Pearson sustainability score: 60/100
Pearson is a multinational educational publishing and assessment company headquartered in London, operating global testing services, digital learning platforms, and academic content. It is the largest education company by revenue and a major player in K–12, higher education, and professional certification markets.
Head office GBStaff ~17,000Revenue ~£3.55BWebsite ↗
Pearson has cut absolute emissions 57% since 2018 and holds SBTi-validated targets through 2050. Operations and energy procurement are well-documented with third-party assurance. Weak spots: Scope 3 lacks category-level reduction targets; nature and water disclosures are minimal; circular economy commitments are absent despite structural shift to digital.
Pearson scores 60/100 (Leading practice) 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 Pearson joint 13th of 934 companies scored, and joint 2nd of 28 in Media / Entertainment / Publishing.
What is Pearson doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Emissions Trajectory (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Nature & Biodiversity Impact and Resource Use & Waste (4/10, 4/10).
Where Pearson 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 falling8/10Not shown to be on a 1.5°C path across all its emissions.
- How clean its energy is7/10Less than 90% of its energy shown to be renewable.
- Its effect on nature4/10Its effect on nature isn't measured or independently verified.
- 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 targets8/10No validated long-term net zero target.
- 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 Pearson's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Pearson's score changed?
Pearson's score has moved from 61 to 60 across 2 recorded reviews, down 1 point.
- 61 → 60-13 October 2026
Aggregator sweep, source-fix pass: dead cited URLs re-sourced and broker citations replaced with primaries; re-scored under pinned code 9196601.
- Scored 612 August 2026
Initial public score 61 (publish-draft)
What evidence is Pearson's score based on?
12 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
42% of them were published by Pearson itself; the rest come from independent sources.
7 of 12 sources are independent of the company.
“Scope 1: 4,095 [tCO₂e]; Scope 2 market-based: 11 [tCO₂e]”
“primary target is to reduce our absolute scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions by 50% by 2030”
“Maintain 100% renewable electricity consumption across our operations”
“we are seeking to reduce our use of RECs as pricing has been volatile and they do not necessarily support the development of new renewable capacity”
“The companies in this sector are BT Group plc, Informa plc, ITV plc, Pearson plc, Vodafone Group plc and WPP plc.”
“ESG Risk Rating: 8.1 Negligible. Industry Rank: 1 out of 252.”
“Overseeing Pearson's sustainability strategy, guided by the Learning for Impact framework”
“We continue to provide information about sustainability-related impacts clearly and comparably to all stakeholders.”
“groups and companies which work to hold back key climate policies may have a far more negative impact on climate change”
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How does Pearson compare with other media / entertainment / publishing companies?
Where Pearson sits among media / entertainment / publishing peers.
Among the 28 major media / entertainment / publishing brands we've scored, Pearson is tied =2nd of 28, with 1 other.
Who scores higher in Media / Entertainment / Publishing?
The one company in the sector scoring above Pearson.
See the full Media / Entertainment / Publishing table →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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