Yorkshire Water sustainability score: 39/100
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Yorkshire Water Services Limited is the regulated water and sewerage company for Yorkshire, England, and part of the Kelda Group. It was incorporated on privatisation in 1989 and is headquartered in Leeds.
More about Yorkshire Water
Its filed accounts for the year to 31 March 2026 report revenue of £1,639.8m and an average of 4,481 employees. It is regulated by Ofwat and the Environment Agency.
Founded 1989Head office Leeds, United KingdomStaff ~4,481Revenue £1,639.8M (FY2025/26, year to 31 March 2026)Website ↗
Yorkshire Water's market-based emissions rose from 281 to 295 ktCO2e between FY2024 and FY2025, and Scope 1 rose from 85 to 88 kt. Sewerage pollution incidents rose from 117 in 2022 to 151 in 2024, 13 of them serious, and the Environment Agency rated it 2 stars. In March 2025 Ofwat found breaches of wastewater rules and accepted a £40m undertakings package. Its 2030 Scope 1 and 2 carbon-neutral goal relies on offsets for residual emissions, and its reported Scope 3 covers three categories.
Yorkshire Water scores 39/100 (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 October 2026.
That places Yorkshire Water joint 451st of 1,023 companies scored, and 8th of 11 in Water & Sewerage.
What is Yorkshire Water doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (7/10, 7/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Water Impact (2/10, 2/10).
Where Yorkshire 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
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow its emissions are falling.
- Its effect on waterMonitor its water use and take measures to reduce it.
- How clean its energy isMove to a renewable energy tariff or make a major efficiency investment.
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 chain4/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling2/10No evidence its emissions are falling.
- How clean its energy is3/10No renewable energy tariff or major efficiency investment shown.
- 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 water2/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- 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 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 Yorkshire Water's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Yorkshire Water's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
33% of them were published by Yorkshire Water itself; the rest come from independent sources.
8 of 12 sources are independent of the company.
“Emissions are all UK onshore and have been independently verified (this year by BSI) against the ISO 14064-1 greenhouse gas emission verification standard”
“99.67% satisfactory sludge disposal and use”
“Heating water in homes and businesses makes up 81% of our scope 3 footprint.”
“Our investigation has found serious failures in how Yorkshire Water has operated and maintained its sewage works and networks”
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
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How does Yorkshire Water compare with other water & sewerage companies?
Where Yorkshire Water sits among water & sewerage peers.
Among the 11 major water & sewerage brands we've scored, Yorkshire Water sits 8th of 11.
Who scores higher in Water & Sewerage?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Yorkshire Water.
Wessex Water reports operational and supply-chain emissions, including capital carbon.
See the breakdown →Northumbrian Water's net market-based operational emissions fell from 68.6 to 15.9 ktCO2e between 2019/20 and 2024/25, relying on renewable electricity and gas certificates, while gross location-based emissions moved from 163.3 to 152.6 kt.
See the breakdown →Anglian Water's gross reported emissions rose from 265,219 to 297,156 tCO2e between 2022/23 and 2024/25.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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