45% of the world's largest companies have set net-zero emissions targets by 2050. It was only 8% in 2020. The Climate Impact Partners report
The largest companies in the world by revenue are improving their corporate climate goals year after year. Despite the unfavourable political climate, they are setting more significant and robust targets—such as the anti-ESG shift in North America. Additionally, they are increasingly inclined to use carbon credits to achieve these goals.
This is revealed in the 2024 edition of the annual analysis by Climate Impact Partners, an organization operating in the field of carbon financing. The sixth edition of the study focuses, as in previous years, on the climate performance of companies listed in the Fortune Global 500, which includes the highest revenue-generating firms in the world.
Corporate Climate Goals: Stronger Commitments
The last four years show a positive trajectory among the world’s top companies, even if the growth curve is not particularly steep. The most interesting data point is the number of companies that have set net-zero targets to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, a target generally in line with climate science and major international agreements. In 2020, only 8% of Global Fortune 500 companies had set net-zero targets, while this year the figure is 45%, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2023.
The curve is flatter for two other types of commitments. Companies promising to become “carbon neutral” rose from 17 in 2020 to 30 in 2021, but then the number remained relatively flat: 35 in 2023 and 34 this year. A similar trend is observed for companies that have set short-term science-based targets: 21 in 2020, 32 in 2022, followed by a plateau with 35 companies in both 2023 and this year.
“Companies today continue to pursue ambitious climate goals despite economic uncertainty and the intensifying backlash against ESG policies,” the report states. “In North America, companies are taking action: 79% have a significant commitment by 2050, up from 73% last year. In Asia, 46% of companies have a significant commitment by 2050, an increase from 45% last year. In Europe, where over 95% of companies already have a significant commitment, there has been no growth in the number of companies with one.”
There is also an increasing and now almost majority reliance on carbon credits. 42% of companies explicitly state that they will use carbon credits to achieve a carbon neutrality or net-zero target, compared to 40% last year.
