"Doubtful Value", "Fraudulent"; Corporate Net-Zero Pledges Falling Well Short Of What Is Needed Now
Some of the world’s biggest businesses are failing to live up toclaims they will hit net-zero emissions targets, according to research that suggests they will cut their carbon emissions by only 40% rather than the 100% cuts claimed. Household names such as Amazon, Ikea, Nestlé and Unilever are among the companies named as showing little substance to their claims that they will cut emissions drastically.
Thomas Day of NewClimate Institute, who compiled the report, said that taken in aggregate, the efforts of the 25 companies studied would make little impact. “It is not clear these reductions take us beyond business as usual,” he said. “We were very disappointed and surprised at how much room for improvement there was [among the companies studied]. Companies need to be much more transparent about these goals.” Near-term targets were of particular concern, he added. The report showed that the companies surveyed would only cut their emissions by about 23% on average by 2030, falling far short of the figure of nearly halving in the next decade that scientists say is needed to limit global heating to 1.5C. “It’s short-term action that’s the most important thing, in the climate crisis,” he said.
Many are relying on carbon offsetting for a large portion of their projected cuts. Carbon offsetting is the controversial practice of paying for projects that reduce carbon dioxide – usually by maintaining forests or growing new trees – to compensate for greenhouse gases emitted elsewhere.
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None of the 25 companies rated were judged to achieve a high standard according to these benchmarks. Among those showing “low integrity” were Amazon and Ikea, while the 11 companies that ranked worst in the study, showing “very low integrity”, included E.ON and Nestlé. The over-use of offsetting was one of the main reasons most companies were marked down, said Day. Offsetting is increasingly popular among companies seeking to burnish their green credentials, and is set to become even more so through a new standards body. Critics say that many offsetting projects have been found to be of doubtful value, and some have been fraudulent. Forestry also makes a poor substitute for immediate emissions cuts as carbon emitted into the atmosphere today begins to heat the atmosphere now and continues to do so for at least a century, while trees take decades to grow and store carbon absorbed from the air.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/06/amazon-ikea-nestle-biggest-carbon-net-zero-claims
