Report: Companies’ climate targets not what they claim

BERLIN — Climate commitments by companies aren’t always as green as they seem. A new report concludes major brands are exaggerating how ambitious their efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are — in effect misleading consumers, investors and governments.

The report published Monday by the Europe-based environmental think tanks NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch examined 24 companies, including KitKat manufacturer Nestle, French retailer Carrefour and automaker Volkswagen. It found that only one company — shipping firm Maersk — had climate plans with “reasonable integrity” while the rest were assessed to be moderate to very low.

“For the majority of companies, we found their climate strategies to be lacking,” said Thomas Day, a researcher at the NewClimate Institute who co-authored the report.

Actual emissions cuts resulting from the companies’ plans would amount to less than half those needed by 2030 to help meet the Paris climate accord’s goal of capping warming at 2.7 Fahrenheit, it found in its second annual assessment.

The researchers also questioned companies’ pledges to achieve “net zero’’ emissions, arguing most consumers would understand that to mean largely stopping the release of planet-heating gas into the atmosphere.

“These net zero pledges, they actually amount to a commitment to reduce the emissions of those companies by just 36%,” said Day. Companies either claim the rest will be removed from the atmosphere by artificial or natural means or simply remove large chunks of their emissions from the tally.

Volkswagen, whose targets were assessed as having “low integrity,” said it was committed to meeting the goal of the Paris accord, noting that it plans to invest $55.5 billion in electric vehicles by 2026.

“We support the NewClimate Institute’s concern to achieve the greatest possible transparency and comparability in the climate goals of large companies,” it said.