Royal Caribbean sustainability score: 25/100
Below expectations starts at 31. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Royal Caribbean Group is a Miami-based cruise line operating 28 ships across three brands (Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Silversea). As the world's largest cruise operator by fleet size, it transports ~5.7 million passengers annually through Caribbean, Mediterranean, Alaska, and Asian waters.
More about Royal Caribbean
Founded in 1972 and publicly traded, the company is a major player in global leisure shipping.
Founded 1997Head office Miami, Florida, USAStaff ~98,200Revenue ~$16.5BWebsite ↗
Royal Caribbean operates the world's largest cruise ships with rising absolute emissions despite intensity improvements. The company discloses Scope 1, 2, and partial Scope 3 data but lacks validated climate targets four years after promising SBTi alignment. Fleet remains 98% fossil-fuel powered; a wind farm offset covers ~10% of emissions. EPA fined the company $473,685 in 2024 for waste violations, continuing a 25-year pattern of environmental penalties.
Royal Caribbean scores 25/100 (Significant gaps) 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 Royal Caribbean joint 871st of 1,023 companies scored, and 18th of 22 in Shipping / Logistics.
What is Royal Caribbean doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (6/10, 5/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Energy Source (1/10, 2/10).
Where Royal Caribbean 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.
- How clean its energy isMove to a renewable energy tariff or make a major efficiency investment.
- Its climate targetsSet specific targets with dates.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations6/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
- Emissions from its supply chain5/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling1/10No evidence its emissions are falling.
- How clean its energy is2/10No 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 waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets2/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports5/10No dedicated sustainability role, board oversight or public report.
- 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 Royal Caribbean's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Royal Caribbean's score based on?
14 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
21% of them were published by Royal Caribbean 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.
11 of 14 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 Royal Caribbean compare with other shipping / logistics companies?
Where Royal Caribbean sits among shipping / logistics peers.
Among the 22 major shipping / logistics brands we've scored, Royal Caribbean sits 18th of 22.
Who scores higher in Shipping / Logistics?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Royal Caribbean.
Wincanton reports Scope 1 and 2 emissions with ISO 14064 certification, but Scope 1 is rising despite a target to cut Scope 1 and 2 by 30% by 2030; progress so far is about 3%.
See the breakdown →Maersk's absolute emissions rose 2% to 85.4 Mt CO2e in 2025 despite SBTi-validated targets.
See the breakdown →GXO Logistics UK reports Scope 1 and 2 emissions but supplies only a narrow Scope 3 subset.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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