New report calls companies’ climate commitments into question

A report published Monday from a pair of European environmental think tanks has found a handful of companies’ climate commitments may not be worth their weight. The report concluded that major brands are exaggerating how ambitious their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are — in effect misleading consumers, investors and governments.

The NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch looked at climate promises from 24 companies. The list of companies include business heavy hitters like Nestle and Volkswagen.

According to the report, just one company had climate plans with “reasonable integrity.” The rest of the plans were rated moderate to very low in terms of integrity.

“In this critical decade for climate action, companies’ current plans do not reflect the necessary urgency for emission reductions,” Thomas Day, a researcher at the NewClimate Institute who co-authored the report, said in a statement. “Regulators, voluntary initiatives and companies must place a renewed and urgent focus on the integrity of companies’ emission reduction plans up to 2030.”

2030 is the deadline for capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) under the Paris Climate Accords. The report found emissions cuts from the companies’ climate commitments would amount to less than half of what’s needed to hit that goal.