Net Zero Tracker Launches Decade-Long Time Series Dataset of Global Climate Commitments

22 July 2026: The Net Zero Tracker has released its Time Series Dataset, a new resource providing a historical record of how net zero commitments have evolved across countries, regions, cities and companies since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015.

Covering more than 4,000 entities, the dataset enables researchers, policymakers, investors and practitioners to analyse how net zero commitments have diffused, strengthened and changed over the past decade. The initial release focuses on net zero target data only, creating a historical record of commitments from 2015 to 2016. 

Building on the work behind Professor Thomas Hale, Dr Jessica Green and Dr Aldrich Arceo's paper – The net zero wave: identifying patterns in the uptake and robustness of national and corporate net zero targets 2015–2023 (2024) – the dataset makes longitudinal analysis of net zero commitments publicly available for the first time. 

New opportunities for analysis:

By making the historical record publicly available, the dataset creates new opportunities for stakeholders and researchers to:

• Analyse how net zero commitments have diffused across countries, states and regions, cities and companies.
• Identify emerging trends in climate ambition over time.
• Assess patterns of policy and corporate leadership and support climate accountability research.

John Lang, Project Lead, the Net Zero Tracker (Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit), said:

“The dataset will help test one of the central questions in climate governance: how climate strategies interact with policy, markets, technology and public support to create, or stall, the reinforcing ‘ambition loops’ needed to accelerate global decarbonisation.” 

The dataset also creates new opportunities to explore the relationship between net zero commitments and broader economic, political and technological developments, including:

• How policy developments influence the adoption and strengthening of net zero commitments.
• How market development and technology deployment affect climate ambition.
• How public support and political conditions shape, and are shaped by, the evolution of net zero targets.

The historical dataset provides an unprecedented opportunity to examine how corporate climate commitments change over time, including whether companies strengthen, revise or weaken the ambition of their targets. 

Early exploration suggests that apparent cases of backtracking are often more complex than they first appear. In some cases, changes reflect revised target definitions, updating reporting methodologies, or corrections to historical records rather than a genuine reduction in ambition. These findings highlight the need for further research to understand the scale and nature of genuine backtracking.

Global collaborative effort

The historical time series dataset has been developed using NZT’s transparent coding methodology, based on publicly available primary sources, and an innovative citizen science model. To date, 700+ trained volunteers from 90+ countries have contributed to data collection and validation, helping create one of the world’s most comprehensive historical records of climate commitments. 

Notes to editors:

Historical Time Series Dataset

• Covers the period from 2015 to today.
• Includes countries, states and regions, cities and companies.
• Initial release focuses on net zero target data.
• Developed using publicly available primary sources.
• Developed by contributions from 709 trained volunteers from 92 countries. 

About Net Zero Tracker (NZT):

The Net Zero Tracker is the world’s most comprehensive database of public net zero targets, covering over 4,000 entities including UNFCCC member states, major subnational regions, cities with over 500,000 people, and the Forbes Global 2000 publicly listed companies. NZT is an independent research consortium, comprising The Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU); Data-Driven EnviroLab (UNC); NewClimate Institute; and Oxford Net Zero. 

Media contact:

For further information, please contact Nick Hay, Communications Lead, Net Zero Tracker (ECIU):

• nick.hay@eciu.net
• +44 (0) 7378 250 288.