Response Required: Our New Research Reveals Carbon Neutrality is a Key Pillar of Climate Action among the Fortune 500 Global

6th October 2020

30% have made commitments to carbon neutrality, 100% renewable power, Science-Based Targets (SBT) or net zero by 2030, with 6% being carbon neutral today. Companies with a carbon neutral commitment are three times more likely to have an SBT.

Despite the unprecedented disruption across societies and economies around the world, the continued increase in climate action in the private sector appears to have strengthened.

Following last year’s report – Deeds not Words – we now see a continuation of the trend towards both near-term and long-term climate commitments.

Carbon neutrality, RE100 and SBTs continue to dominate the landscape of action and commitments between now and 2030. 30% of companies in the Fortune Global 500 have achieved one of these climate commitments or have publicly stated they will do so by 2030. There are also some early moves towards net zero commitments, the majority of them targeting dates further into the future. Our analysis shows how all these programmes complement each other in the general move towards greater corporate climate action: for example companies with a carbon neutral commitment are three times more likely to have an SBT.

Carbon neutrality provides a framework for companies to make an immediate climate impact, reducing and offsetting their emissions now while deeper operational changes are made. 6% (30) of Fortune Global 500 companies are carbon neutral today.

For Global Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Europe and North America the proportion that are carbon neutral today is higher: 8%. For many companies, carbon neutrality is the first step in an evolving transition to a low carbon economy.

Read the 2020 report here