World's top emitters a long way from aligning with climate goals

(Reuters, 22 Mar 2021) None of 159 companies analysed have fully disclosed how they will achieve their goals to become a net-zero business by 2050 or earlier, says a leading climate-focused investor group.

The world's biggest carbon-emitting companies are far from aligning with the Paris Climate Agreement, a report by the leading climate-focused investor group showed on Monday.

Climate Action 100+, whose 575 members manage $54 trillion in assets, was set up in 2017 to engage with the companies responsible for the bulk of planet-heating emissions to encourage them to cut them and strengthen climate disclosures.

If added together and treated as a country, the companies - including oil majors like Exxon, Saudi Aramco and BP as well as Unilever - would be the third biggest emitter behind the United States and China, the group said.

Releasing its first 'Climate Action 100+ Net-Zero Company Benchmark', the group uses a traffic-light system to show how each of the 159 companies is currently performing on a variety of indicators and metrics.

None of the companies have fully disclosed how they will achieve their goals to become a net zero business by 2050 or sooner, the assessment shows, including setting short- and medium-term targets.

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Reuters, 22 Mar 2021: World's top emitters a long way from aligning with climate goals