April 20, 2026
Speed & Scale was born when John Doerr asked a simple question: “What’s the plan for solving the climate crisis?”
Okay, maybe not so simple. It led to a journey of exploration and education. We spent months with more than a hundred experts in the field and came out with a climate action plan anchored to a net-zero goal. We believe it met the moment. But five years later, the moment has changed. The world has changed. And we want to share with you the many things we’ve learned along the way.
With global emissions still rising, the scale of the net-zero mission can seem daunting. And it is daunting. But we’re making headway, and there’s potential for so much more. The Speed & Scale tracker keeps us clear-eyed on where the world should be investing its time and resources. It points to a number of bright spots, where the world is on track or outperforming, and where we can glimpse the promise of a clean transition.
But in other areas, progress has stalled. Where our key results are lagging, they should be seen as signposts for leaders to speed innovation and deployment. Our goal is to provide a clear and data-driven view of where things stand today.
Read John’s letter. Dive into the tracker. And for orientation, take a look at this cheat sheet on how our plan has evolved, how the world stacks up against some of our most pressing imperatives–and, most importantly, how we can save a livable planet.
– The Speed & Scale Team
What’s Our Plan?
Speed & Scale is an ambitious net-zero plan.
- Speed & Scale is a global, trajectory-bending plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible—and preserve a livable planet for generations to come.
- Our plan uses OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results. OKRs tell us what the world needs to achieve and how we can get it done in time. Each of our ten Objectives is linked to measurable Key Results (KRs) that set clear targets and deadlines.
Our updated plan amplifies our “build” ethos.
- Our call to action is to build to displace. To transition to a net-zero world, we must build clean technologies with more speed and at a scale that far exceeds demand for fossil-based technologies.
- Many of the KR targets in our original plan were written with emissions reduction targets, expressed in percentages. But these percentages lacked clear prescriptions for real-world actions. In our updated plan, we’re quantifying what the world needs to build to reach net zero in time.
- For example, our old Cars KR was: “Increase EV sales to 50% of all new car sales by 2030, 95% by 2040.” Our new Cars KR is: “Increase the number of electric cars to over 600 million by 2035, 2 billion by 2050.”
Our new global emissions target is 74 gigatons.
- Where Speed & Scale’s original plan relied primarily on emissions data aggregated by the United Nations Environment Programme, we have now switched to data from Climate TRACE.
- TRACE uses satellites, remote-sensing techniques, and artificial intelligence to deliver a granular view of point-source emissions. Its bottom-up approach captures activity that is often undercounted—from individual fossil fuel operations, for example.
- By contrast, the UN significantly relies on countries’ self-reported emissions inventories. We’re using TRACE’s higher emissions total because we believe it better reflects the reality on the ground.
- Our original plan called for zeroing out 59 gigatons of global greenhouse gas emissions, the UN’s estimate for 2019. By contrast, TRACE estimates that global emissions totaled 71 gigatons in 2019 and rose to 74 gigatons in 2024. The largest jumps are in electricity and industry.
- Total greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere are well-measured and not in question: 429.35 parts per million (as of April 2026).
- All of our KRs for our first six Objectives are now linked to quantitative emissions reductions, with both interim 2035 targets and 2050 targets aligned with net zero. For the most part, our KRs represent at least 1 gigaton per year of abatement potential.
Speed & Scale believes it is no longer possible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, but that we can still stay under 2 degrees–with increased ambition.
- Global emissions have continued to rise, depleting our carbon budget for a 1.5-degree scenario.
- Speed & Scale is calling for the power economies (the U.S., the EU, and China) to reach net zero by 2050. Our plan gives emerging economies 5-10 additional years to reach net zero.
- Every tenth of a degree matters for the future of humanity.
