BBC sustainability score: 59/100
The BBC is the UK's public service broadcaster, funded mainly by the licence fee, with commercial income from BBC Studios, which makes and sells programmes worldwide. The British Broadcasting Corporation was established by Royal Charter from 1 January 1927; its roots go back to 1922, when the British Broadcasting Company was formed.
More about BBC
It had about 21,376 employees (average full-time equivalent) and £5,962 million income in 2025/26, £3,879 million of it from the licence fee.
Founded 1927Head office London, UKStaff ~21,376 (average FTE, 2025/26)Revenue ~£5.96B income (2025/26)Website ↗
The BBC's footprint was 345,018 tCO2e in 2025/26, mostly the programmes and services it buys, down from 404,102 t in 2019/20, partly because it made fewer productions. About 88% of its electricity is renewable, without power purchase agreements, and diesel use at a power generation site doubled. It has SBTi-validated absolute targets with net zero by 2050, and Deloitte assures its figures. It halved its UK waste but publishes no water data. DeSmog reported in 2024 that BBC StoryWorks made paid content for fossil-fuel clients.
BBC scores 59/100 (Making progress) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Companies can never pay for anything about their own score. Last verified November 2026.
That places BBC joint 19th of 934 companies scored, and joint 4th of 28 in Media / Entertainment / Publishing.
What is BBC doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Targets & Commitments (9/10, 9/10). Weakest on Water Impact and Nature & Biodiversity Impact (2/10, 4/10).
Where BBC lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations9/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain8/10Its Scope 3 emissions aren't fully verified or falling year on year.
- Whether its emissions are falling6/10No consistent fall over several years across its operations and supply chain.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste6/10No verified figures for reuse and recycling across the business.
- Its effect on water2/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets9/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- How openly it reports7/10No annual impact report, or no pay linked to climate targets.
- Its record on controversies6/10Points 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 BBC's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is BBC's score based on?
10 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
10% of them were published by BBC itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“Selected metrics subject to independent Limited Assurance by Deloitte LLP in 2026”
“BBC Group annual report and accounts for 2025 to 2026”
“The SBTi standard requires a 90 per cent reduction in emissions with no more than 10 per cent offset by 2050”
“British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) commits to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions across the value chain by FY2050/51.”
“A rating in CDP's Supplier Engagement Assessment”
“scored well as they had comprehensive reporting of their emissions and credible reduction targets”
“The BBC has produced dozens of films and articles for oil and gas companies, agricultural giants, fossil fuel states, and high-emission transport firms”
“BBC accused of allegedly greenwashing carbon-intensive companies”
“accused the BBC of greenwashing the image of some of the most carbon-intensive sectors in the world”
“The BBC earned around £300,000 in advertising revenue last year from Aramco”
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How does BBC compare with other media / entertainment / publishing companies?
Where BBC sits among media / entertainment / publishing peers.
Among the 28 major media / entertainment / publishing brands we've scored, BBC is tied =4th of 28, with 1 other.
Who scores higher in Media / Entertainment / Publishing?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above BBC.
Guardian Media Group's footprint fell 48% from 2019/20 to 17,789 tCO2e in 2024/25, mostly because it prints fewer newspapers; print is still just under two-thirds of the total.
See the breakdown →Rightmove reports operational emissions cut 43% since 2020 through renewable electricity, but total footprint rose 12% due to rising Scope 3 spend-based supply-chain emissions, unverified and growing.
See the breakdown →Pearson has cut absolute emissions 57% since 2018 and holds SBTi-validated targets through 2050.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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