Marks & Spencer Group plc sustainability score: 46/100
Marks & Spencer Group plc is a British multinational retailer operating food, clothing, and home goods across 1,400+ stores. Founded 1884, headquartered in London, it is a FTSE 100 company with ~80,000 employees.
More about Marks & Spencer Group plc
The business model embeds significant food supply chain dependencies alongside fashion sourcing complexity.
Founded 1884Head office London, United KingdomStaff ~64,000Revenue ~£13.1BWebsite ↗
M&S has cut operational emissions 33% since 2016/17 but stalled in FY24/25. Supply chain decarbonisation is underway but unverified. Water and biodiversity targets lack quantification. A greenwashing complaint from Feedback stands unresolved. Near-term SBTi targets are solid; net-zero validation lapsed.
Marks & Spencer Group plc scores 46/100 (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 October 2026.
That places Marks & Spencer Group plc joint 256th of 934 companies scored, and joint 7th of 50 in Retail (non-fashion).
What is Marks & Spencer Group plc doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (7/10, 7/10). Weakest on Water Impact and Emissions Trajectory (4/10, 5/10).
Where Marks & Spencer Group plc lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- 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 falling5/10No evidence of a year-on-year fall in its total emissions.
- How clean its energy is6/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature5/10Its 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 water4/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- 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 controversies7/10Points 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 Marks & Spencer Group plc's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Marks & Spencer Group plc's score changed?
Marks & Spencer Group plc's score has moved from 43 to 46 across 2 recorded reviews, up 3 points.
- 43 → 46+33 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 434 April 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Marks & Spencer Group plc's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
75% of them were published by Marks & Spencer Group plc itself; the rest come from independent sources.
“This year, we are reporting no change in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions.”
“Our owned logistics fleet, including Gist, emitted 135 ktCO2e, representing just over a third of our total Scope 1 and 2 emissions.”
“Selected ESG KPIs, including emissions, energy and waste, received independent limited assurance from Deloitte LLP.”
“Enable suppliers to aggregate demand for Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), allowing smaller suppliers to participate in multi-buyer cohorts.”
“We are focused on electrifying, switching to renewables and improving energy efficiency in our operations.”
“% Metric tonnes of soy sourced from physically certified deforestation and conversion free supply chains... Target: 60% Performance: 71%”
“we are working to ensure 100% of soy we use in our products is sourced from verified deforestation and conversion-free supply chains by the end of 2025”
“Where energy is purchased under a renewable tariff, an emissions factor of zero kg CO2e per kWh is applied.”
“making 100% of our packaging reusable or recyclable, cutting food waste by 50% by 2030”
“Scope 1 and 2: reduce absolute GHG emissions 55% by FY2030 from a FY2017 base year, and 90% by FY2035.”
“The retailer uses greenwashing tactics to encourage meat and dairy consumption, such as hailing small initiatives like dairy milk in reduced plastic packaging.”
“Tabloids rushed to state that businesses including Marks & Spencer had 'scrapped' their net-zero targets. Most were quick to clarify that the long-term targets remained.”
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How does Marks & Spencer Group plc compare with other retail (non-fashion) companies?
Where Marks & Spencer Group plc sits among retail (non-fashion) peers.
Among the 50 major retail (non-fashion) brands we've scored, Marks & Spencer Group plc is tied =7th of 50, with 2 others.
Who scores higher in Retail (non-fashion)?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Marks & Spencer Group plc.
Co-op has delivered measurable absolute emissions cuts across Scope 1+2 (59%) and met climate targets early, backed by SBTi validation.
See the breakdown →Decathlon's total footprint has fallen for four years, to 7.95 MtCO2e in 2025, 16% below 2021, against SBTi-validated net-zero targets.
See the breakdown →B&Q reports strong operational decarbonization (66% since 2016/17) and near-complete renewable electricity (99%), but Scope 3 emissions—99.5% of its footprint—rose 6% last year despite intensity gains.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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