Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust sustainability score: 26/100
Better than 15% of Financial Services / Banking
Below expectations starts at 31. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is a UK-listed closed-end investment company founded in 1909 and headquartered in Edinburgh. It manages a globally diversified portfolio of ~100 public and private growth companies across technology, healthcare, and consumer sectors.
More about Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
The Trust is externally managed by Baillie Gifford and has no employees or direct operations.
Head office United KingdomStaff ~0 (externally managed; no direct employees)Revenue ~£14–15B AUM (investment trust, not a revenue-generating company in the conventional sense)Website ↗
Scottish Mortgage is a listed investment trust with negligible operational footprint but material financed emissions exposure through ~100 portfolio companies. It publishes partial portfolio-level climate data via TCFD but has no entity-specific emissions targets. Its manager withdrew from net-zero initiatives in 2024, and the Trust explicitly states ESG is secondary to returns.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust scores 26/100 (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 August 2026.
That places Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust joint 847th of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 51st of 61 in Financial Services / Banking.
What is Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Controversies & Red Flags and Water Impact (5/10, 4/10). Weakest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Emissions Trajectory (2/10, 2/10).
Where Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust 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
- Emissions from its own operationsPublish emissions figures for its own operations, even an estimate from energy bills.
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow its emissions are falling, even from energy bills or mileage.
- Its climate targetsSet specific targets with dates.
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 chain3/10No assessment of where its supply-chain emissions come from.
- Whether its emissions are falling2/10No 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 nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste3/10No active waste reduction, reuse or repair shown.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets2/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports4/10No dedicated sustainability role, board oversight or public report.
- Its record on controversies5/10Points 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 Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust's score changed?
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust's score has been reviewed 2 times and currently stands where it started, at 26.
- 26 → 267 November 2026
Correction, 7 November 2026: removed an unsourced emissions figure. Score unchanged.
- Scored 2630 August 2026
Initial public score 26 (publish-draft)
What evidence is Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust's score based on?
8 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
25% of them were published by Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“the Company being an externally-managed investment company with no employees”
“SCOTTISH MORTGAGE INVESTMENT TRUST PLC - Free company information from Companies House”
“Material scope 3 emissions are very likely to be higher for the 2023 reporting”
“Baillie Gifford courted controversy in 2024 when it left the Net Zero Asset Managers' Initiative”
“Baillie Gifford has left the Climate Action 100+ group and Net Zero Asset Managers initiative”
“Baillie Gifford are integrating their screening tool into their firmwide Climate Audit tool”
“This strategic report, which includes pages 4 to 56, has been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006”
“Baillie Gifford, which left NZAM in 2024... also has not rejoined”
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How does Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust compare with other financial services / banking companies?
Where Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust sits among financial services / banking peers.
Among the 61 major financial services / banking brands we've scored, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust is tied =51st of 61, with 1 other.
Who scores higher in Financial Services / Banking?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust.
Morgan Stanley reports operational emissions with Deloitte review, but publishes financed emissions only for six lending sectors and gives no total.
See the breakdown →Starling Bank reports low operational emissions but excludes financed emissions entirely—the material impact for any lender.
See the breakdown →F&C Investment Trust discloses minimal environmental data despite managing £3bn+ in global equities.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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