Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero have published a report into the climate policies of 2,000 major companies, finding that one in five now has a “net-zero” policy.

The report, Taking Stock: A global assessment of net zero targets, represents a systematic analysis of significant emitters, looking at the robustness of their net-zero pledges as well as their scope, considering nations, all states and regions in the 25 highest-emitting countries, all cities with a population above 500,000 and all companies in the Forbes Global 2000 list.

The report finds 124 countries, 73 states and regions, 155 cities, and 417 companies in the sample have made some form of commitment to net-zero. The companies with net-zero commitments together represent sales of nearly $14tr, or 33 per cent of total, implying the larger companies are more active and some degree of inconsistency across sectors - for example, over two thirds of companies (by sales) in the household & personal products sector have net-zero targets. In contrast, the lowest coverage by sales is in the semiconductors sector, at around 5 per cent.

The report concludes that the “rapid growth in net-zero emission targets since the Paris Agreement, and especially since publication of the IPCC 1.5C report, shows that a significant proportion of political and business leaders now accept the case for reaching net-zero by mid-century”.

However, the report warns that there is still a long way to go, and this report only creates a baseline against which progress can be assessed with progress needed in three main areas: expanding, clarifying, and upgrading.

Taking Stock report here</b>.