Superdrug Stores sustainability score: 33/100
Superdrug Stores plc is a UK health and beauty retailer selling own-brand and third-party cosmetics, toiletries and pharmacy products, headquartered in Croydon. Revenue was £1,719.8m in 2025, with an average of 15,037 employees.
More about Superdrug Stores
Its ultimate parent is CK Hutchison Holdings, through A.S. Watson.
Founded 1964Head office Croydon, United KingdomStaff ~15,000Revenue ~£1.72BWebsite ↗
Superdrug reports Scope 1 and 2 under the GHG Protocol in its filed accounts, but its Scope 3 covers only logistics and business travel; purchased goods, the dominant footprint for a £1.7bn health and beauty retailer, are not quantified, so the Scope 3 completeness cap applies. Scope 1 rose in 2025 and is well behind its 2030 target. No water figures were found, and Good On You rates it ‘Not good enough’.
Superdrug Stores scores 33/100 (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 Superdrug Stores joint 595th of 934 companies scored, and joint 32nd of 50 in Retail (non-fashion).
Limited evidence. This score rests on 8 sources, 0% of them published by the company itself. Every source cited here passed the same quality checks as any other score: all live, none from data aggregators. There is simply less of it.
What is Superdrug Stores doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Carbon Footprint: Operations and Controversies & Red Flags (7/10, 7/10). Weakest on Carbon Footprint: Supply Chain and Water Impact (2/10, 2/10).
Where Superdrug Stores 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 chain2/10No assessment of where its supply-chain emissions come from.
- 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 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 water2/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets5/10Its targets aren't science-based or committed to the Science Based Targets initiative.
- How openly it reports6/10No 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 Superdrug Stores's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleHas Superdrug Stores's score changed?
Superdrug Stores's score has moved from 39 to 33 across 2 recorded reviews, down 6 points.
- 39 → 33-617 October 2026
correction: re-sourced 2026-10-17 (live records failing current gates). Re-scored under v2.5.14 from Companies House filings and independent press; reported Scope 3 is partial, so the Scope 3 completeness cap applies (owner sign-off 2026-10-17).
- Scored 394 April 2026
Initial score at platform launch
What evidence is Superdrug Stores's score based on?
8 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
0% of them were published by Superdrug Stores itself; the rest come from independent sources.
Limited data coverage. This assessment is based on 8 sources, 0% of which are self-reported by the company. Scores may change as independent evidence becomes available.
“An operational control approach has been used in order to define the Company's organisational boundary.”
“The Company has employed the service of a specialist external advisor to quantify the Greenhouse Gas”
“A medium proportion of its palm oil is RSPO-certified.”
“the average number of people employed by Superdrug increased from 13,430 to 13,845”
“our partnership with TerraCycle, which allows customers to recycle their empty medicine blister packs at our pharmacies”
“first health and beauty retailer in the UK to join the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment”
“signed the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment in 2020”
“Full accounts made up to 27 December 2025”
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How does Superdrug Stores compare with other retail (non-fashion) companies?
Where Superdrug Stores sits among retail (non-fashion) peers.
Among the 50 major retail (non-fashion) brands we've scored, Superdrug Stores is tied =32nd of 50, with 3 others.
Who scores higher in Retail (non-fashion)?
The 3 companies in the sector scoring nearest above Superdrug Stores.
Poundland operates with minimal emissions transparency and no supply chain carbon quantification despite acknowledging this is where most impacts occur.
See the breakdown →Aldi UK has validated science-based net-zero targets and reduced operational emissions 4.3% year-on-year, but absolute Scope 3 emissions rose 18% in 2023 due to business expansion.
See the breakdown →ALDI SOUTH has validated net-zero targets and eliminated 63% of operational emissions since 2016, but total Scope 3 emissions rose 18% in 2023 due to expansion.
See the breakdown →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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