Corporate Net Zero Pledges: Ambitious or Empty Promises?

Climate One

Social Sciences, News Commentary, Science, Earth Sciences, News

4.7 • 585 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2022

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

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Summary

Corporate pledges of reaching net zero carbon emissions have quickly become commonplace. Critics argue that such pledges are mere greenwashing, and even if pledges are fulfilled, the balance sheets usually utilize carbon offsets, which can be of questionable quality and accountability. Proponents of corporate net zero pledges say we’ll never get to net zero emissions without corporate action, and pledges represent legitimate ramping up of ambition and commitment. How can consumers, investors and policy leaders distinguish between stalling and increased ambition? Can third party auditors hold companies accountable? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	This is your latest idea.
0:02.0	It's unique, it's game-changing, it's huge!
0:06.0	But you can go even bigger with AI-powered PDF spaces in Acrobat Studio,
0:12.0	turning your files and links into actionable insights and content,
0:16.0	plus share projects and collaborate seamlessly while keeping everything private and secure. So your excellent
0:22.7	idea stays yours. Do that with Acrobat. Learn more and try it out on adobe.com. Hi, it's Greg
0:31.0	Dalton. I'd like to hear your comments on the show, topics we should cover, and guest suggestions.
0:36.3	You can reach me at Greg at
0:37.6	climate one.org. This is Climate One. I'm Greg Dalton. Many corporations are pledging to hit
0:44.6	net zero emissions, but critics say these pledges are often mere greenwashing.
0:49.3	And there's a lot of scams out there. Woodstocks a guy that owns a big forest to sell
0:53.3	his forest five times to different
0:54.9	companies and just say like, oh, I'm going to keep these trees going for you or else they
1:00.1	would have been cut down. There's a lot of projects out there and there's a lot of room for growth.
1:04.0	It's, again, how do we verify it?
1:06.2	Proponents say we'll never reach the Paris climate goals without corporations taking action.
1:11.7	And pledges represent ambition and commitment.
1:13.6	We have programs going to continue to be better, put out a pretty honest and comprehensive
1:18.1	sustainability report every year.
1:19.6	I'd argue we're probably our hardest critics.
1:21.6	It's not a PR exercise to try to tell people how good we are.
1:24.6	It's trying to be as honest as possible and tell ourselves and the world where we're actually at. So how can consumers, investors, and policy leaders determine
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