A total of 177 companies want to reduce emissions in the limit of 1.5 degrees

A total of 177 companies, with 5.8 million employees combined, have committed to setting emission reduction targets along the lines of preventing the planet’s average temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees on average and helping to limit the worst effects of the climate crisis.

The announcement was made on the occasion of the start of the ministerial phase of the 25th Conference of the Parties (COP25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The initiative is part of the campaign “Commercial ambition for 1.5 degrees Celsius: our only future” and the companies adhered to represent double those registered when the project was announced last September during the United Nations climate summit in New York.

Currently the emissions of these 177 companies as a whole represent the equivalent of the total annual direct CO2 emissions of a country like France, recall in a statement the promoters of the project: United Nations Global Compact, the Science-Based Goals (SBTi) initiative and the We Mean Business coalition.

The new signatories have committed to setting targets to help ensure that the global average temperature does not rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and reach net zero emissions from zero after 2050.

This is the main business contribution to the Alliance for Climate Ambition: a growing group of multiple stakeholders convened by the Chilean Presidency of COP25, which is being held in Madrid, with the participation of countries, companies and investors, cities and regions.

The 177 companies work in 36 sectors of activity, have offices in 36 countries and a combined capitalization of more than 2.8 billion dollars.

UN Global Compact CEO and Executive Director Lise Kingo said: “We are fast approaching our last chance to be on the right side of history. The climate emergency is already affecting people, business operations, economies and ecosystems around the world.”

Source: The Vanguard