SINGAPORE - More than 40% of major companies, cities and regions have still not set any targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions, according to an annual "stocktake" released on Monday to gauge global progress in the fight against catastrophic climate change.
"A common theme throughout this report is the persistent lack of integrity across the board," said John Lang, who heads Net Zero Tracker's Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit. Among the listed firms, just under 60% had set net-zero targets, up 23% since last year's report, with a significant rise in pledges from Asia.
However, only 5% of regions, cities and companies met all of Net Zero Tracker's criteria for "robustness" - which include having detailed plans to phase out fossil fuels, it said.Around half of the regions, cities and companies have failed to set targets for non-CO2 greenhouse gases like methane, and many firms also failed to account for emissions across their entire value chains or clarify how much they will rely on offsets to meet targets.
"There's been some good progress, but we need a lot more," said Catherine McKenna, a former Canadian environment minister who chairs a U.N. expert group on net-zero commitments.A student at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania who scratched a racial slur onto the body of a fellow member of the school's swim team is no longer enrolled there, the college newspaper reported on Sunday, citing an official statement.