Over 40% of corporations and regions around the world lack emission targets

While 1,750 of more than 4,000 major corporations, cities, and regions around the world have made formal net-zero pledges, nearly 1,700 have yet to set any targets

Over 40 per cent of major corporations, cities, and regions have yet to establish targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to an annual ‘stocktake’ released Monday, which assesses global progress in combating climate change, as reported by news agency Reuters.

While more governments and businesses have announced net-zero commitments in the past year, distractions from wars, elections, and economic challenges have created a significant “commitment gap”, as noted by Net Zero Tracker, a coalition of research organisations based at the University of Oxford.

Challenges in translating goals into action

As nations prepare to present updated climate targets for 2035 to the United Nations, both policymakers and corporate leaders are finding it difficult to convert long-term objectives into actionable plans, with many transition strategies lacking depth and clarity, researchers reported.

John Lang, who leads the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit at Net Zero Tracker, remarked that a recurring issue in this report is the ongoing lack of integrity across the board.

Mixed progress and gaps in net-zero

The report analysed net-zero commitments and action plans from 198 countries, 706 sub-national regions, 1,186 cities, and nearly 2,000 publicly traded companies. Findings indicated that while 1,750 of more than 4,000 entities have made formal net-zero pledges, nearly 1,700 have yet to set any targets. Among publicly listed companies, approximately 60 per cent have established net-zero goals, a 23 per cent increase since last year, with a notable rise in commitments from Asia.

The number of companies without emissions targets decreased from 734 to 495, including notable firms such as Tesla, BYD, Nintendo, and Berkshire Hathaway.

The report highlighted Costa Rica, Volvo, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet, as exemplars of effectively implementing net-zero commitments. However, only 5 per cent of regions, cities, and companies fulfilled all of Net Zero Tracker’s criteria for ‘robustness’, which includes having comprehensive plans for phasing out fossil fuels.

About half of the regions, cities, and companies have not set targets for non-CO2 greenhouse gases such as methane, and many organizations also failed to account for emissions throughout their value chains or clarify their reliance on offsets to meet goals.

The report noted that 148 countries, representing 88 per cent of the global population, have made net-zero commitments, with Mexico, Iran, and Azerbaijan — host of the upcoming COP29 climate talks — among the exceptions.

It concluded that existing technologies could significantly enhance climate ambition and called for more detailed plans on how targets will be achieved in the next round of nationally determined contributions (NDCs) submitted to the UN.

(With agency inputs)