Green
Visualizing the Climate Targets of Fortune 500 Companies
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Visualized: The Climate Targets of Fortune 500 Companies
View the high-resolution version of this infographic by clicking here
The Fortune Global 500 is a ranking of the world’s 500 largest companies by revenue. In 2019, this influential group employed 70 million people and generated revenues of over $33 trillion.
Given their size and influence, many of these companies are taking climate action quite seriously. For example, 30% of the group have either achieved a climate goal or are publicly committed to doing so by 2030—a significant increase from just 6% in 2016.
In this infographic, we’ve used data from Natural Capital Partners to provide a holistic view of when Fortune Global 500 companies plan to meet their stated climate goals.
Climate Action Takes Several Forms
When taking climate action, businesses have a variety of targets they can pursue. Three of the most common ones include carbon neutrality, RE100, and science based targets (SBT).
Climate target type | Description |
---|---|
Carbon neutral | Achieved when a company completely offsets its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. |
RE100 | Achieved when a company relies on 100% renewable energy. |
Science based targets (SBT) | Emissions are reduced in line with the need to keep global warming below 2ºC. |
After choosing a target, businesses can also set a date for when they intend to achieve it. As the above graphic shows, many companies are targeting 2030, a year that is frequently touted as a deadline for meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.
A fourth target known as “net zero emissions” is also used, though its exact definition tends to vary. For the purposes of this infographic, we’ve considered a commitment to net zero emissions to be the same as achieving carbon neutrality.
A Complete Overview
The following table summarizes the climate actions of Fortune Global 500 companies. Firms that made commitments without a target date have been noted in the table with a “C”.
Company Name | Headquarters | Carbon Neutral (target date) | RE100 (target date) | SBT (target date) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Commonwealth Bank of Australia | 🇦🇺Australia | 2030 | ||
Westpac Banking | 🇦🇺Australia | 2013 | 2025 | |
Woolworths Group | 🇦🇺Australia | C | ||
Anheuser-Busch InBev | 🇧🇪Belgium | 2025 | 2025 | |
Banco Bradesco | 🇧🇷Brazil | 2019 | ||
Banco do Brasil | 🇧🇷Brazil | 2019 | ||
Caixa Econômica Federal | 🇧🇷Brazil | 2018 | ||
Vale | 🇧🇷Brazil | 2050 | ||
Bank of Montreal | 🇨🇦Canada | 2010 | ||
Royal Bank of Canada | 🇨🇦Canada | 2017 | ||
Toronto-Dominion Bank | 🇨🇦Canada | 2010 | ||
Lenovo Group | 🇨🇳China | 2030 | ||
Xiamen ITG Holding Group | 🇨🇳China | C | ||
Maersk Group | 🇩🇰Denmark | 2050 | ||
Nokia | 🇫🇮Finland | 2030 | ||
Auchan Holding | 🇫🇷France | |||
AXA | 🇫🇷France | 2025 | ||
BNP Paribas | 🇫🇷France | 2017 | ||
Carrefour | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
CMA CGM | 🇫🇷France | 2050 | ||
Crédit Agricole | 🇫🇷France | C | ||
Danone | 🇫🇷France | 2050 | 2030 | 2030 |
Electricité de France | 🇫🇷France | 2050 | ||
Engie | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
L'Oréal | 🇫🇷France | 2020 | 2027 | |
La Poste | 🇫🇷France | 2012 | 2020 | 2025 |
Michelin | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
Orange | 🇫🇷France | 2040 | ||
Renault | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
Saint-Gobain | 🇫🇷France | 2025 | ||
Sanofi | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
Schneider Electric | 🇫🇷France | 2025 | 2030 | 2030 |
Siemens | 🇫🇷France | 2030 | ||
Société Générale | 🇫🇷France | C | ||
Veolia Environnement | 🇫🇷France | 2034 | ||
Vinci | 🇫🇷France | 2050 | ||
Adidas | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | ||
Allianz | 🇩🇪Germany | 2012 | 2023 | |
Bayer | 🇩🇪Germany | 2030 | ||
BMW Group | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | ||
Bosch Group | 🇩🇪Germany | 2020 | ||
Continental | 🇩🇪Germany | 2040 | 2030 | |
Daimler | 🇩🇪Germany | 2039 | ||
Deutsche Bahn | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | 2030 | |
Deutsche Bank | 🇩🇪Germany | 2013 | ||
Deutsche Post DHL Group | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | ||
Deutsche Telekom | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | 2021 | 2030 |
E.ON | 🇩🇪Germany | 2040 | ||
Metro | 🇩🇪Germany | 2030 | ||
Munich Re Group | 🇩🇪Germany | 2015 | ||
SAP | 🇩🇪Germany | 2025 | 2014 | 2025 |
ThyssenKrupp | 🇩🇪Germany | 2030 | ||
Uniper | 🇩🇪Germany | 2035 | ||
Volkswagen | 🇩🇪Germany | 2050 | ||
ZF Friedrichshafen | 🇩🇪Germany | 2040 | ||
State Bank of India | 🇮🇳India | 2030 | ||
Tata Motors | 🇮🇳India | 2030 | ||
Accenture | 🇮🇪Ireland | 2023 | 2025 | |
CRH | 🇮🇪Ireland | 2050 | ||
Johnson Controls International | 🇮🇪Ireland | C | ||
Enel | 🇮🇹Italy | 2050 | 2030 | |
ENI | 🇮🇹Italy | 2030 | ||
AEON | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | 2030 | 2027 |
Dai-ichi Life Holdings | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | ||
Daiwa House Industry | 🇯🇵Japan | 2040 | 2030 | |
