WH Smith sustainability score: 52/100
Leading practice starts at 60. The highest score on SINK is 71.
WHSmith is a British retailer founded in 1782, headquartered in Swindon. It operates High Street stores, travel retail outlets, and online channels selling books, stationery, magazines, and convenience goods across the UK, USA, and Europe.
More about WH Smith
It is a mid-cap listed company with 1,500+ stores.
Founded 1782Head office Swindon, United KingdomStaff ~10,000+Revenue ~£1.55BWebsite ↗
WHSmith has delivered genuine operational emissions reductions—89% below 2020 baseline—backed by third-party verification and renewable electricity across its core estate. But Scope 3 remains vague (spend-based estimates only), nature impact reporting is absent, and water disclosure is non-existent. The company has solid commitments and no major controversies, but lacks the granularity and ambition expected at scale.
WH Smith scores 52/100 (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 May 2026.
That places WH Smith joint 109th of 1,023 companies scored, and joint 1st of 54 in Retail (non-fashion).
Limited evidence. This score rests on 5 sources, 60% of them published by the company itself. Every source cited here passed the same quality checks as any other score: all live, none from data aggregators. There is simply less of it.
What is WH Smith doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Energy Source and Controversies & Red Flags (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Water Impact and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (3/10, 4/10).
Where WH Smith 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
- Its effect on waterMonitor its water use and take measures to reduce it.
- Its effect on natureMeasure its effect on nature and have it independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles wasteReport measurable waste or recycling targets publicly.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations7/10Its 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 falling7/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is8/10Its own operations aren't shown to run on 100% renewable energy.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its 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 water3/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets6/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- How openly it reports6/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
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 WH Smith's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is WH Smith's score based on?
5 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
60% of them were published by WH Smith itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Scored on 5 April 2026 under an earlier version of our method. We're re-checking it under the current method.
This company's public sustainability disclosure is limited. This score is based on the 5 verified sources cited below, rather than padded to a standard count.
Limited data coverage. This assessment is based on 5 sources, 60% of which are self-reported by the company. Scores may change as independent evidence becomes available.
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
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How does WH Smith compare with other retail (non-fashion) companies?
WH Smith shares top spot among retail (non-fashion) peers.
Among the 54 major retail (non-fashion) brands we've scored, WH Smith is tied =1st of 54, with 2 others.
Who comes next in Retail (non-fashion)?
WH Smith leads its sector. These are the next 3 down.
Pets at Home has credible operational carbon targets (SBTi-validated, 42% Scope 1+2 reduction by 2030) and has achieved a genuine 44% absolute reduction since 2016 while growing sales 87%.
See the breakdown →Tiffany has credible absolute emission reductions and SBTi-validated net-zero targets, but supply chain opacity remains severe.
See the breakdown →Grafton has validated science-based targets and cut its Scope 1 and 2 emissions 40.3% since 2021, but Scope 3 remains a year behind and product-use emissions rose 15.6% in 2024.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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