targets & Commitments (1/10, 1/10).
Where Otter.ai 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, even from energy bills or mileage.
- Its climate targetsSet emissions reduction targets.
- Emissions from its own operationsPublish emissions figures for its own operations, even an estimate from energy bills.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations2/10No emissions figures for its own operations, not even an estimate from energy bills.
- Emissions from its supply chain2/10No assessment of where its supply-chain emissions come from.
- Whether its emissions are falling1/10No evidence its emissions are falling, not even from energy bills or mileage.
- How clean its energy is3/10No renewable energy tariff or major efficiency investment shown.
- 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 water3/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets1/10No emissions reduction targets.
- How openly it reports2/10No published sustainability data, or no one named as responsible for it.
- Its record on controversies7/10Points 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 Otter.ai's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Otter.ai'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 Otter.ai itself; the rest come from independent sources.
9 of 15 sources are independent of the company.
“Explore carbon emissions profiles, Scope 1, 2, and 3 data, and sustainability targets using the DitchCarbon Score.”
“Otter uses AWS services for its data storage in the AWS region West, United States.”
“One hundred percent of electricity consumed by Amazon was matched with renewable energy sources in 2024 for the second consecutive year.”
“Otter uses AWS S3 storage and enables AWS SSE (Server Side Encryption) on data (S3 buckets).”
“Sacra estimates that Otter.ai generated $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) in March 2025, up from $81M ARR at the end of 2024.”
“In October 2025, Otter.ai launched a comprehensive enterprise suite that solidifies its position as the corporate knowledge base for modern organizations.”
“100% of electricity consumed by Amazon was matched with renewable energy sources in 2024, for the second consecutive year.”
“Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres recorded a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.15, outperforming the industry average of 1.25.”
“Otter.ai Caps Transformational 2025 with $100M ARR Milestone, Industry-first AI Meeting Agents, and Global Enterprise Expansion”
“Otter.ai, Inc. is an American transcription software company based in Mountain View, California.”
“The SBTi's Target Dashboard lists companies and financial institutions that have set science-based targets, or have committed to developing targets.”
“Filed in August 2025, Brewer v. Otter.ai alleges that Otter's 'Otter Notetaker' and 'OtterPilot' services recorded, accessed, and used the contents of private conversations without obtaining proper consent.”
“Lawsuit claims Otter.ai's AI notetaker records meetings without participant consent, raising privacy, legal, and attorney-client privilege concerns”
“Key achievements include a reduction of 71,000 MTCO₂e from customer adoption of energy-efficient technologies and a goal to become water positive by 2030.”
“In AWS, the company aims to be water positive by 2030 and has made 53% progress toward meeting this goal.”
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How does Otter.ai compare with other saas / digital services companies?
Where Otter.ai sits among saas / digital services peers.
Among the 69 major saas / digital services brands we've scored, Otter.ai sits 27th of 69.
Who scores higher in SaaS / Digital Services?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Otter.ai.
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