Fujitsu | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | 2030 | |
Hitachi | 🇯🇵Japan | C | ||
Mitsubishi Electric | 🇯🇵Japan | 2030 | ||
NEC | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | 2030 | |
Nissan Motor | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | ||
Panasonic | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | 2030 | |
Sompo Holdings | 🇯🇵Japan | C | ||
Sony | 🇯🇵Japan | 2040 | 2020 | |
Sumitomo Electric Industries | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | ||
Takeda Pharmaceutical | 🇯🇵Japan | 2019 | 2025 | |
Tokio Marine Holdings | 🇯🇵Japan | 2011 | ||
Toshiba | 🇯🇵Japan | |||
Toyota Motor | 🇯🇵Japan | 2050 | ||
América Móvil | 🇲🇽Mexico | 2050 | ||
Achmea | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 2011 | ||
Aegon | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 2016 | ||
Heineken Holding | 🇳🇱Netherlands | C | ||
ING Group | 🇳🇱Netherlands | 2007 | 2020 | |
Equinor | 🇳🇴Norway | 2030 | ||
Anglo American | 🇿🇦South Africa | 2040 | ||
Hyundai Motor | 🇰🇷South Korea | 2050 | ||
LG Electronics | 🇰🇷South Korea | 2030 | ||
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria | 🇪🇸Spain | 2020 | 2030 | |
Banco Santander | 🇪🇸Spain | 2020 | ||
Iberdrola | 🇪🇸Spain | 2050 | 2030 | |
Inditex | 🇪🇸Spain | C | ||
Mapfre Group | 🇪🇸Spain | 2030 | ||
Naturgy Energy Group | 🇪🇸Spain | C | ||
Telefónica | 🇪🇸Spain | 2030 | 2030 | 2025 |
Volvo | 🇸🇪Sweden | 2025 | ||
ABB | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2018 | ||
Adecco Group | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2030 | ||
Coop Group | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2023 | ||
Credit Suisse Group | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2010 | 2025 | |
LafargeHolcim | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2030 | ||
Migros Group | 🇨🇭Switzerland | C | ||
Nestlé | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2020 | ||
Novartis | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2025 | 2030 | |
Swiss Re | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2003 | 2020 | |
Zurich Insurance Group | 🇨🇭Switzerland | 2014 | 2022 | |
Fubon Financial Holding | 🇹🇼Taiwan | C | ||
PTT | 🇹🇭Thailand | C | ||
Aviva | 🇬🇧UK | 2006 | 2025 | |
Barclays | 🇬🇧UK | 2030 | ||
British American Tobacco | 🇬🇧UK | 2030 | 2028 | |
BT Group | 🇬🇧UK | 2020 | 2030 | |
Compass Group | 🇬🇧UK | C | ||
GlaxoSmithKline | 🇬🇧UK | 2050 | 2027 | |
HSBC Holdings | 🇬🇧UK | 2030 | ||
J. Sainsbury | 🇬🇧UK | 2040 | ||
Linde | 🇬🇧UK | C | ||
Phoenix Group Holdings | 🇬🇧UK | 2030 | ||
Tesco | 🇬🇧UK | 2050 | 2030 | 2027 |
Unilever | 🇬🇧UK | 2020 | 2030 | |
Vodafone Group | 🇬🇧UK | 2025 | ||
3M | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | ||
Alphabet | 🇺🇸USA | 2007 | 2017 | |
Amazon.com | 🇺🇸USA | 2040 | 2025 | 2040 |
American Express | 🇺🇸USA | 2018 | ||
Anthem | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | ||
Apple | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | 2020 | |
AT&T | 🇺🇸USA | 2028 | ||
Bank of America | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | 2020 | |
Best Buy | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | 2030 | |
Capital One Financial | 🇺🇸USA | 2018 | 2019 | |
Cisco Systems | 🇺🇸USA | 2022 | ||
Citigroup | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | ||
Coca-Cola | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | ||
CVS Health | 🇺🇸USA | 2028 | ||
Dell Technologies | 🇺🇸USA | 2040 | 2020 | |
Delta Air Lines | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | ||
Dow | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | ||
🇺🇸USA | 2020 | |||
Ford Motor | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | ||
General Motors | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | ||
Goldman Sachs Group | 🇺🇸USA | 2015 | 2020 | |
Hewlett Packard Enterprise | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | ||
HP | 🇺🇸USA | 2035 | 2025 | |
Intel | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | ||
Johnson & Johnson | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | ||
JPMorgan Chase | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | ||
Lowe's | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | ||
MetLife | 🇺🇸USA | 2016 | ||
Microsoft | 🇺🇸USA | 2012 | 2017 | 2030 |
Mondelez International | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | ||
Morgan Stanley | 🇺🇸USA | 2022 | 2022 | |
Nike | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | 2030 | |
PepsiCo | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | ||
Pfizer | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | ||
Philip Morris International | 🇺🇸USA | 2050 | 2030 | |
Procter & Gamble | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | 2030 | 2030 |
Schlumberger | 🇺🇸USA | C | ||
Starbucks | 🇺🇸USA | 2020 | ||
Target | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | 2028 | |
Tyson Foods | 🇺🇸USA | 2030 | ||
Verizon Communications | 🇺🇸USA | 2035 | ||
Walmart | 🇺🇸USA | 2025 | 2027 | |
Wells Fargo | 🇺🇸USA | 2019 | 2020 |
Note: This data was aggregated from various sources throughout 2020, and as a result, may not include the latest climate commitments announced by companies within the Fortune Global 500.
