A picture taken on April 8, 2024 shows a rapeseed field under thick sand dust blown in from the Sahara, giving the sky a yellowish appearance near Daillens, western Swizterland. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP)
Paris: From carmakers to fast fashion, dozens of major international companies are failing to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions at the pace required to slow climate change, a report said Tuesday.
The nonprofit research groups NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch looked at the climate pledges of 51 multinational firms and found many brands were inflating their sustainability claims.
Distinguishing real cuts to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions from "unsubstantiated greenwashing" was a major challenge, particularly for consumers, they said.
Taken together, the brands scrutinised in this report -- mostly household names including H&M Group, Nestle and Toyota -- accounted for 16 percent of global emissions in 2022.
But their efforts were "critically insufficient" to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius -- the safer limit set under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
While "the collective ambition of companies' 2030 climate pledges has gradually improved over the last two years... most companies continue to fall far short of the economy-wide emission reductions required", the report said.
Global emissions need to be reduced by 43 percent by 2030 to align with the Paris goals, according to United Nations climate scientists.
These companies, on average, would be reducing their emissions by 33 percent under their current commitments, the report said.
