| Summary: | Averting a worst-case global warming scenario will require the world’s largest institutions to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases, and do it fast. Over the last decade and a half, a standard form has emerged in which governments and corporations have made their promise to do so: the net-zero target. This is generally a voluntarily self-imposed deadline, usually decades away, by which the institution’s emissions will not necessarily actually reduce to zero, but rather by which they will at least be ostensibly canceled out by carbon offsets. As a strategy, the net-zero target has been criticized by climate advocates; at its worst, it can be a vague, unenforceable greenwashing program. But global efforts are underway to write standards for what makes a good one - and hold the target-setters to them. The net-zero targets that have actually been adopted display a surprisingly wide variety in terms of their substance: some refer to all greenhouse gas emissions, and others only to carbon dioxide; the strongest include sector-specific implementation plans and credible near-term targets, and cover all three emissions scopes up and down the value chain. On Monday, the Net Zero Tracker, a collaboration between four climate organizations, released its most recent “Net Zero Stocktake” - a survey of the world’s climate pledges, including evaluations of how serious the plans are to actually follow through on them. Since the group began publishing such reports annually since 2021, it has found that, at the national level, after years of more and more countries setting net-zero targets, the growth of such pledges has now leveled off, with 147 countries, as well as the European Union, having now set a target. They include most of the highest-emitting countries. China, the world’s largest emitter, committed to carbon neutrality by 2060 in 2020 at the UN General Assembly. A significant exception is Azerbaijan, the oil-rich, gas-leaking host of November’s COP29... |