Scottish Water sustainability score: 46/100
Leading practice starts at 60. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Scottish Water is the publicly owned water and sewerage provider for Scotland, accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It was formed in 2002 and is headquartered in Dunfermline.
More about Scottish Water
Its annual report and accounts for the year to 31 March 2026 report group revenue of £2,360.3m and an average of 5,076 employees, both including the Business Stream retail subsidiary.
Founded 2002Head office Dunfermline, United KingdomStaff ~5,076 (group, incl. Business Stream)Revenue £2,360.3M (FY2025/26, year to 31 March 2026, group, incl. Business Stream)Website ↗
Scottish Water's operational emissions, audited to ISO 14064-1, fell from 462,000 tCO2e in 2006/07 to 220,000 tCO2e in 2024/25, and have been roughly flat for three years. It does not publish emissions from its capital programme of about £1bn a year. In 2025 it recorded 100,041 storm overflow events, with monitoring at 30% of sites. In 2024/25 waste water compliance was 96.7% and Category 3 pollution incidents rose to 199.
Scottish Water scores 46/100 (Making progress) 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 Scottish Water joint 258th of 1,023 companies scored, and 4th of 11 in Water & Sewerage.
What is Scottish Water doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (8/10, 7/10). Weakest on Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain and Resource Use & Waste (4/10, 4/10).
Where Scottish Water 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 supply chainMeasure most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions.
- How it uses materials and handles wasteReport measurable waste or recycling targets publicly.
- Its effect on waterMeasure its water footprint and set reduction targets.
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 chain4/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling6/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is5/10Less than half its energy shown to be renewable, or no transition plan.
- Its effect on nature5/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste4/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets4/10Its 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 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 Water's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Scottish Water'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 Water itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“Operational carbon reporting is audited externally by Achilles to ISO:14064-1.”
“was 220,434 tCO2e this compares to 224,980 tCO2e last year.”
“As a result, the total reported operational footprint for 2025/26 was 226,188 tCO2e.”
“Annual monitoring data is now available for 30% of all sites, compared to just 6% in previous years.”
“spilled wastewater 365 times on 124 different days in 2023”
“Both Sepa and Scottish Water said Eastfield was now operating in line with Sepa's rules, with further improvements to be made.”
“Climate change mitigation and adaptation are integral to the provision of essential water and wastewater services on a sustainable basis.”
“Scottish Water is a statutory corporation that provides water and sewerage services across Scotland.”
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How does Scottish Water compare with other water & sewerage companies?
Where Scottish Water sits among water & sewerage peers.
Among the 11 major water & sewerage brands we've scored, Scottish Water sits 4th of 11.
Who scores higher in Water & Sewerage?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Scottish Water.
Severn Trent's 2025/26 Scope 1 emissions were 384,205 tCO2e under a company-revised method for process emissions; under the industry-standard method they would be 526,222 tCO2e, and its assurer flagged an elevated reporting risk on the change.
See the breakdown →Pennon group Scope 1 and 2 emissions, assured by Jacobs, fell about 4% in 2025/26, mainly because more renewable electricity was bought for the Bristol Water region, and South West Water's electricity is backed by renewable energy certificates.
See the breakdown →United Utilities' 2025/26 market-based Scope 1 and 2 emissions were 539,041 tCO2e, including 239,498 tCO2e added by a 2026 industry update to process-emission factors.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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