Standard Chartered sustainability score: 32/100
Standard Chartered is a London-based international bank serving corporate, institutional, affluent and retail clients, with most of its business in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Standard Chartered PLC was incorporated in 1969; its roots go back to 1853.
More about Standard Chartered
It had $20.9 billion operating income and about 81,200 employees in 2025.
Founded 1969Head office London, United KingdomStaff ~81,204Revenue $20,942M (FY2025, operating income)Website ↗
Standard Chartered has cut its own operational emissions, but financed emissions make up over 99% of its footprint, which reached 51.3 MtCO2e in 2025. Banking on Climate Chaos reports its fossil fuel financing up 28% in 2025. Its targets cover 12 high-emitting sectors, and it left the SBTi validation process in 2023.
Standard Chartered scores 32/100 (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 October 2026.
That places Standard Chartered joint 620th of 934 companies scored, and joint 36th of 59 in Financial Services / Banking.
What is Standard Chartered doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Transparency & Accountability (8/10, 8/10). Weakest on Targets & Commitments and Emissions Trajectory (2/10, 4/10).
Where Standard Chartered 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 falling4/10No 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 nature4/10Its 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 water5/10No measured water footprint with reduction targets.
- Its climate targets2/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports8/10No mission-locked structure, such as B Corp certification.
- 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 Standard Chartered's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Standard Chartered's score changed?
Standard Chartered's score has moved from 39 to 32 across 2 recorded reviews, down 7 points.
- 39 → 32-726 October 2026
Re-scored under v2.5.19 (RE100 UK pre-v2.5 re-score). The bank's own 51.3 MtCO2e (Sustainability Review 2025, p.27) sets the 0.60x deduction.
- Scored 394 April 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Standard Chartered's score based on?
14 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
14% of them were published by Standard Chartered itself; the rest come from independent sources.
12 of 14 sources are independent of the company.
“Total Scope 1 and 2 emissions 5,792 24,968 34,734”
“were independently assured by Global Documentation Ltd. The assurance scope in 2024 now includes the leased vehicle fleet and fugitive emissions”
“its Scope 1 and 2 emissions have declined to 6 ktCO2e from a baseline of 148 ktCO2e in 2018”
“Several major banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered, have chosen to exit the process of seeking Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) validation”
“the long-used revenue-based carbon intensity model “can be very misleading,” StanChart's chief sustainability officer Marisa Drew told Eco-Business.”
“Standard Chartered, however, increased its fossil fuel financing by 28%”
“For the third year in a row, Standard Chartered was also called out on its financing of San Miguel Global Power in the Philippines.”
“Standard Chartered Bank’s new climate policy upholds the bank’s status as a climate laggard, according to environmental finance organisation Market Forces”
“The British bank's climate policy is undermined by a deal to fund the Ratchaburi gas plant near Bangkok, NGOs say.”
“Bill Winters , CEO of Standard Chartered which remains a member of the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA)”
“Oliver Withers, Head of Nature, Standard Chartered, another early TNFD adopter”
“Urgewald called out Standard Chartered for being the largest British financier of coal expansion since the Paris Agreement.”
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How does Standard Chartered compare with other financial services / banking companies?
Where Standard Chartered sits among financial services / banking peers.
Among the 59 major financial services / banking brands we've scored, Standard Chartered is tied =36th of 59, with 6 others.
Who scores higher in Financial Services / Banking?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Standard Chartered.
Commerzbank has cut emissions from its own banking operations 47% since 2021, but its financed emissions rose 24% in 2025 to about 92 MtCO2e.
See the breakdown →Jupiter's financed emissions rose 48% year-on-year to 26.2 MtCO2e while operational emissions fell marginally.
See the breakdown →SJP's emissions are rising sharply across Scope 3 (up 603% since 2016), its 2025 net zero operations target has failed, and multi-year trajectory data is corrupted by perimeter re-baselining.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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