London Metal Exchange tops Earthmark UK green ranking

Earthmark has published a ranking of UK businesses based on environmental performance, with London Metal Exchange topping the table.

The Oxford-based company analysed publicly disclosed environmental information and applied its scoring method to 25,000 brands. In the UK rankings, RELX, PageGroup and TradingHub followed London Metal Exchange, while Charlotte Tilbury was the highest-ranked consumer brand.

Penhaligon's, Experian, Wood Thilsted, Grainger and Alliance Healthcare completed the top 10. Earthmark gave London Metal Exchange a score of 4.7 out of five, while RELX, PageGroup and TradingHub each scored 4.6.

The broader top 100 includes retailers, financial groups, industrial companies and consumer brands. THG ranked 25th with a score of 4.1, Tesco was 50th on 4.0, Aviva 67th on 3.9, Diageo 73rd on 3.9, NEXT 80th on 3.9 and Revolut 86th on 3.9.

Earthmark scores brands on a scale of one to five. The rating draws on factors including carbon emissions, waste performance, sustainability disclosures, net-zero commitments and third-party assessments, with companies compared against peers in their sectors.

A score of one indicates a business at the start of its climate journey, while a score of five denotes what Earthmark classes as industry-leading environmental performance. Brands and online marketplaces can display the scores, and users can search a wider directory covering all rated brands.

How It Works

According to the methodology published with the rankings, Earthmark aggregates information from public sources and organisations including the Science Based Targets initiative and BCorp. It then uses artificial intelligence tools to process company disclosures and extract environmental performance data from impact reports.

Earthmark calculates intensity values based on revenue and benchmarks businesses against more than 100 sector peer groups. The scoring model includes current emissions and waste measures, disclosure quality, future commitments and external assessments.

The rankings come as scrutiny of corporate environmental claims remains high. Earthmark said its system is intended to address both greenwashing, where companies overstate environmental progress, and greenhushing, where they disclose too little.

Jack Linnett, Chief Executive Officer at Earthmark, commented on the range of sectors represented near the top of the UK table.

"It's fascinating to see the spread of industries represented in the top 10, evidencing that commitment to environmental performance is not limited to industry. The highest-scoring businesses are leading the way because they are not just talking about sustainability - they are backing it up with clear, publicly available evidence of action, accountability and progress, rather than relying on broad claims or vague commitments. That matters because trust is becoming one of the biggest challenges in corporate sustainability. The organisations scoring highest with Earthmark are those showing they are prepared to be transparent, accountable and open about their environmental impact - and that's exactly the kind of leadership the market needs more of," said Jack Linnett, Chief Executive Officer at Earthmark.

The top 20 also featured Medik8, Sephora, Johnson Matthey, BAE Systems, Oxford Instruments, Ventient Energy, WH Smith, RS Group, Arcus FM and Ethical Superstore. The ranking spans listed groups, private companies and consumer-facing brands across sectors from beauty and recruitment to engineering and utilities.

Retail names were prominent throughout the wider list. Alongside Tesco and NEXT, it included LookFantastic, Cotswold Outdoor, Virgin Wines, Toolstation, Jo Malone London, F&F Clothing, B&Q, Wickes, Screwfix and Russell & Bromley.

Financial and business services groups also featured strongly. Experian ranked seventh, while Vanquis Banking Group, Intermediate Capital Group, Legal & General, NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland Group all appeared in the top 100.

Industrial and infrastructure businesses were another notable presence, with companies including Johnson Matthey, Northern Powergrid, Smiths Group, Rotork, Wates Group and Westermost Rough making the list. Several construction and property names also featured, including Grainger, Crest Nicholson, Sir Robert McAlpine and Vistry Group.

Earthmark said tied overall scores are separated by underlying calculations carried to two decimal places. That means companies with the same published rating can still appear in a different order within the ranking.

Linnett said the ratings are intended to reduce confusion around environmental claims.

"Greenwashing and greenhushing create huge amounts of consumer confusion. Most people want to make better choices when they shop, but working out which brands are genuinely taking action on the environment can be difficult," he said.