Countries, cities and companies around the world have mostly kept their net-zero commitments despite a year of geopolitical and economic strain, researchers said on Friday, in an annual assessment published days before COP31 climate talks open in Turkey.
Net Zero Tracker, an independent research group, examined more than 4,000 countries, regions, cities and major companies and found that 47% — 1,926 of 4,062 entities — had set targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, unchanged from last year. That compares with just 18% in 2020. More than 90% of governments and firms kept the same, or a similar, target year on year, and the group found “little evidence of widespread abandonment” even as new target-setting stalled.
Large companies proved the most resilient part of the picture. Almost two-thirds — 64% — of the world’s biggest companies have pledged to reach net zero, representing about $40 trillion in annual revenue, or 72% of the revenue tracked. And among companies that have committed, 78% have now begun publishing plans for how they intend to meet their targets, up from 69% a year ago.
American firms have largely held the line despite Washington’s rollback of climate commitments. Just over half of US companies tracked — 51%, down only slightly from 52% last year — still make the pledge. “It’s remarkable how many US firms have stuck with net zero,” said John Lang of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, the British think tank that helps run Net Zero Tracker. European firms continued to lead, he said, while Chinese firms were catching up.
But the assessment also exposes large gaps. Some 384 of the world’s biggest companies — a fifth of those monitored — still have no emissions-reduction targets at all, with the financial sector lagging furthest behind. And subnational governments remain what the report calls the “missing middle”: only 28% of cities and 29% of states and regions have set net-zero targets, despite running many of the transport and energy systems that produce the most emissions.
Lang said the test at COP31 would be whether leaders back a “35 by 35” electrification target — aiming to generate 35% of the world’s electricity from clean sources by 2035 — to turn the pledges into demonstrable progress. “Conflicts are exposing the costs of fossil-fuel dependence, strengthening the case for net-zero,” he said. “Clean energy goes hand in hand with energy security and lower import bills.”
Sources: Reuters, “Net-zero commitments remained largely intact in 2026, researchers say” (https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/net-zero-commitments-remained-largely-intact-in-2026-researchers-say-2026-11-06/); edie, “Corporate net-zero targets hold firm while cities lag” (https://www.edie.net/corporate-net-zero-targets-hold-firm-while-cities-lag/).
