Cardinal Health is a US healthcare distributor and medical-products manufacturer headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.
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Cardinal Health reports Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions with third-party assurance, but its Scope 1 and 2 are only 17% below FY2019 against a 50% cut targeted for FY2030. Renewable energy is about 4% of its energy use. It has an SBTi-validated near-term target, but its Scope 3 target is supplier engagement only, and it publishes no nature-impact disclosure. Personal-injury suits over ethylene oxide from a subsidiary's sterilisation plant, now closing, are pending with no ruling.
Cardinal Health scores 37/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Fees pay for the review, never the result. Last verified October 2026.
That places Cardinal Health joint 435th of 847 companies scored, and joint 16th of 19 in Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals.
Where Cardinal Health sits among healthcare / pharmaceuticals peers.
Among the 19 major healthcare / pharmaceuticals brands we've scored, Cardinal Health is tied =16th of 19, with 1 other.
Its three lowest-scoring questions, and what the evidence didn't show.
No nature-dependency assessment, quantified nature footprint, or TNFD disclosure disclosed.
The full reasoning is in the ten questions below.
No external water-related goals; water discharge and consumption not disclosed for FY2025.
A score changes when the evidence does. We use new published evidence at the next rescore. Evidence that isn't public can count through an evidence review.
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Get in touch →Strongest on Carbon Footprint — Operations and Carbon Footprint — Supply Chain (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Nature & Biodiversity Impact and Energy Source (2/10, 3/10).
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Cardinal Health.
Merck reports emissions via GHG Protocol with third-party assurance, but buries specific figures in CDP filings.
See the breakdown →Pfizer discloses robust climate data with GHG Protocol alignment and SBTi validation, but progress is dire: only 15% of its 46% emissions reduction target achieved by 2024, renewable energy stuck at 14% despite RE100 membership, and hazardous waste flat since 2022.
See the breakdown →J&J's Scope 1 and 2 emissions fell 38% from 2021, mostly through renewable electricity instruments including unbundled certificates; Scope 1 itself fell only about 3% from 2023 to 2025.
See the breakdown →The formula and all 10 sources.
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × Scale10 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
“154,395 mtCOe”
“we have been named as a defendant in several lawsuits alleging personal injury as a result of EtO emissions.”
“The Governance and Sustainability Committee provides oversight of our policies and practices regarding political and lobbying activities”
“Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has approved Cardinal Health’s near-term science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets.”
“science-based targets by fiscal 2028.”
“Nearly two dozen people who have lived in the Augusta, Ga. area are suing Cardinal Health subsidiary Kendall Patient Recovery U.S. over ethylene oxide emissions”
“KPR, a subsidiary of Ohio-based Cardinal Health, manufactures and sterilizes medical gauze, foam gauze, alcohol wipes and other products”
“Jason Hollar is chief executive officer of Cardinal Health”
“the company created the new position of ESG VP and hired Megan Maltenfort”
“KPR sterilizes its products using ethylene oxide as a replacement for steam.”
If you believe a source has been misread or a newer version exists, submit a challenge.
Cardinal Health is a US healthcare distributor and medical-products manufacturer headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. It supplies pharmaceuticals, medical devices, gloves and sterile products, and runs a device-reprocessing business. It had about 63,900 employees and $254.2 billion in FY2026 revenue.
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