Why is it in the news?

• Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM) 2024 report released by New Climate Institute in collaboration with Carbon Market Watch.

More about the news

• The report evaluates the transparency and integrity of climate strategies among 51 major global companies.
• Focuses on four main areas: tracking and disclosure of emissions, setting emission reduction targets, reducing own emissions, and taking responsibility for unabated and residual emissions.

Key findings

• Collective ambition of companies’ 2030 and net-zero climate targets has improved over the last two years.
• Most companies still fall short of the economy-wide emission reductions needed to limit global warming to below 1.5°C.
• Many companies rely on contentious solutions such as Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS), standalone Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), bioenergy, and carbon dioxide removals instead of emission reductions. 

Recommendations

• Mitigate over-reliance on contentious solutions like CCUS and RECs.
• Governments should set binding sectoral climate targets and expand carbon pricing or cap-and-trade emissions trading systems.
• Companies should accelerate the revision cycle for corporate climate targets towards 2030.
• Regulators, standard setters, and voluntary initiatives should provide more prescriptive guidelines for including fossil fuel phase-out in corporate strategies.