South Pole

Does the core business genuinely avoid or reduce emissions, or build climate resilience? Share of revenue that is actually 'green'. Fossil-dependent models score low.

South Pole's 1,000+ project portfolio claims 200M+ tCO2e reduced, but the Kariba scandal revealed that its flagship REDD+ project overclaimed credits by a factor of at least 5x–30x, and Verra confirmed over 15 million excess credits, fundamentally undermining confidence in the scale of verified impact across the broader portfolio.

Credible, science-based targets (SBTi), a real net-zero plan with progress to date, and CDP disclosure — not just a dated press release.

No publicly available SBTi-validated targets or CDP disclosures were found for South Pole's own operational footprint; the company's sustainability posture is almost entirely directed outward at clients, and its own internal net-zero pathway lacks the quantified, independently verified milestones required for a credible science-based target score.

Operational footprint, labour and social practices, and governance quality across the company's own operations and supply chain.

Multiple investigative reports found that the majority of ~€100M in Kariba revenue flowed back to South Pole and its financial partner rather than to local Zimbabwean communities; NZZ reporting also alleged hidden business dealings with Russia on the eve of the Ukraine invasion, and whistleblowers internally flagged ethical concerns about enabling fossil fuel greenwashing, all pointing to significant governance and social-practice weaknesses.

Quality of disclosure, independent third-party verification, and how much hard data backs the company's claims.

South Pole's own internal due diligence concluded as early as 2022 that Kariba's funds had 'gone astray' and credits were inflated, yet the company continued selling credits without public disclosure; financial flows within projects were described by multiple auditors as difficult to track, and the company only publicly acknowledged problems after investigative journalism forced the issue.

Controversies, litigation, pollution, fossil-fuel lobbying, conflict-zone involvement and governance scandals. Higher means cleaner.

The Kariba REDD+ scandal represents one of the most serious integrity failures in voluntary carbon market history: Verra confirmed 15.2 million excess (fake) credits, the founding CEO was forced to resign in November 2023, a second CEO (Daniel Klier) departed after fewer than 18 months, NZZ reported allegations of covert Russian business dealings and fossil-fuel greenwashing facilitation, and a policy document advised high-risk clients not to publicly name South Pole — all constituting repeated, material governance and integrity failures.