Less than a fifth of FTSE100 corporates on track to meet net zero targets

Less than a fifth of all FTSE100 companies are on track to meet their set net zero targets, it has emerged. 

In fact, over half of the FTSE100 do not have any publicly available data on their net zero targets, according to new research shared with Net Zero Investor.

Of the companies that are reporting on short-term, long-term and net zero targets combined (56) more than half (34) will fail to achieve at least one.

Tech firm Permutable AI used AI for good to monitor ESG commitments and corresponding emissions data.

The firm tracked the specific number of announcements that each of the current FTSE100 organisations have made over the last 10 years. This includes any announcement in relation to achieving carbon neutral status, net zero ambitions and setting emissions targets, for scopes 1, 2 and 3. 

While more than half of the FTSE100 do not have data available on their net zero targets specifically, 56 companies do have readily available data on their short-term, long-term and net zero targets combined. 

However, of these 56, 34 of the companies cannot feasibly achieve at least one of their targets.

Greenwashing claims

The data comes at a significant time when the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched several inquiries into the accuracy of green claims made by UK organisations, including opening an investigation in January of this year into the accuracy of eco-statements made within the FMCG sector.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also recently pledged to ban ads that feature the terms ‘carbon neutral’ and ‘net zero’ unless companies can thoroughly back up their claims. 

Shell became its most recent victim in June when an ad campaign promoting its green initiatives was banned by the ASA for failing to tell consumers that most of Shells’ business is based on environmentally damaging fossil fuels such as petrol.

Commenting on these findings, John Willis, Director of Research at Planet Tracker, said: “This report shows the importance of closely examining the data behind climate claims. When corporates make misleading statements about their climate strategies and targets, the risks have dramatically risen in recent months. Two sets of regulators are looking into this, consumer and financial ones.

“Climate and environmental statements have to be backed up with evidence. This AI analysis suggests that many UK organisations should be thinking hard about making net zero commitments based on their present publicly available data. Furthermore, if this is the case, investors owning them in sustainable funds may also be at risk of greenwashing," Willis concluded.