As of October 2020, 163 companies from the Fortune Global 500 have publicly committed to achieving at least one of these climate targets. That represents 32.6% of the total group.
The most common target is carbon neutrality, which has 91 companies on board. In second place is science based targets (SBT), which has 74 companies committed—of those, 16 have not declared a target date. RE100 was the least common, with 56 companies committed. Because some companies are committed to multiple targets, these figures add to more than 163.
Climate Action is on the Rise
Private-sector awareness around climate change and other sustainability issues has gained strong momentum in recent years.
Since 2011, the number of S&P 500 companies publishing sustainability reports increased from 20% in 2011, to 90% in 2019. This was likely due to investor demand and a broader acceptance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria.
Governments around the world are also taking a more proactive approach to climate action. The Biden administration, for example, seeks to make a $2 trillion investment to help a variety of U.S. industries become more sustainable.
“We have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy – one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions…by no later than 2050.”
– Biden-Harris campaign
America’s goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 is shared with a handful of other advanced economies, including Japan and the EU. The UK has taken these pledges one step further, becoming the first G7 country to pass a law that requires itself to bring emissions to net zero by 2050.
Environment
How Carbon Dioxide Removal is Critical to a Net-Zero Future
Here’s how carbon dioxide removal methods could help us meet net-zero targets and and stabilize the climate.
How Carbon Dioxide Removal is Critical to a Net-Zero Future
Meeting the Paris Agreement temperature goals and avoiding the worst consequences of a warming world requires first and foremost emission reductions, but also the ongoing direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.
We’ve partnered with Carbon Streaming to take a deep look at carbon dioxide removal methods, and the role that they could play in a net-zero future.
What is Carbon Dioxide Removal?
Carbon Dioxide Removal, or CDR, is the direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and its durable storage in geological, terrestrial, or ocean reservoirs, or in products.
And according to the UN Environment Programme, all least-cost pathways to net zero that are consistent with the Paris Agreement have some role for CDR. In a 1.5°C scenario, in addition to emissions reductions, CDR will need to pull an estimated 3.8 GtCO2e p.a. out of the atmosphere by 2035 and 9.2 GtCO2e p.a. by 2050.
The ‘net’ in net zero is an important quantifier here, because there will be some sectors that can’t decarbonize, especially in the near term. This includes things like shipping and concrete production, where there are limited commercially viable alternatives to fossil fuels.
Not All CDR is Created Equal
There are a whole host of proposed ways for removing CO2 from the atmosphere at scale, which can be divided into land-based and novel methods, and each with their own pros and cons.
Land-based methods, like afforestation and reforestation and soil carbon sequestration, tend to be the cheapest options, but don’t tend to store the carbon for very long—just decades to centuries.
In fact, afforestation and reforestation—basically planting lots of trees—is already being done around the world and in 2020, was responsible for removing around 2 GtCO2e. And while it is tempting to think that we can plant our way out of climate change, think that the U.S. would need to plant a forest the size of New Mexico every year to cancel out their emissions.
On the other hand, novel methods like enhanced weathering and direct air carbon capture and storage, because they store carbon in minerals and geological reservoirs, can keep carbon sequestered for tens of thousand years or longer. The trade off is that these methods can be very expensive—between $100-500 and north of $800 per metric ton.
CDR Has a Critical Role to Play
In the end, there is no silver bullet, and given that 2023 was the hottest year on record—1.45°C above pre-industrial levels—it’s likely that many different CDR methods will end up playing a part, depending on local circumstances.
And not just in the drive to net zero, but also in the years after 2050, as we begin to stabilize global average temperatures and gradually return them to pre-industrial norms.
Carbon Streaming uses carbon credit streams to finance CDR projects, such as reforestation and biochar, to accelerate a net-zero future.
Learn more about Carbon Streaming’s CDR projects.
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