According to the fourth edition of Accenture’s ‘Destination Net Zero’ report, just 21% of companies on the continent are currently on-track to reach net zero. While only 33% of European G2000 companies are reporting rising emissions, then, progress is simply too slow, at present.
Further afield, however, the picture is even bleaker. Dragging the global average preparedness down to just 16%, Asia Pacific hosts a meagre 11% of companies which will meet their 2050 goals. Meanwhile, the rest of the world, and North America only have 17% of companies able to reach those targets – and 42% saying their emissions are still growing. With the change of power in the USA since the Presidential election, and the inbound Donald Trump having previously demonstrated distaste for net zero goals, that picture looks unlikely to improve in the near future.
Accenture’s report also shows that many companies are still failing to account for their indirect emissions. The number of companies with net-zero targets that included all scopes – 1, 2 and 3 – remained stagnant from 2023-24 at 37%, in contrast to firms which had net-zero emissions targets that included at least scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, or those within operational control. To that end, a solid majority of 65% of companies now have at least operational targets in place, up 11% from last year and 26% points from 2021.
For companies in many industries, scope 3 emissions typically account for a large proportion of total emissions. For instance, financial services and consumer goods companies have small scope 1 and 2 footprints relative to their scope 3 emissions, making their scope 3 targets critical to their decarbonisation efforts.
Tags: Accenture, Businesses, NetZro
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