A report released today, Monday, shows that half of the largest publicly listed companies in the world, out of 2,000, have set targets to achieve net zero emissions by mid-century. However, only a small percentage of these companies adhere to UN guidelines on what constitutes a quality commitment. According to an independent dataset that includes the University of Oxford’s Net Zero Tracker for monitoring emissions, the number of companies that have set such goals from those included in the Forbes 2000 index significantly increased by 40% to over 1,000 in October 2023 from about 700 in June 2022, representing around two-thirds of revenues or equivalent to $27 trillion.
However, only 4% of the targets meet the criteria established by the UN initiative called “Race to Zero,” which includes covering all emissions, beginning immediate reductions, and providing annual updates on progress to interim and long-term goals. The pace at which governments and companies are implementing this change will be a focal point in the discussions at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai, which will commence in late November.
John Lang, head of the Net Zero Tracker project, stated: "A clear pathway to net zero has emerged. Countless targets to achieve this goal have come to light, but we can now confidently say that the largest publicly listed companies in the world are on the right side of this issue." The Net Zero Tracker not only tracks companies but also the commitments made by countries, states, regions, and cities through the analysis of machine and human data.
