105 businesses have signed up to The Climate Pledge to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement goal.
The Climate Pledge, which calls on companies, organisations and individuals to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, now has 105 signatories, after 52 companies signed up last week.
These companies include Colgate-Palmolive, Heineken, PepsiCo, Sainsbury’s, Visa, and Quorn Foods, which is the first alt-meat company to sign the pledge. The Climate Pledge was launched by Amazon and Global Optimism in 2019 and has set a net-zero target 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement goal.
In total, the 105 pledge signatories generate over $1.4 billion in global annual revenues and have more than 5 million employees across 25 industries in 16 countries. The new batch of companies include 20 British businesses.
The Climate Pledge lays out three main steps: to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions regularly; implement decarbonisation strategies aligning with the Paris Agreement through real changes and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies; and neutralise any remaining emissions with “additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040.
All businesses are taking a science-backed, high-impact approach to address climate change, by innovating in areas including supply chain efficiency, sustainable transportation, circular economy, and clean energy solutions. Many are also involving consumers with initiatives focused on sustainable packaging and product design, and solutions helping them reduce their own emissions through sustainable shopping experiences and educational campaigns.
“Our aim is to help people everywhere make simple, satisfying, and significant contributions to our collective fight against the climate crisis, simply by eating less meat,” said Marco Bertacca, CEO of Quorn Foods. “We’re focusing on making positive contributions to both our environmental challenges as well as our public health challenges by meeting consumer demand for delicious meat alternatives and prioritising sustainable development of these products.”
Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO, added: “We are proud to stand with other signatories to use our scale to decarbonize the economy through real business change and innovation.”
Christiana Figueres, founding partner of Global Optimism and the UN’s former climate chief, said the signatories are demonstrating that moving faster towards decarbonising their businesses brings competitive advantage. “There is no doubt we’re at a tipping point to establish the low carbon economy envisioned in the Paris Agreement. I commend the leadership of the companies that have joined The Climate Pledge already and look forward to welcoming the next 100.”
