What’s Really Behind Corporate Promises on Climate Change?
Many big businesses have not set targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Others have weak goals.
For the past several years, BlackRock, the giant investment firm, has cast itself as a champion of the transition to clean energy.
Last month, Laurence D. Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, wrote that the coronavirus pandemic had “driven us to confront the global threat of climate change more forcefully,” and the company said it wants businesses it invests in to remove as much carbon dioxide from the environment as they emit by 2050 at the latest.
But crucial details were missing from that widely read pledge, including what proportion of the companies BlackRock invests in will be zero-emission businesses in 2050. Setting such a goal and earlier targets would demonstrate the seriousness of the company’s commitment and could force all sorts of industries to step up their efforts. On Saturday, in response to questions from The New York Times, a BlackRock spokesman said for the first time that the company’s “ambition” was to have “net zero emissions across our entire assets under management by 2050.” Read original full article
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#General Clean Energy
#Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Atlantis Viewpoint
The Paris climate agreement compels companies and states to remove as much carbon dioxide from their emissions as possible by 2050 at the latest. However, up to now, companies seem to be putting on just a good public face, as their website and sustainability reports look as if they were making great changes. But when you look at what is behind these ideas, you'll see there is not a lot of substance or their commitments are not comprehensive enough.
To realize the necessary emission reductions, more ambitious targets urgently need to be set. Otherwise, we project emissions to be much higher than they are now by 2050. As we should have learned from our past experience trying to hide these problems away will only mean they will come back to haunt us again in the future.
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