Sixty of FTSE 100 companies commit to net zero by 2050
SIX in 10 of the UK’s biggest listed companies have said they will eliminate their contribution to carbon emissions by the middle of the century as negotiators meet in Glasgow to find a path to avoid catastrophic climate change.
By today, 60 of the FTSE 100 – with a combined market value of over £1 trillion – had committed to a net zero target as part of the United Nations Race to Zero campaign.
They are part of the 5,200 companies which have joined up to the UN pledge. Nearly half of these companies are British, the Government said.
“With over 2,500 UK companies joining the Race to Zero, including the majority of our largest firms, the UK is leading the way in showing how going green doesn’t just make sense for the planet – it makes business sense too,” said business and industry minister Lee Rowley.
It comes as countries including major coal users Poland and Vietnam pledged to shift away from the major fossil fuel in initiatives announced at Cop26 climate talks.
The UK Government has hailed moves away from coal announced on “energy day” at the conference as signalling “the end is in sight” for the fossil fuel, which is the single biggest contributor to climate change.
Initiatives include a UK-led coal-toclean power transition statement committing countries to ending all investment in new coal power generation domestically and internationally and rapidly scaling up deployment of clean power generation.
The statement also sees them commit to phasing out coal power in economies in the 2030s for major economies and the 2040s for the rest of the world and to ensure the shift away from coal power is fair and benefits workers and communities.
More than 40 countries have signed up to the statement, including 18 committing to phase out and not build or invest in new coal power for the first time, such as Poland, Vietnam and Chile, the UK Government said.
Separately, 28 new members have signed up to the UK-led “powering past coal alliance”, to phase out the use of the most polluting fossil fuel, including Chile, Singapore and Durban.
Efforts to swiftly end the use of coal – the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions – are seen as key to cutting carbon enough to get the world on track to limit global warming to 1.50C, beyond which the worst impacts of storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and rising seas will be felt.
Since the Paris climate accord to limit global warming to 1.50C to 20C was agreed in 2015, there has been a 76% cut in the number of new coal plants planned, a cancellation of 1,000 gigawatts of new coal plants – around 10 times the UK’s total electricity generating capacity, UK officials said. But while it appears the world’s use of coal peaked in around 2014, it is still not falling significantly, with heavy use and even increases in countries such as China.
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Spearheaded by the UK’s Cop26 presidency, today’s ambitious commitments made by our international partners demonstrate that the end of coal is in sight.”
Shadow business secretary Ed Miliband said any progress towards powering past coal is welcome, but there were “glaring gaps” such as a lack of commitment from China and other large emitters – and nothing on the phasing out of oil and gas.
Yesterday Prime Minister Boris Johnson said whether or not the Cop26 summit is successful is a “question of will”.
The Prime Minister has said “we can take heart” from what has been achieved at the conference in Glasgow so far, but warned that whether the planet can avoid climate disaster “still hangs in the balance”.