Hyundai Motor Company scores 3 points higher than Kia on SINK.
Hyundai Motor Company is more sustainable according to SINK's scores, scoring 29/100 vs Kia's 26/100, a difference of 3 points.
Hyundai Motor Company scores 29/100 on SINK (Significant gaps). Hyundai's footprint was 201,615,337 tCO2e in 2025, 2.2% below 2024 on a restated basis, and most of it comes from the fuel and electricity its vehicles use. 35% of its electricity was renewable in 2025, 88% overseas, but its Korean plants still run mostly on grid power. Hyundai reports that SBTi approved near-term targets in 2025 to cut Scope 1 and 2 by about 42% by 2030 and use-phase emissions by 63% by 2035; its 2045 carbon-neutrality pledge is not SBTi-validated. CDP rated it A on climate and on water. InfluenceMap finds it backed a weaker US fuel economy rule in February 2026 and opposed the UK ZEV mandate.
Kia scores 26/100 on SINK (Significant gaps). Kia's footprint was about 143.2 Mt CO2e in 2025, up from about 100.6 Mt in 2024. Part of the rise comes from assuming a longer vehicle life, 220,000 km rather than 200,000 km, but purchased goods and upstream transport also rose, while Scope 1&2 fell 7%. A group-wide renewable electricity share for 2025 was not found; it targets 100% by 2040 under RE100. Korean press report that SBTi approved a 63% cut in Scope 1-3 emissions by 2035 against 2024. InfluenceMap's 2022 Korea assessment found Kia joined its trade body KAMA in objecting to the transition to zero-emission vehicles.
Both companies are rated on the same 10-question SINK rubric: Scope 1/2/3 carbon footprint, energy source, nature and biodiversity, resource use, water, emissions trajectory, science-based targets, transparency, and controversies. Scores are 0–100, based on public data, and fully reproducible.
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