Just 13 out of the largest 132 coal, electricity, and oil and gas companies have made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero.

Research, published jointly by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, and the Transition Pathway Initiative, reveals the energy sector’s lack of progress in achieving the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement almost four years later.

The public disclosures of 20 coal companies, 62 electricity companies, and 50 oil and gas companies, reveals that three coal mining companies (BHP Billington, Exxaro Resources, and South32), nine electricity companies (CEZ, EDF, Endesa, Enel, E.On, Iberdrola, National Grid, Ørsted, and XCEL Energy), and one oil and gas producer (Eni), have set a date by which they will reduce the emissions associated with at least one of their core business activities to net zero.

Of these thirteen firms, nine set a date of 2050 to achieve net zero, while four set a date of 2025 or 2030.

Professor Simon Dietz, Professor of Environmental Policy at the Grantham Research Institute, said: “Climate science tells us that net carbon dioxide emissions must fall to zero to stabilise global temperatures, and that limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees requires global carbon dioxide emissions to reach net zero around 2050. Although new corporate net zero commitments are being made all the time, our analysis shows that we are starting from a very low base.”

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