British American Tobacco sustainability score: 41/100
British American Tobacco manufactures and sells cigarettes, vaping devices, and tobacco products globally from its London headquarters. With 55,000 employees and £25.8B revenue (FY2020), BAT is the world's second-largest listed tobacco company.
More about British American Tobacco
It has diversified into e-vapour and non-combustible products but remains primarily dependent on cigarette sales.
Head office United KingdomStaff ~55,000 (2020)Revenue ~£25.8B (FY2020)Website ↗
BAT reports comprehensive operational emissions data with third-party assurance, yet Scope 3 lags by a year and remains massive at 5.5Mt. A $5M lawsuit alleges greenwashing over carbon-neutral vape claims using worthless offsets. Trade association memberships contradict stated climate positions. The business structure—249 billion cigarettes annually, 5% of global deforestation from tobacco farming, 4–5 trillion butts littered yearly—represents a fundamental circular economy failure that disclosure sophistication cannot offset.
British American Tobacco scores 41/100 (Below expectations) 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 October 2026.
That places British American Tobacco joint 384th of 934 companies scored, and joint 17th of 45 in FMCG / Consumer Goods.
What is British American Tobacco doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Emissions Trajectory (8/10, 7/10). Weakest on Nature & Biodiversity Impact and Energy Source (3/10, 5/10).
Where British American Tobacco lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations8/10No verified figures published with their method and a falling trend.
- Emissions from its supply chain6/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling7/10No 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 nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste6/10No verified figures for reuse and recycling across the business.
- Its effect on water6/10No water stewardship programme or verified fall in water use.
- Its climate targets6/10Its targets aren't validated by 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 British American Tobacco's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas British American Tobacco's score changed?
British American Tobacco's score has moved from 34 to 41 across 2 recorded reviews, up 7 points.
- 34 → 41+73 October 2026
Aggregator-citation sweep: broker citations replaced with the primary disclosures they mirror, re-scored through the guarded pipeline under pinned code 9196601.
- Scored 342 August 2026
Initial public score 34 (publish-draft)
What evidence is British American Tobacco's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
67% of them were published by British American Tobacco itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“Total Scope 1 CO2e emissions (thousand tonnes) 237 … Total Scope 2 CO2e emissions (market-based) (thousand tonnes) 74”
“independently assured by KPMG using the ISAE (UK) 3000 and ISAE 3410”
“covers 26,000 direct and indirect suppliers … emissions account for around 50% of our Scope 3 inventory”
“Energy reduction initiatives and increasing the use of renewable fuels resulted in a 42.6% reduction in these emissions vs our 2020 baseline”
“SBTi has verified BAT's net-zero science-based target by 2050 and approved its near and long-term science-based emission reduction targets”
“BAT has signed up to the TNFD (Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures) to be an Early Adopter”
“In one year we lose 22 billion tonnes of water to the tobacco industry”
“Estimates show that tobacco farming causes up to five per cent of global deforestation, with 200,000 hectares of natural wood biomass loss each year”
“Total waste generated: 110.58 thousand tonnes … Waste recycled: 97.3 thousand tonnes … Waste to landfill: 1.40 thousand tonnes”
“Total water withdrawn (mn m³) 3.16 3.50 3.76 Y”
“achieving a 47.4% reduction in 2024 (versus our 2017 baseline)”
“BAT continued to market Vuse products as carbon-neutral even after being made aware of the sham credits”
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How does British American Tobacco compare with other fmcg / consumer goods companies?
Where British American Tobacco sits among fmcg / consumer goods peers.
Among the 45 major fmcg / consumer goods brands we've scored, British American Tobacco is tied =17th of 45, with 4 others.
Who scores higher in FMCG / Consumer Goods?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above British American Tobacco.
Natracare reports its first comprehensive carbon footprint (2,664 tCO2e, 99% Scope 3) but the Scope 3 calculation is internally inconsistent, missing end-of-life and downstream transport.
See the breakdown →Estée Lauder has locked in strong operational emissions reductions (37.6% since 2018) and renewable energy, but Scope 3 emissions—95% of its footprint—rose 10% absolute while targets remain intensity-based.
See the breakdown →General Mills reports comprehensively on Scope 1 and 2 emissions with third-party verification and has nearly reached 100% renewable electricity.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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