Nearly All Companies Will Miss Net Zero Goals Without At Least Doubling Rate of Carbon Emissions Reductions by 2030, Accenture Report Finds
November 01 2022 - 8:01PM
Business Wire
While more than one-third (34%) of the world’s largest companies
are now committed to Net Zero[1], nearly all (93%) will fail to
achieve their goals if they don’t at least double the pace of
emissions reduction by 2030, according to a new report from
Accenture (NYSE: ACN).
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Many industries are not on track to meet
net zero by 2050 and need to accelerate (Graphic: Business
Wire)
Based on an analysis of commitments to emissions reduction and
data from the 2000 largest public and private companies around the
world, Accelerating Global Companies toward Net Zero by 2050
finds that growing energy price inflation and supply insecurity is
pushing commitments out of reach, even as more companies in every
region are setting clear and publicly visible decarbonization
goals, with a record rise in the number of corporate targets
validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) this year
alone. Moreover, 84% of companies plan to increase investments in
their sustainability initiatives before the end of 2022[2].
The report finds that acceleration toward net zero will require
‘carbon intelligence’ capabilities that enable organizations to
control, improve and drive value-creation by embedding carbon and
broader ESG intelligence into their core businesses and across
their value chains. This includes integrating carbon, energy and
other sustainability data and insights into financial and
operational business information to help drive everyday
decision-making.
“Amid global economic, political and environmental disruption,
more companies than ever before have publicly committed to largely
decarbonizing by around 2050. This heightened ambition is
encouraging, but it is also clear that a steep acceleration of
emission reductions is required,” said Jean-Marc Ollagnier, CEO of
Accenture for Europe. “Maximizing value from mature technologies,
such as digital and certain renewable energies, while accelerating
the deployment of breakthrough solutions like hydrogen will be
critical. Most importantly, reaching net zero will require urgent
and profound transformations, as it is about embedding
sustainability into everything organizations do, redefining their
purpose, culture and business models.”
Despite the commitments made, however, only 7% of companies are
on track to achieve their net zero targets for scope 1 and 2
emissions at the observed rates of change. Moving targets to 2050
increases that share just slightly to a mere 8%. Even in a scenario
where companies accelerate emissions reduction to twice the current
rates in the years to 2030 and then three times after – 59% would
still fail by 2050; the deadline deemed necessary to avert the most
catastrophic and irreversible impacts of climate change.
“To move at the speed and scale required by science and
economics, it will be critical for businesses to develop multiple
‘carbon intelligence’ capabilities at the same time,” said Mauricio
Bermudez-Neubauer, global lead for carbon strategy &
intelligence at Accenture. “This means integrating decision-ready
carbon data and insights across their systems and processes,
enabling efficient use of financial and non-financial resources
along with sound risk management in deploying the digital,
biological and industrial technologies that will be necessary to
attain net zero.”
A net zero transition must include every part of the business,
and decarbonization can’t be done without a combination of digital
and physical technology to make sense of carbon data and act on it
with confidence.
“Now is perhaps a tougher time to be a CEO than any stage in the
recent past, in particular, attempting to square the circle between
sustainability commitments, inflationary and recessionary pressures
and the need to deliver both shareholder and stakeholder value,”
said Peter Lacy, Accenture’s global Sustainability Services lead
and chief responsibility officer. “This report – while extremely
worrying with regards to the delivery trajectory on net zero –
shows a clear pathway for companies to create value and impact at a
time when capital markets, governments and other organizations will
create even more pressure to deliver on targets set through
transparency, comparability and consistency.”
You can explore Accelerating Global Companies toward Net Zero by
2050 in Accenture Foresight, our new thought leadership app,
which provides a personalized feed of all our latest reports, case
studies, blogs, interactive data charts, podcasts and more. Visit:
http://www.accenture.com/foresight.
About the Research Accenture’s analysis takes stock of
global corporate net zero targets. It shows how many of the world’s
largest companies have announced net zero targets, in which year
these companies aim to achieve net zero, and how they are
positioned to meet these targets considering their track record of
reducing greenhouse gas (i.e. “carbon”) emissions in the past 10
years. The sample was based on the Accenture Global 2000 (or
“G2000”): an Accenture-developed list of the largest 2000 public
and private companies in the world by revenue.
About Accenture Accenture is a global professional
services company with leading capabilities in digital, cloud and
security. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills
across more than 40 industries, we offer Strategy and Consulting,
Technology and Operations services and Accenture Song — all powered
by the world’s largest network of Advanced Technology and
Intelligent Operations centers. Our 721,000 people deliver on the
promise of technology and human ingenuity every day, serving
clients in more than 120 countries. We embrace the power of change
to create value and shared success for our clients, people,
shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at
accenture.com.
[1] Defined as covering direct emissions from owned or
controlled sources (Scope 1); indirect emissions from the
generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating and cooling
consumed by the reporting company (Scope 2); and all other indirect
emissions that occur in a company's value chain (Scope 3). [2]
Accenture CXO survey, June 2022.
Copyright © 2022 Accenture. All rights reserved. Accenture and
its logo are trademarks of Accenture.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221101005230/en/
Alexander Aizenberg Accenture +1 917 452 9878
alexander.aizenberg@accenture.com
Francois Luu Accenture +33 1 53 23 68 55
francois.luu@accenture.com
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