Behind the climate promises of big companies

As warnings have intensified about the massive damage that climate change will have on the world in the coming decades, big business has started to make commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

But are these companies making a genuine attempt to fight global warming, or simply “greenwashing” their brands to try to divert criticism while still reaping huge profits from their carbon-based industries?

With the COP26 summit in Glasgow coming after the UN warned the world was barrelling towards “climate catastrophe”, analyses by consultants and think tanks show there is still much more that can be done.

The omissions of ‘net zero’ emissions

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that industry accounts for almost 40 percent of the world’s energy consumption and still overwhelming uses fossil fuels: oil, gas and particularly coal, which all hugely contribute to human-induced global warming.

The IEA said that “a number of companies around the world have set ambitious targets, but their potential impact remains uneven”.

Out of 1,300 companies surveyed by the Boston Consulting Group, only 11 percent said they had reached their carbon emission targets over the last five years. And just nine percent accurately measured their emissions.

The InfluenceMap think tank’s “A-List” assessed the climate ambitions of hundreds of companies, but found just 15 were sufficient.

Twelve of the 15 companies were European, with Unilever, Ikea, Nestle and Tesla among the few industry heavy-hitters using their corporate clout to push for ambitious policies.

InfluenceMap’s Kendra Haven said that “large parts of the corporate world appear to remain ambivalent or actively opposed to bold climate action”.