This week we saw a crescendo of Australian business support for climate change action. The Business Council of Australia proposed strong emissions cuts. News Corporation launched a campaign to support a target of net zero by 2050.ran a climate summit. Long-time climate action supporters, Andrew Forrest and Mike Cannon-Brookes, made big promises to further invest in green technology.
Some Australian companies are at world’s best practice. Medibank, Macquarie, Commonwealth Bank, Cochlear and Brambles are just some of the companies that have emissions per dollar of revenue consistent with the IEA pathway to 1.5 degrees or lower. But, overall, only 24 per cent of Australia’s largest listed companies have emissions consistent with keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees. This compares with 61 per cent of major companies in Britain and 53 per cent in Europe.
The most credible climate commitments are those that include deep long-term emissions cuts as well as concrete short-term action. For example, Woolworths has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, but also committed to strong intermediate goals to be achieved much sooner. Similarly, Coles and Telstra have committed to a short-term target of 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025 on their pathway to net zero by mid-century.