Post-COP26 Snapshot

As of November 16, 2021, net zero target coverage reached 92% for emissions and 86% for population globally. However, the document highlights significant gaps in integrity, noting that a vast majority of country, regional, and city targets fail to specify the use of offsets, and only 32% of corporate targets cover all Scope 3 emissions. Conversely, there is growing corporate momentum, with the number of companies meeting 'minimum procedural standards' nearly doubling in the last year.

• As of 16 November 2021, global net zero coverage including the European Union is 92% for emissions, 93% for GDP, and 86% for population.
• There is a widespread lack of clarity regarding the use of carbon offsets across various entities: 91% of country targets, 78% of regional targets, 79% of city targets, and 48% of public company targets do not specify if or how offsets will be used.
• Among the 632 largest public companies by revenue, nearly 43% plan to use offsets, but two-thirds of those companies do not specify conditions for their use. Approximately 10% of companies by revenue have explicitly ruled out offsets.
• Corporate net zero targets often lack comprehensive emissions coverage, with only 32% covering all Scope 3 emissions and 25% covering them only partially.
• There is increasing corporate adherence to quality standards: the number of companies meeting 'minimum procedural standards' grew from 110 to 207 in one year, while those meeting both minimum standards and UNFCCC Race to Zero leadership practices doubled from 11 to 22.

APA

Hale, T., Kuramochi, T., Lang, J., Mapes, B., Smith, S., Aiyer, R., Black, R., Boot, M., Chalkley, P., Hans, F., Hay, N., Hsu, A., Höhne, N., Mooldijk, S., & Walsh, T. (2021). Post-COP26 Snapshot. Net Zero Tracker. https://zerotracker.net/analysis/post-cop26-snapshot

Chicago

Hale, Thomas, Takeshi Kuramochi, John Lang, Brendan Mapes, Steve Smith, Ria Aiyer, Richard Black, et al. Post-COP26 Snapshot. Net Zero Tracker, 2021. https://zerotracker.net/analysis/post-cop26-snapshot.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hale |first1=Thomas |last2=Kuramochi |first2=Takeshi |last3=Lang |first3=John |last4=Mapes |first4=Brendan |last5=Smith |first5=Steve |last6=Aiyer |first6=Ria |last7=Black |first7=Richard |last8=Boot |first8=Mirte |last9=Chalkley |first9=Peter |display-authors=etal |title=Post-COP26 Snapshot |publisher=Net Zero Tracker |date=25 November 2021 |url=https://zerotracker.net/analysis/post-cop26-snapshot |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hale2021postcop26, author = {Hale, Thomas and Kuramochi, Takeshi and Lang, John and Mapes, Brendan and Smith, Steve and Aiyer, Ria and Black, Richard and Boot, Mirte and Chalkley, Peter and Hans, Frederic and Hay, Nick and Hsu, Angel and Höhne, Niklas and Mooldijk, Silke and Walsh, Tristram}, title = {{Post-COP26 Snapshot}}, institution = {Net Zero Tracker}, year = {2021}, month = nov, url = {https://zerotracker.net/analysis/post-cop26-snapshot}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }