Climate ambition is a commitment and plan to shape the future. It’s a positive vision for a net zero world, for people, business, economy and environment. Ambition guides strategy, empowers employees, and informs stakeholders.
Set science-based net zero targets with near-term and long-term goals, in line with a 1.5°C pathway.
The science is clear. Credible climate ambition aligns with holding global temperature rise to 1.5°C. This means setting targets to halve emissions by 2030 and reach net zero no later than 2050 – ideally by 2040.
Commit to net zero and set an ambitious target:
Factor in your entire value chain and include the indirect emissions from your supply chain (Scope 3 emissions) in your targets.
All companies who can go faster, should. The most ambitious climate leaders are picking up the pace to reach net zero sooner than 2050.
Join The Climate Pledge to target net zero by no later than 2040 — a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement goal.
By joining these leading initiatives, your company becomes part of the UN-backed Race to Zero.
Measure your emissions: To set robust targets and inform your plans, you need to establish your baseline emissions across scopes 1-3. Use the GHG Protocol for guidance (the global standard for carbon accounting).
Putting it into practice
JetBlue, a signatory of The Climate Pledge with approved science-based targets aims to be one of the first airlines in the US to fly regularly on sustainable aviation fuel.
More than 4,000 businesses and financial institutions are working with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)
Members of the UN's Race to Zero have signed up via a number of initiatives and networks
Prioritize nature-based solutions to build a net zero, nature-positive future — faster.
Protecting, managing and restoring nature accelerates emissions reductions, conserves critical natural carbon sinks, and secures the health of business, people and planet for generations to come.
Nature-based solutions can provide one-third of the emissions reductions and removals needed to meet the Paris Agreement, and deliver the clean water, air and thriving diverse systems that let nature and people prosper. Climate leaders work in concert with land and nature to cut emissions, remove carbon, and build resilient and biodiverse ecosystems.
Commit to direct engagement in your value chain, supporting suppliers to accelerate the transition to a net-zero, nature-positive future.
Eliminate tropical deforestation and other forms of land-use change and ecosystem degradation from your supply chain by no later than 2025:
Transition to preferential sourcing for agricultural and forest products that produce regenerative outcomes for people, planet, and nature. Target reducing agricultural emissions by at least 35% and scaling up carbon removals to achieve net-zero food production by 2030:
Commit to investing in nature-based solutions to the climate and ecological emergencies. Join forces with other companies to use your leverage and resources to scale up momentum, build understanding of the wider benefits for people and business, and plan high quality projects:
Align your ambition for nature with a commitment to the GHG emissions mitigation hierarchy. This means focusing on avoiding and reducing emissions first — and only then also investing beyond your own value chain to compensate for residual emissions. Commit to prioritizing responsible carbon credit purchases that support the improvement and scale-up of nature-based solutions.
Nature-based solutions for climate: guidance for companies
See how to factor nature in at every stage of the climate journey with our nature-based solutions guidance hub.
Amazon and their partners are supporting agroforestry systems in Brazil to restore forests, produce food, and create sustainable livelihoods for local communities.
The Climate Pledge signatory Unilever is working with its soy suppliers in the USA to incentivize regenerative farming methods.
Learn how your company can implement nature-based solutions within and beyond its value chain.
Read corporate perspectives from companies including Amazon and Salesforce on why they are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to stop tropical deforestation.
The Five Principles for Business on the Role of Nature in their Climate Plans aim to help companies navigate the credible use of nature-based solutions to achieve their climate goals.
Commit to an equitable, inclusive climate transition.
Climate leaders fully consider all the issues that intersect with climate, with a vision for a fairer, resilient net zero economy that leaves no one behind. As companies work towards this vision and decarbonize, they must commit to a just transition, to build public support for climate action, empower their workforce, communities and customers, and help deliver better jobs and thriving societies.
Understand how your transition to net zero will impact the people you rely on to remain competitive – your workforce, communities, suppliers and customers. Develop plans to minimize these risks, maximize opportunities and help them build resilience and adapt.
Be inclusive when transforming business models and supply chains. Discuss your decarbonization strategy with workers, communities and local government, and create mechanisms for joint implementation.
Seize the opportunity to create new green, inclusive jobs which diversify your workforce, while also reskilling and redeploying workers.
The Just Transition Resource Platform, developed with BSR and The B Team, gives clarity to companies on their role in the just transition and tools to navigate their just transition journey, from ambition to accountability.
Putting it into practice
Develop a credible climate transition action plan to match your ambition.
There’s no leadership on corporate climate ambition without a time-bound, credible plan for how your company will achieve its vision for a just and resilient net zero economy. This needs to be feasible and include your ambitions for nature and people. The planning process can further inform commitments and targets and uncover opportunities to raise ambition.
Ground your plan in your GHG emissions inventory. Pinpoint hotspots, and climate-related risks and opportunities, from physical to regulatory. Analyze the technological, economic, and institutional feasibility of addressing emissions across your value chain. Identify any additional investments or public policies that are needed to meet your goals.
Build out your action steps: incorporate the climate action leadership steps that businesses across all sectors must follow. Where available, use credible sector-specific climate transition roadmaps, peer-learning and insights to map out how you will achieve your targets:
Set out a robust plan that clearly shows how concrete actions will lead to progress against 1.5°C-aligned targets, and how the plan will be integrated into the overall corporate strategy and financial planning. Have your board review the plan and formally approve it.
We Mean Business Coalition, CDP, Ceres, and EDF worked with Ramboll Consulting to produce consolidated guidance on what to include in a climate transition action plan (CTAP), with actionable templates.
Putting it into practice
As a purpose-led company, we aim to drive sustainable growth and so regularly evaluate what we can do to go further and faster on our route to net zero and play our role in driving global, systemic transformation. This decade is crucial if we are to achieve critically needed transitions. We must showcase ambition and deliver a credible pathway to decarbonization together.
Dimitri de Vreeze, Co-CEO Royal DSM
Download an overview of the steps to Climate Leadership. Refer back to these pages for the latest updates and links to best-in-class resources.
Join a wave of companies on the way to climate leadership. Turn your ambition into action, be vocal in your advocacy, and accountable for delivering on your commitments.
to receive our monthly newsletter
