Report: Companies exaggerate emissions reduction targets

BERLIN (AP) — Many companies are overstating their emissions reduction targets, misleading consumers, investors and governments, according to a report.

The study published on Monday by the NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch, two European research institutes, assessed 24 companies, including chocolate maker Nestlé, French retailer Carrefour and carmaker Volkswagen. It found that only one company – shipping company Maersk – had climate plans of “reasonable integrity”, while the others had low or moderate credibility.

“For most companies, we found that their climate strategies are flawed,” said Thomas Day, researcher at the NewClimate Institute and co-author of the report.

According to the report, actual reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by companies would be less than half of what is needed to meet the Paris Climate Agreement target of reducing global warming by 1, 5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by 2030.

Experts have also questioned companies’ promises to “reduce net-zero emissions” because most consumers believe this essentially involves stopping emissions of gases that can warm the atmosphere.

“These net-zero reduction pledges are actually intended to reduce these companies’ emissions by just 36%,” Day said. The companies argue that the rest will disappear from the atmosphere naturally or artificially – so-called carbon offsets – or simply exclude a large part of their emissions from the count.

This was the case, for example, of Carrefour, which excludes 80% of its stores from the goal of zero emissions by 2040, according to the report. It is one of four companies whose climate plans were deemed by the report to be of “very low integrity”, along with American Airlines, food processor JBS and Samsung Electronics.

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