The “high-level panel of experts”, set up in March by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to advise on rules to improve the integrity and transparency of net zero commitments by industry, regions and cities, He said climate plans must include deep cuts in greenhouse gases before 2030, and not delay action until 2050. He stressed that serious commitments must prioritize immediate cuts in absolute emissions, with the use of carbon offsets – an often controversial practice that allows companies and governments to pay for cuts elsewhere rather than reducing their own pollution – to be used sparingly in the coming years, if at all. Rules were needed to ensure the offsets were of high quality and came from a reliable and verifiable source, the group said. The think tank was created after widespread concerns about greenwashing, including claims by major fossil fuel companies that they were aiming for net zero emissions by 2050, while supporting new coal, oil and gas developments and relying heavily on offsets. A Guardian investigation this year revealed that oil and gas companies, including many with net zero commitments, were still planning huge new developments that would push the world far beyond the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris agreement. In Australia, they include Woodside, which has taken over BHP’s global oil assets and plans to open new fields off the north-west coast. The net zero plans already approved have been criticized for being vague, delaying action until it is too late and relying too much on reductions required by unrelated nature-based offset projects such as tree planting and supporting forest regeneration. While offsets have been widely supported by governments and industry as a cheaper way to reduce pollution than outright cuts, experts said they should only be used after a business or regional or local government has met short- and medium-term targets. Releasing the report at the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, the panel’s chair, former Canadian climate minister Catherine McKenna, said net zero commitments should be “about cutting emissions, not corners.” . “Right now, the planet cannot afford delays, excuses or more greenwashing,” he said. Panel member Bill Hare, climate scientist and CEO of Climate Analytics, said no one could ignore the need for “immediate and drastic reductions in emissions”. “If industry, financial institutions, cities and counties mean what they say in their net zero commitments, they will adopt these recommendations,” he said. “If fossil fuel companies think they can expand production below a net zero target, they need to think again.” Experts said non-state actors should submit a public report every year, backing up their claims with verifiable information, to prevent dishonest climate accounting. They called for the replacement of voluntary net zero commitments for large corporate emissions with regulated requirements. Guterres said: “A growing number of governments and [companies] they’re committed to being carbon-free – and that’s good news. The problem is that the criteria and benchmarks for these net zero commitments have varying levels of stringency and gaps wide enough for a diesel truck to drive,” he said. “We must have zero tolerance for net zero greenwashing.” The secretary-general also had strong words for fossil fuel companies: “The so-called ‘net zero commitments’ that exclude essential products [coal, oil, gas] they are poisoning our planet. The use of bogus net zero commitments to mask the massive expansion of fossil fuels is reprehensible. This toxic cover-up could push our world over the climate cliff.” The report was supported by Laurence Tubiana, managing director of the European Climate Foundation and considered one of the architects of the Paris agreement as France’s environment minister. He said that keeping that agreement required drawing “a clear line on true net zero – what it really means and requires, and what is just greenwashing”. “We can’t afford creative accounting,” he said. “I urge all actors – including cities, regions, businesses, investors, alliances, countries and regulators to take these recommendations seriously and incorporate them as a matter of urgency.”
