Veolia UK sustainability score: 37/100
Veolia ES (UK) Limited operates waste collection, recycling, landfill, and energy-from-waste facilities across the United Kingdom. Founded in 1990 and headquartered in London, it is the UK operating subsidiary of French multinational Veolia Environnement.
More about Veolia UK
It manages municipal waste contracts and has about 10,225 employees.
Founded 1990Head office United KingdomStaff ~10,225 (2025)Revenue £1,344.7M revenue (FY ended 31 Dec 2025)Website ↗
Veolia UK's absolute emissions are rising despite green tariffs and landfill gas capture. Its net-zero target lacks interim UK-specific goals. Water impact and complete supply-chain scope remain unreported. Its latest standalone UK sustainability report is for 2022, and no third-party assurance of its UK emissions was found.
Veolia UK scores 37/100 (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 November 2026.
That places Veolia UK joint 488th of 947 companies scored, and 2nd of 4 in Waste & Recycling.
What is Veolia UK doing well, and where does it fall short?
Strongest on Controversies & Red Flags and Carbon Footprint: Operations (8/10, 6/10). Weakest on Emissions Trajectory and Water Impact (0/10, 2/10).
Where Veolia UK lost points
For each question that lost points, the evidence our public rubric looks for that we didn't find.
- Emissions from its own operations6/10Its own emissions aren't independently verified or tracked over several years.
- Emissions from its supply chain4/10Most of its supply-chain (Scope 3) emissions aren't measured.
- Whether its emissions are falling0/10No evidence its emissions are falling, not even from energy bills or mileage.
- How clean its energy is4/10Less than half its energy shown to be renewable, or no transition plan.
- 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 water2/10No monitoring of water use, or no measures to reduce it.
- Its climate targets3/10No specific targets with dates.
- How openly it reports5/10No dedicated sustainability role, board oversight or public report.
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 Veolia UK's SINK score calculated?
Same ten questions for every company. No private weighting.
SINK = (0.3 × Base + 0.7 × Performance) × ScaleWhat evidence is Veolia UK's score based on?
14 sources used in this assessment. All publicly available. Each row shows which of the ten questions it informed.
36% of them were published by Veolia UK itself; the rest come from independent sources.
9 of 14 sources are independent of the company.
“Scope 1 154,779 0 0”
“Energy & Carbon reporting within the Directors Report”
“When plastic is burned, it releases non-biogenic”
“Veolia ES Shropshire Limited”
“minimising waste by implementing the ‘Waste Hierarchy’”
“This procedure applies to all Veolia UK and Ireland locations”
“More than £1 billion of local authority contracts were secured or extended by Veolia UK in 2025.”
“In 2019, Veolia’s plants emitted an average of 970 grams of CO2 equivalent emissions for every kilowatt hour of electricity exported to the grid”
“Veolia’s top-line messaging on climate policy is supportive of ambitious action.”
“Veolia was back in court in July to answer a charge involving sending liquid wastes to the landfill”
“As part of their Biodiversity Strategy Veolia NI completed Baseline Assessments for all their sites”
“Veolia says it now exports more than six times the renewable electricity than it uses across its 400 offices and sites across the UK.”
“using a combination of biomass, landfill gas, biogas and Energy Recovery facilities (ERF)”
“Veolia announced that its decarbonization targets have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)”
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How does Veolia UK compare with other waste & recycling companies?
Where Veolia UK sits among waste & recycling peers.
Among the 4 major waste & recycling brands we've scored, Veolia UK sits 2nd of 4.
Who scores higher in Waste & Recycling?
The one company in the sector scoring above Veolia UK.
See the full Waste & Recycling table →Which companies moved this week, and why.
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