Summary
75 of the biggest fossil fuel companies have committed to reaching net-zero emissions, but most fail to address key concerns, making their targets “largely meaningless”, according to a report by Net Zero Tracker. The report found that most targets do not fully cover or lack transparency on Scope 3 emissions, which include the use of a company’s products, the biggest source of emissions for fossil fuel companies, or don’t include short-term reduction plans. The report also found that none of the fossil fuel companies were making the needed commitments to move away from fossil fuel extraction or production.
As it stands, some 4,000 countries, states, regions, cities and companies globally have now committed to net-zero. Last November, the U.N. issued guidelines on what a ‘good’ net-zero strategy should look like to avoid greenwashing.
“We haven’t yet seen a huge move from fossil fuel companies or other companies on meeting those (guidelines), so there’s still a lot of work to do to come up to that level,” said Thomas Hale of the University of Oxford, who co-authored the report.
Daisy Streatfield, sustainability director at global asset manager Ninety One, said “credible plans and meaningful execution are not going to happen overnight”, with many companies doing a better job than national governments.
A study published last week in the journal Science found that about 90% of countries’ net-zero targets were unlikely to be achieved.
Reporting by Gloria Dickie and Simon Jessop in London; Editing by Jan Harvey
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Gloria Dickie
Thomson Reuters
Gloria Dickie reports on climate and environmental issues for Reuters. She is based in London. Her interests include biodiversity loss, Arctic science, the cryosphere, international climate diplomacy, climate change and public health, and human-wildlife conflict. She previously worked as a freelance environmental journalist for 7 years, writing for publications such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Scientific American, and Wired magazine. Dickie was a 2022 finalist for the Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the international reporting category for her climate reporting from Svalbard. She is also the author of Eight Bears: Mythic Past and Imperiled Future (W.W. Norton, 2023).
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