How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26

This fact sheet by Friends of the Earth International argues that major corporations and industry groups are using "net zero" pledges as a strategy to delay meaningful climate action and greenwash their images ahead of COP26. The document details how six specific entities—BP, Microsoft, Drax, IETA, BlackRock, and Shell—employ false solutions, accounting loopholes, and aggressive lobbying to maintain business-as-usual fossil fuel extraction and emissions while appearing to align with the Paris Agreement.

• BP maintains a "net zero" ambition for 2050 despite plans to spend US$71 billion on fossil fuel extraction and launch seven new hydrocarbon projects in 2022. The company's emissions from marketed products are projected to grow until at least 2030, and it relies on "false climate solutions" such as fossil gas, carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS), and carbon offsets.
• Microsoft, a COP26 Principal Partner, aims to be "carbon negative" by 2030 but is described as a global enabler of fossil fuels by selling AI to the oil and gas industry. Its plan relies on carbon removal technologies that the company admits do not yet exist and forest offsets that have been destroyed by fires in the U.S.
• Drax is identified as the UK's largest single source of CO2 emissions and the third largest in Europe among coal plants when biomass is included. It claims an ambition to be "carbon-negative" by 2030 using Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS), though it currently captures less than 1/100th of the emissions expected by the UK government.
• The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), funded by fossil fuel giants, promotes carbon markets as the primary tool for "net zero." It has historically deployed delegations to COPs that significantly dwarf average government delegations, such as sending 402 delegates to COP11 compared to a government average of 15.
• BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, holds US$85 billion in coal companies and US$75 billion in tar sands production. While its CEO committed to "net zero by 2050 or sooner," the firm lacks short or medium-term emissions reduction benchmarks and voted down 88 percent of climate-friendly shareholder resolutions in 2020.
• Shell's "Powering Progress" strategy to reach net-zero emissions is criticized for including plans to increase liquefied natural gas (LNG) operations by 20 percent and spending US$8 billion annually on oil and gas production. Its offsetting goal of 120 million tonnes of CO2 per year would require land three times the size of the Netherlands by 2030.

APA

Friends of the Earth International (2021). How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Final-Still-A-Big-Con-factfile.pdf

Chicago

Friends of the Earth International. How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26. 2021. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Final-Still-A-Big-Con-factfile.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Friends of the Earth International |title=How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26 |date=October 2021 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Final-Still-A-Big-Con-factfile.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{friendsoftheearthinternational2021how, author = {{Friends of the Earth International}}, title = {{How Big Polluters are using “net zero” to block meaningful action at COP26}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Final-Still-A-Big-Con-factfile.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }