Momentum gained among businesses and slowed among governments to set "net zero" carbon-cutting goals that would limit global warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels, but many lack credibility and oversight.
That's according to a report on Monday based on data about 4,079 entities from Net Zero Tracker, run by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, University of Oxford, NewClimate Institute and Data-Driven EnviroLab.
The report finds 546 national, regional and city governments and 929 businesses set net zero targets, up from 1,180 in 2022 and 769 in 2020.
The U.N. defines net zero as making cuts to as close to zero as possible in emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and other heat-trapping gases, and letting oceans, forests and other so-called heat sinks absorb the rest.
Most large economies and emitters have some kind of net zero target, including 19 members of the Group of 20 major economies. Globally, 92% of nations' collective GDP is represented, up from 68% in 2020.
The report shows a "mixed picture" of slowing growth among government net zero targets but sustained momentum among companies.
"Despite the greenwashing criticism directed at fossil fuel companies, more have pledged net zero targets since our previous stocktake," the report says, noting that 75, or 67% of the largest 112 fossil fuel companies in the database, committed to such plans, up from 51 a year ago.
Despite having made net zero pledges, however, most companies aren't tackling the biggest concerns. No major oil, gas or coal producer countries or companies committed to phasing out fossil fuels, the report says.
"Most of these 75 targets do not fully cover or do not clarify coverage of Scope 3 emissions (the largest scope of emissions by far for fossil fuel companies), making them largely meaningless," it says.
A popular slogan that's difficult to achieve
Just 37% of major companies' net zero targets fully covered so-called Scope 3 emissions that result indirectly from a company's supply chain or when a consumer buys, uses or throws away a product.
A study led by Imperial College London published last week in the journal Science found a serious credibility gap among governments. Researchers ranked 90% of countries with net zero targets as unlikely to be achieved.
The U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, launched a new framework last week to boost accountability of non-government net zero pledges.
UNFCCC, the platform for global climate talks, is the international treaty launched at the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that galvanized the environmental movement. It entered into force in 1994 and now includes 197 nations and territories.
Limiting global temperature rise to 1.5° in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement requires immediate transformation of all energy systems, says the International Energy Agency, including an end to all new coal, oil and gas projects and no new fossil fuel-burning cars sold after 2035.
The upper limit for the United Nations-brokered accord is 2° of warming, and the World Meteorological Organization now says there's a 66% likelihood the annual average near-surface global temperature between 2023 and 2027 will breach the 1.5° limit for at least a year.
