Net-zero pledges growing but integrity lacking – study

FILE PHOTO: Cars travel on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on January 16, 2024 in San Rafael, California. According to a report by the independent research firm Rhodium Group, greenhouse gas emissions fell by nearly two percent in 2023. – While more countries, companies, and cities are setting net-zero targets, many of their pledges to slash carbon emissions lack integrity, according to a study published Monday, September 23, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Agence France-Presse

PARIS, France — While more countries, companies, and cities are setting net-zero targets, many of their pledges to slash carbon emissions lack integrity, according to a study published Monday.

Net Zero Tracker, a research partnership between four organizations, annually reviews the climate pledges of more than 4,000 governments, states, cities, and major corporations.

Nearly 60 percent of the approximately 2,000 listed companies under its watch have vowed to eliminate their carbon footprints, it said: 23 percent up on its last assessment in 2023.

There was a “significant rise” in net-zero goals adopted by companies in Asia, it added.

In all, 148 countries have set net-zero goals, added.

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However, Azerbaijan – this year’s host of the UN climate negotiations in November – was a “notable exception.”

A growing number of state governments and cities had their own targets, 28 percent and 8 percent more respectively compared to the previous year.

But “fewer than 5 percent of entities across companies, states and regions, and cities” met the minimum required criteria, the report added.

This includes explaining how goals will be met, setting interim targets and covering all greenhouse gas emissions – not just CO2 – to demonstrate the credibility of these pledges.

While the number of companies with no plans whatsoever to slash emissions has “reduced substantially,” nearly half of the world’s largest 100 private firms have decided against setting climate targets, it added.

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“Progress has been made, but we need much more,” said Catherine McKenna, chair of the UN high-level expert group on net-zero commitments. “We have to be more ambitious.”

The Paris agreement calls for capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above levels in the late 19th century, when burning fossil fuels began to seriously heat up the planet.

To stand any chance of meeting this goal and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change, scientists agree that global emissions must be nearly halved by 2030 and reach net zero around mid-century.

Any leftover carbon pollution must be removed, by for example capturing CO2 in the atmosphere.