Post-COP26 Snapshot

Notes and figures

Net zero coverage — Countries

When including the net zero target of the European Union as a whole (not just the targets of its individual countries) net zero coverage is slightly higher across the board as of 16 November 2021: 92% for emissions, 93% for GDP and 86% for population.

Planned use of offsets — All entities

The use of offsets (carbon credits) is ill-defined across all entity targets, with 91% of country targets, 78% of regional targets, 79% of city targets and 48% of public company targets failing to specify if - and how - offset credits will be used.

Almost 43% of the world’s largest 632 public company targets, as measured by revenue, plan to use offsets — but two-thirds of that 43% fail to specify any conditions on the use of offsets.

Almost 10% of companies, as measured by revenue, have ruled out using offsets to reach their net zero targets.

Coverage by scope — Companies

Only 32% of corporate net zero targets cover the entirety of Scope 3 emissions — and 25% of targets only partially cover Scope 3.

Governance indicators — All entities

Interim targets indicator: Countries display 100% because all nations with net zero targets have submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) with an interim mitigation target. We will be reviewing the value of this country indicator in the near future.

Green shoots of corporate momentum

Companies setting net zero targets meeting 'minimum procedural standards' have increased in the last year almost two-fold by number (from 110 to 207) and almost four-fold (from $2,148bn to $8,049bn) as measured by revenue.

Companies meeting both minimum standards and leadership practices — as defined by the UNFCCC's Race to Zero campaign — has doubled in the last year by number (from 11 to 22, and increased 16-fold (from $82bn to $1,345bn) as measured by revenue

Data and acknowledgements

Explore our methodology to find out how we collect information on net zero targets. To access the specific data used for this snapshot, please email us, or you can download the most up-to-date data set from our homepage.

The above graphic was created by the Net Zero Tracker's project lead John Lang.

If referencing for external purposes, please cite as follows:

For media: Post-COP26 Snapshot, Net Zero Tracker. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, Data-Driven EnviroLab, NewClimate Institute, Oxford Net Zero. November, 2021.

For academic publications: Thomas Hale, Takeshi Kuramochi, John Lang, Brendan Mapes, Steve Smith, Ria Aiyer, Richard Black, Mirte Boot, Peter Chalkley, Frederic Hans, Nick Hay, Angel Hsu, Niklas Höhne, Silke Mooldijk, Tristram Walsh. 'Post-COP26 Snapshot', Net Zero Tracker. Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, Data-Driven EnviroLab, NewClimate Institute, Oxford Net Zero. 2021.

This analysis and other Net Zero Tracker outputs wouldn't be possible without the following volunteers:

• Shiemaa Ahmed
• Fatima Arif
• Nina Bengtsson
• Barasha Borthakur
• Samuel Boyer
• Annabel Chantry
• Mia Clement
• Judith Condor-Vidal
• Matthew Doran
• Adriana Elera
• Julian Gonzales
• Manu Gupta
• Jonathan Heale
• Joe Kearney
• Kara Keenan-Wilson
• Maria Lemos Gonzalez
• Amy Leung
• Harry Linehan-Hill
• Lucy Lyons
• Lucy Main
• Esmé McMillan
• Nadia Merghani
• Michelle Midzi
• Sasha Mills
• Joy Nkosi
• Pippa Noble
• Lizeth Palencia
• Aiminayanate Pepple
• Lore Purroy
• Carol Serban
• Bridget Stuart
• Elizabeth Tatham
• Leah Tillmann-Morris
• Maria Torres Santeli Jose
• Allan Torres
• Irene Trung
• Michelle Viotti
• Kun Yan
• Lina Yassin