Everybody's Business: The net zero blind spot

The report finds that the world's largest private companies significantly lag behind their publicly-listed counterparts in setting and implementing net zero targets, despite representing a substantial portion of the global economy.

• Private companies are significantly less likely to set net zero targets than publicly-listed companies; only 32 of the top 100 private firms have set such targets, compared to 69 of the top 100 publicly-listed companies.
• Among private companies that have established a net zero target, there is a severe lack of planning; only 13% (4 companies) have published a plan to achieve the target, whereas 73% (50 companies) of the publicly-listed counterparts have done so.
• Private companies demonstrate lower quality in their net zero targets compared to public companies, specifically regarding the exclusion of Scope 3 emissions, a lack of interim targets, and insufficient clarity on the use of offsets.
• The aggregate annual revenue of the 100 largest private companies exceeds $4 trillion, representing nearly 5% of the global economy, creating a significant 'blind spot' in global decarbonisation efforts.

APA

Lang, J., & Black, R. (2022). Everybody's Business: The net zero blind spot. Net Zero Tracker. https://zerotracker.net/analysis/everybodys-business-private-companies-net-zero-blind-spot

Chicago

Lang, John, and Richard Black. Everybody's Business: The net zero blind spot. Net Zero Tracker, 2022. https://zerotracker.net/analysis/everybodys-business-private-companies-net-zero-blind-spot.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Lang |first1=John |last2=Black |first2=Richard |title=Everybody's Business: The net zero blind spot |publisher=Net Zero Tracker |date=18 October 2022 |url=https://zerotracker.net/analysis/everybodys-business-private-companies-net-zero-blind-spot |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lang2022everybodys, author = {Lang, John and Black, Richard}, title = {{Everybody's Business: The net zero blind spot}}, institution = {Net Zero Tracker}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://zerotracker.net/analysis/everybodys-business-private-companies-net-zero-blind-spot}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }