How Is KR 8.3 Tracking?
Climate movements consist of more than citizens and consumers. For two decades, pressure has been mounting for stronger corporate commitments to decarbonize, a critical lever for net zero. For maximum impact, we must enlist corporate executives, directors, shareholders, and employees.
Our Business key result tracks the global business community’s stated commitments to net zero emissions by 2050, in line with the standard set by the United Nations. The UN’s criteria for net zero include all scopes of operation (including supply chains), all greenhouse gases, and the use of carbon removal to negate any residual emissions after abatement. Our goal is to have 100 percent of the Fortune Global 500 on board.
Nearly half of the companies in the Global 500 claim to have a net zero commitment. In 2024, 15 percent met the UN’s rigorous standard–up from 9 percent in 2023 and 6 percent in 2022.
To learn more about what companies should be doing in this regard, see our blog post.
View our methodology
Methodology
Speed & Scale’s Business key result tracks progress by the world’s largest corporations in making net zero commitments. To define this progress, we turned to a broad range of sources in the public domain.
Our initial analysis of this data revealed significant issues around standardization, accuracy, and terminology. In numerous cases, a company’s emissions goal failed to align with the standard set by the United Nations’ 2022 report on the climate commitments of non-state actors, “Integrity Matters.” The UN’s criteria for net zero include all scopes of operation (including supply chains), all greenhouse gases, and the use of carbon removal to negate any residual emissions after abatement.
To address the issues noted above in assessing KR 8.3, Speed & Scale conducted systematic research. Using the Fortune Global 500 as our framework, we collected data from the 447 companies that made public sustainability reports for 2023. Commitments were assessed on a binary basis: Either companies met the UN standard in 2023, or they did not.
We invite companies to help us correct any inaccuracies in this progress report by reaching out to us at act@speedandscale.com. We’re also happy to share best practices in target-setting that we’ve gleaned from our research.