Where We Stand: The Highlights
Bright spots: exponential growth is real
- Cars (KR 1.1): On Track. EV sales are on a remarkable trajectory, going from 1 million to over 50 million vehicles on the road in the span of a decade. EVs now account for more than 25 percent of global new car sales–and more than 50 percent in China.1
- Solar & Wind (KR 2.1): On Track. Given the power sector’s 21 gigatons of annual emissions, renewables hold the greatest potential for decarbonization–and they’re winning. Over the past six years, exponential growth in solar deployment has offset 1.4 gigatons of emissions annually.2 Over the first three quarters of 2025, the world built enough solar and wind to stop fossil fuel growth in the power sector.3
- Scopes 1 & 2 (KR 8.3): On Track. Among the 249 Fortune Global 500 companies that have publicly reported Scope 1 and 2 emissions since 2019, those emissions have dropped by an aggregate 23 percent. (Tracking begets progress!) The tougher challenge ahead is Scope 3 emissions, which account for 95 percent of this group’s carbon footprint.4
- Jobs (KR 8.6): Achieved. After adding 6 million jobs globally since 2019, clean energy jobs now outnumber fossil fuel jobs by 3 million,5 An optimal transition will provide workers and communities with a clear path from the old economy to the new one.
- Electricity (KR 9.1): On Track. Since 2010, the cost of solar has dropped by a whopping 84 percent.6 We’re seeing strong progress on the price of onshore wind and utility-scale storage.8
Gaining momentum, long road ahead
- Trucks (KRs 1.2): Insufficient Progress. Heavier trucks pose an especially steep challenge for decarbonization. China is leading the way here, with more than 20 percent of its truck fleet electrified. But elsewhere the transition is lagging.9
- Storage (KR 2.2): Insufficient Progress. With battery costs down 84 percent since 2016, storage economics have turned a corner.10 But we still need 100x of current battery capacity to meet our 2050 net-zero target.11
- Deforestation (4.1): Insufficient Progress. In 2024, the world lost the equivalent of 18 soccer fields of tropical forest every minute, a frontal assault on a critical carbon sink.12 Over the last several years, we’ve seen gradual but inadequate progress toward our target.
- Pledges (KR 7.1): Insufficient Progress. Governments hold critical levers for decarbonization. Among the three power economies, the EU’s National Determined Contribution (NDC) is aligned with net zero by 2050. China’s NDC falls short of a 2050 trajectory, while the U.S. has no national commitment to cut emissions.13, 14
- Business (KR 8.2): Insufficient Progress. Forty-five percent of Fortune Global 500 companies now have net-zero targets, up from just 8 percent in 2020.15 But success for this key result requires all 500 companies to get on board.
Innovation needed: areas with over 3 gigatons of emissions and limited or no progress
- Methane (KR 2.4): Code Red. Emissions from fossil fuel operations continue to rise, with no peak in sight. The IEA estimates that 75 percent of these emissions could be swiftly cut with existing technology.16
- Buildings (KR 2.5): Code Red. Emissions from heating and cooling our homes and businesses continue to rise, and the world is adding a million new buildings every month–as many as in all of New York City.20
- Steel and Cement (KRs 5.1-5.2): Code Red. There is as yet no commercial-scale, net-zero facility for primary steel,17 the source of around 90 percent of the category’s emissions.18 And there’s only one net-zero facility for cement.19 We need thousands more of both.
- Carbon Removal (KRs 6.1-6.3): Code Red. By 2025, over one million metric tons of carbon had been removed, the lion’s share from planting trees.21 But the industry still needs to scale radically to meet our 14 -billion-ton sequestration target.
- Power Grid (7.3) Failing. The world has been slow to build new power lines and urgently needs to pick up the pace. Policymakers hold sway through permitting reform, financing, and deregulation.
End Notes1 BNEF, 2026
2 IEA Global Energy Review 2025
3 Ember, 2025
4 Speed & Scale, using Fortune Global 500 and Bloomberg Terminal
5 IEA World Energy Employment 2025
6 BNEF, 2025
7 Our World In Data
8 BNEF, 2025
9 BNEF, 2025
10 BNEF, 2025
11 IEA World Energy Outlook 2025
12 WRI, 2025
13UNFCCC
14 White House
15 Speed & Scale, using Fortune Global 500 and Net Zero Tracker
16 IEA Global Methane Tracker 2025
17 Global Energy Monitor
18 Steelwatch
19 Mission Possible Partnership
20 Architecture 2030
21 CDR.FYI
22 Global Transmission Report