Intuitive Surgical sustainability score: 41/100
Better than 43% of Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals
Making progress starts at 46. The highest score on SINK is 71.
Intuitive Surgical makes the da Vinci and Ion robotic-assisted surgical systems and the instruments, accessories and services that go with them. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and reported US$10.1 billion in revenue for 2025, with about 17,000 full-time employees.
Founded 1995Head office Sunnyvale, United StatesStaff ~17,021 (2025)Revenue $10,064.7M (USD, FY2025)Website ↗
Intuitive Surgical reports emissions across all three scopes with limited assurance, but its total rose from 505,075 t in 2021 to 694,829 t in 2025, and it has no emissions reduction target, net-zero commitment or SBTi validation. An independent 2025 hospital waste audit found single-use items made up 93.9% of the waste from da Vinci Xi surgery. In 2026 it settled two 2023 benzene and toluene discharge violations at its Sunnyvale site with the regional water board for a $6,000 penalty.
Intuitive Surgical scores 41/100 (Below expectations) on SINK's independent climate assessment, scored from public data only. Scores are free. Nobody can pay to change a score, speed it up or hide it. Last verified November 2026.
That places Intuitive Surgical joint 396th of 1,033 companies scored, and 13th of 22 in Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals.
What is Intuitive Surgical doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain (7/10, 6/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Targets & Commitments (1/10, 2/10).
Where Intuitive Surgical lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
What would raise this score
- Whether its emissions are fallingShow its emissions are falling.
- Its climate targetsSet specific targets with dates.
- How clean its energy isMove to a renewable energy tariff or make a major efficiency investment.
Every question that lost points
- Emissions from its own operations7/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
- Emissions from its supply chain6/10No full value-chain map or supplier engagement programme.
- Whether its emissions are falling1/10No evidence its emissions are falling.
- How clean its energy is3/10No renewable energy tariff or major efficiency investment shown.
- Its effect on nature3/10No assessment of its effect on nature, and no basic environmental policy.
- How it uses materials and handles waste4/10No measurable waste or recycling targets reported publicly.
- Its effect on water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets2/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports6/10No 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 Intuitive Surgical's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Intuitive Surgical's score changed?
Intuitive Surgical's score has moved from 42 to 41 across 3 recorded reviews, down 1 point.
- 42 → 41-19 November 2026
Corrected: a 2026 order of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board records Intuitive settling two 2023 discharge violations at its Sunnyvale site for a $6,000 penalty, so 2 points come off the controversies question. A tracker site that only copies another source's data was removed.
- 42 → 429 November 2026
First published from a score request. Two cited pages that could not be read were removed, a 2025 hospital waste audit of da Vinci Xi surgery was added, and the sector is now taken from the company's 2025 annual report.
- Scored 429 November 2026
Initial score 42 (score-company publish)
What evidence is Intuitive Surgical's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
50% of them were published by Intuitive Surgical itself; the rest come from independent sources.
6 of 12 sources are independent of the company.
“Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions (MT CO2e) · 7,410 · 7,045 · 7,137 · 8,105 · 9,657”
“complete GHG inventory that has received limited assurance from”
“Direct (Scope 1) GHG emissions (MT CO2e) · 7,410 · 7,045 · 7,137 · 8,105”
“(7.8) Account for your organization's gross global Scope 3 emissions, disclosing and explaining any exclusions.”
“In all cases, we recycle the material in parts and products that can no longer be used.”
“Three of our sites—Sunnyvale, Aubonne, and Mexicali—have ISO 14001:2015-certified management systems”
“We align our Corporate Impact Report with globally recognized frameworks, including the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).”
“The ESG Review Board sets our ESG priorities and communicates those priorities to help integrate throughout the company.”
“added 500 kilowatts (kW) of peak clean energy through our global portfolio of solar photovoltaic arrays for a total of 2.2 megawatts (MW)”
“Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (Discharger) hereby accepts the conditional offer to settle alleged violations through payment of a mandatory minimum penalty”
“Intuitive is refurbishing da Vinci Xi systems that customers trade in when they upgrade to the newer da Vinci 5 robot.”
“The da Vinci Xi instrument arm drape was the most used item”
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How does Intuitive Surgical compare with other healthcare / pharmaceuticals companies?
Where Intuitive Surgical sits among healthcare / pharmaceuticals peers.
Among the 22 major healthcare / pharmaceuticals brands we've scored, Intuitive Surgical sits 13th of 22.
Who scores higher in Healthcare / Pharmaceuticals?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Intuitive Surgical.
Pharmacy2U's footprint was 417,388 tCO2e in its year to March 2025, almost all of it (407,000 t) the medicines it buys; its earlier, much lower totals left most of its supply chain out.
See the breakdown →Novo Nordisk's total emissions rose for a third year, up 19% in 2025 to 2.69 MtCO2e, and the company says it made no reductions that year.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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