A group of more than 500 investors is shining a spotlight on the companies most responsible for climate change — and least prepared to change course. On Monday, the initiative, known as Climate Action 100+, released scorecards for the top carbon-emitting companies, spanning sectors like oil and gas, electric utilities, cement, airlines, steel, and chemicals. The group, which manages more than $50 trillion in assets, found that despite the barrage of corporate climate plans in the past year, most of those promises are still largely hollow.
The companies were assessed across nine categories of accountability; first and foremost, whether they had committed to achieving net-zero — a point where they are no longer contributing to the accumulation of carbon in the atmosphere — by 2050 or sooner. Only about half of 159 companies passed that test.
In theory, getting to net-zero by 2050 could help the world achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and avert catastrophic warming. But in reality, success hinges on the pace and scale of action along the way. Even for the companies that have committed to going net-zero, Carbon Action 100+ found that their definitions of ... Read more
