New Delhi: The net-zero targets pledged by major corporations, including Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, are emphatic ‘overestimates’, and evidence of ‘greenwashing’, two European think tanks have concluded after studying 24 industry leaders across a range of sectors.
The observation was mentioned in a report titled ‘Corporate Responsibility Monitor: Assessing the Transparency and Integrity of Companies Emission Reduction and Net-zero Targets’, published by Carbon Market Watch and the New Climate Institute.
While the term ‘net-zero’ implies emissions will be cut entirely, the corporations, all of which have lofty targets, will only be able to reduce emissions by a mere 15 per cent, the report found. A median approach suggests that emissions need to be sliced by half in order to cap global heating at 1.5 degrees.
The report highlighted Amazon’s pledge to operate on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 and that 50 per cent of its shipments will be ‘net-zero’ by 2030. But, it estimated that both targets can jointly result in maximum emission reduction of 16 per cent below 2019 levels. According to the report, Amazon has committed to net-zero by 2040.
‘Deflective language’ used by companies
The list of companies assessed included Apple, Google, Nestle, Microsoft, Walmart, Mercedes Benz, H&M, Volkswagen and Pepsico. Some of them, like Microsoft, already claim to be carbon neutral. However, most of them rely on carbon offsets and plan on negating their emissions through investing in land-use and forestry projects, the report stated.
A carbon offset is any activity that compensates for the emission for carbon dioxide or any other greenhouse gas. “Not only do these solutions only store carbon temporarily and are vulnerable to reversals, we would need a second planet Earth to absorb global emissions if everyone decided to offset like these corporations,” said Carbon Market Watch’s policy director, Sam Van Des Plas.
Twenty three out of the 24 companies rely on offsetting at a gargantuan scale – “that would outsrip the planet’s resource potential if replicated by others,” according to the report.
It also criticised the deflective language used by companies in order to claim neutrality. They often avoid using the word offset, instead preferring to say ‘neutralisation’, ‘reducing the footprint’ –– which the Corporate Responsibility Monitor cited as a form of greenwashing, as it creates unnecessary confusion that detracts from the ability of consumers and investors to gauge the viability of the projects.
There is also insetting – defined as the practice of investing in climate-friendly projects within the confines of the company. The report wrote it off as dubious, saying it is a vague concept similar to offsetting, with even fewer checks and balances.
Company’s commitments don’t add up to their pledges
Only one out of 24 companies, shipping firm Maersk – had climate action plans with ‘reasonable integrity’. Not a single company attained a ‘high integrity’ score. 8 companies were handed ‘moderate integrity’ scores, while the remaining 15 corporations ranged between low and very low.
“We found that most of the companies’ strategies do not represent examples of good practice climate leadership. Companies’ climate change commitments do not add up to what their pledges might suggest,” stated the report.
“The rapid acceleration of corporate climate pledges, combined with the fragmentation of approaches, means that it is more difficult than ever to distinguish between real climate leadership and unsubstantiated greenwashing,” the report mentioned.
Apple, which received a moderate integrity score, pledges carbon neutrality by 2030, as well as an emissions reduction target of 75 per cent below 2015 levels. Even though Apple’s 2030 target aligns with Paris Agreement specifications, it has no short-term goals (in the next 5 years) substantiating their climate goals.
Samsung, which got a low integrity score –– doesn’t even have an emission target alongside its net-zero by 2030 assertion. Automotive giant Mercedes-Benz is on the same page. Its fleet of luxury vehicles is going to be carbon-neutral by 2039, despite zero mention of emission targets, the report underlined.
Microsoft claims it will be ‘carbon negative’ by 2030 and has stayed neutral for the past decade. The report called this “misleading”, as their reduction targets consist of slashing emissions by 38 per cent as compared to 2019 levels. Deep emission reduction, which is what Microsoft is promising, requires emission cuts of at least 90 per cent below 2019 levels, the study noted.
“The overwhelming majority of these corporations are simply not delivering the goods they promised,” is the ultimate conclusion of the 2023 Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor.
The corporations in question have combined revenue of over €3 trillion euros and are responsible for some 4 per cent of global emissions. The European think tanks also declared that they want policymakers to “instate a complete prohibition” on all claims of climate or environment-related neutrality or related variations, such as carbon neutral, CO2 neutral, CO2 compensated, climate positive and net zero.
Also read: Dubious sponsorship & empty pledges: Why climate activists are accusing COP27 of ‘greenwashing’