First Milk sustainability score: 40/100
First Milk is a UK dairy co-operative owned by its farmer members, with its registered office in Glasgow. It turns their milk into liquid milk, cheese and whey protein ingredients, and makes specialist chilled dairy products through BV Dairy.
More about First Milk
It is registered as a co-operative society (IP29199R). It had about 400 employees and £619.0 million turnover in its year to March 2026.
Head office Glasgow, UKStaff ~397 (April 2026 gender pay gap headcount)Revenue ~£619.0M turnover (FY to Mar 2026)Website ↗
First Milk's footprint was 1.29 MtCO2e in its year to March 2026, 98% of it from its members' farms, and the figures are independently assured. Net emissions fell 3.8% in the year but rose 14% the year before, after it bought BV Dairy. Its regenerative farming programme covers 99,206 hectares and over 96% of members, but its net-zero-by-2040 target is not yet SBTi-validated, its farm targets are intensity-based, and it publishes no water-use figures; a 2023 effluent discharge at its Haverfordwest creamery was investigated by Natural Resources Wales.
First Milk scores 40/100 (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 November 2026.
That places First Milk joint 409th of 934 companies scored, and 2nd of 12 in Food & Beverage (meat/dairy).
What is First Milk doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Controversies & Red Flags (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Water Impact and Targets & Commitments (3/10, 4/10).
Where First Milk 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 chain7/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling5/10No evidence of a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
- How clean its energy is5/10Less than half its energy shown to be renewable, or no transition plan.
- Its effect on nature5/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- How it uses materials and handles waste5/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water3/10No 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.
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 First Milk's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is First Milk's score based on?
11 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
27% of them were published by First Milk itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“Scope 1 - Direct Emissions 24,648 25,399 (751) (3.0)%”
“First Milk confirmed it now sources 100% of its purchased electricity from renewables”
“total greenhouse gas emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3 increased by 14% year-on-year”
“3.8% reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions across the First Milk business”
“Greenhouse gas emissions at First Milk fell by almost 5% in the year to March 31, according to its latest impact report.”
“an investigation by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is underway”
“discoloured discharges and solids going into the river”
“First Milk has been gathering data of what is happening on every single field managed by 80 farmers in the regenerative programme”
“an important part of its commitment to reaching net zero by 2040”
“Net emissions across the co-operative’s full GHG reporting scope (Scope 1, 2 and 3) increased in the year by 166,416 tonnes (14%)”
“A DAIRY company with operations in Haverfordwest has reported itself to Natural Resources Wales and issued an apology”
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How does First Milk compare with other food & beverage (meat/dairy) companies?
Where First Milk sits among food & beverage (meat/dairy) peers.
Among the 12 major food & beverage (meat/dairy) brands we've scored, First Milk sits 2nd of 12.
Who scores higher in Food & Beverage (meat/dairy)?
The one company in the sector scoring above First Milk.
See the full Food & Beverage (meat/dairy) table →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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