Most net-zero emissions pledges made by companies, cities and regions fail a quality test laid out in recommendations by UN experts at the COP27 climate talks, a new analysis found Tuesday.

"Not all net-zero pledges have to be created equal, but most still lack the most basic of details necessary for delivery," said the group Net Zero Tracker.

The platform, which is run by several research centres including Britain's Oxford University, reviewed the promises of businesses, cities and regions in light of the new recommendations from experts convened by UN chief Antonio Guterres to draw a "red line" around greenwashing.

According to the new advice, published last week at the COP27 talks in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh, firms cannot claim to be net-zero if they invest in new fossil fuels, cause deforestation or offset emissions with carbon credits instead of reducing them.

Guterres, who called for net-zero pledges to be updated within a year to meet the criteria, trained his sights on fossil fuel firms as he slammed a "toxic cover-up" that threatened the world's efforts to slash planet-heating emissions.

"A lot of people have a lot of work to do," said Richard Black from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a member of Net Zero Tracker.

"The number of non-state actors who already meet some of these standards is quite low," he told AFP.

A huge surge in decarbonisation pledges in recent years means around 90 percent of the global economy is now covered by some sort of promise of carbon neutrality, including from countries, according to the group.

Out of the 2,000 biggest listed global firms, some 799 -- or 40 percent -- have vowed carbon neutrality, compared to 617 a year ago.

Less than 30 percent have translated promises into specific plans, with most aiming to achieve the target by 2050.

Black said Russia's invasion of Ukraine had distracted firms from climate pledges, with focus shifting to securing supply chains.

While the UN expert panel recommended intermediate targets every five years, only half of companies with a net-zero goal have one.

Alignment with the panel's recommendations is even lower on other core criteria.

The UN experts emphasise that pledges must cover all a company's activities, including indirect emissions upstream and downstream of production, right down to the gasoline consumed by motorists for an oil company.

But according to Net Zero Tracker, just 15 percent of the 2,000 companies examined include all these activities.

And only one percent of the firms reviewed did not rely on carbon credits to offset emissions in their net-zero plans.

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UK cops flak over carbon-neutral pledges
London (AFP) Nov 12, 2022
As world leaders and environmental experts meet at the COP27 climate change talks in Egypt, last year's host Britain is under scrutiny about its commitment to tackling global warming. London has ambitious long-standing targets to help try to stop the increase in temperatures and has enshrined in law its 2050 pledge for carbon neutrality. It has vowed under the Paris agreement to cut carbon emissions by 68 percent by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. Nevertheless, ministers have come under fir ... read more