UNITED NATIONS, Nov 08 (APP): The United Nations on Tuesday unveiled, in a report, a set of standards to help assess whether claims companies make about their environmental credentials are genuine or simply “greenwashing.”
The report, coinciding with the second full day of the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, comes as businesses around the world face mounting pressure from environmentalists, consumers and investors to operate responsibly and beef up efforts against climate change.
A group of 17 U.N. experts led by former Canadian Environment Minister Catherine McKenna drew up the guidelines to help stakeholders and observers scrutinize companies and other nonstate entities that have pledged to work toward net-zero carbon emissions. The standards cover everything from how companies invest in energy sources to the way they use carbon credits.
“Right now, the planet cannot afford delays, excuses or more greenwashing,” Ms.McKenna said in a statement. Used increasingly over the last few years, the term “greenwashing” refers to organizations that present an environmentally responsible public image even if that jars with their actual operations.
Businesses currently make climate pledges voluntarily and are not held accountable for them in the same way as governments, which are tied to their promises under the governance of the U.N. and other international organizations.
One of the group’s 10 recommendations says a company should not claim to be working toward “net-zero” if it invests in new fossil fuel resources, deforestation or other environmentally destructive activities.
According to the standards, companies and other nonstate actors also should not use certain kinds of carbon credits without first reducing their own emissions across their entire operations, including supply chains. Neither should they lobby to undermine ambitious government climate policies.
“We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing. Today’s Expert Group report is a how-to guide to ensure credible, accountable net-zero pledges,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the launch at the report at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh.
Last year at COP26 in Glasgow, Guterres announced that he would appoint an Expert Group to address a ‘surplus of confusion and deficit of credibility’ over net-zero targets of non-State entities.
The group’s first report is the result of intense work and consultations over seven months and reflects the best advice of the 17 experts selected by the UN chief.
Through 10 practical recommendations, the report provides clarity in four key areas as defined by the Secretary-General: environmental integrity; credibility; accountability; and the role of governments.
According to the report, net-zero pledges must in line with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios limiting warming to 1.5 degrees.
“That means global emissions must decline by at least 45 per cent by 2030 – and reach net zero by 2050. Pledges should have interim targets every five years starting in 2025,” the Secretary-General said.
The targets must also cover all greenhouse emissions and all their scopes. For financial institutions this means all of their finance activities, and for businesses and cities it means all emissions – direct, indirect and those originating from supply chains.
“The message is clear to all those managing existing voluntary initiatives – as well as CEOs, mayors [and] governors committing to net-zero: Abide by this standard and update your guidelines right away – and certainly no later than COP28,” Guterres underscored.
The UN chief also sent a strong message to fossil fuel companies and their “financial enablers” that have pledges that exclude core products and activities poisoning the planet and urged them to review their promises and align them with the report’s guidance.
“Using bogus ‘net-zero’ pledges to cover up massive fossil fuel expansion is reprehensible. It is rank deception. This toxic cover-up could push our world over the climate cliff. The sham must end”
The UN chief said that net-zero pledges should be accompanied by a plan for how the transition is being made.
“Management must be accountable for delivering on these pledges. This means publicly advocating for decisive climate action and disclosing all lobbying activity,” he said, adding that the absence of standards, regulations and rigour in voluntary carbon market credits is deeply concerning.
Also, the pledges must detail how the transition will address the needs of workers in fossil fuel industries and sectors affected by the renewable energy transition.
The report also provides clarity and details on what businesses, financial institutions, and sub-national authorities need to do to phase out coal, oil and gas.
The Secretary-General called on all net-zero voluntary initiatives to accelerate efforts to standardize progress reports, in an open format and via public platforms that feed the UN Climate Change’s Global Climate Action Portal.
“We must work together to fill gaps from the lack of universally recognized credible third-party authorities – and we must strengthen mechanisms positioned to conduct this verification and accountability process,” he said.
Finally, the UN chief said that governments need to ensure that the now voluntary initiatives become a “new normal”.
“I urge all government leaders to provide non-State entities with a level playing field to transition to a just, net-zero future. Solving the climate crisis requires strong political leadership,” he underscored, reiterating that developed countries also need to accelerate their decarbonization and lead by example.
The report comes in a year in which the world has been plagued by an energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as seemingly nonstop climate impacts like the unprecedented flooding in Pakistan and crippling drought in the US.
Currently over 80 per cent of global emissions are covered by net-zero pledges.
“Right now, the planet cannot afford delays, excuses, or more greenwashing,” said Ms. Mckenna, chairman of the High-Level Expert Group.
She said that in such a crucial time, making net-zero pledges is about cutting emissions, not corners.
Ms. Mckenna congratulated some actors that are making strides, such as companies investing in innovation, investors moving their money from dirty to clean, and cities changing their energy grid to renewables.
“But the bad news is that too many of the net-zero pledges are… little more than empty slogans and hype,” she argued. “Why is greenwashing so bad? In part, because the stakes are so high. It’s not just advertising, bogus net-zero claims drive up the cost that ultimately everyone would pay. Including people not in this room, through huge impact, climate migration and their very lives”.
Ms. Mckenna also noted on Tuesday that French President Emmanuel Macron and UN Climate Envoy Michael Bloomberg have launched a new initiative to create a net-zero data public utility, that will provide verified data to hold companies accountable.