COP27: UN urges Mark Carney-led climate initiative to meet higher standards, Financial Times, 8 November 2022

Former central banker Mark Carney’s “net zero” coalition of more than 500 financial institutions is among the private sector climate initiatives that must maintain tighter standards, according to a UN report into corporate greenwashing...

“Net zero is entirely incompatible with continued investment in fossil fuels,” the report concluded. The report published at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt seeks to address greenwashing concerns by laying out a series of requirements to ensure the credibility of corporate net zero emissions claims. It said campaigns such as Race to Zero and alliances like the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero, which is chaired by Carney, “must reinforce high-quality voluntary efforts and consolidate best practices into general norms”...

Voluntary corporate sector climate initiatives such as Gfanz have come under criticism from pressure groups, who say their rules are too lax. Gfanz recently weakened a requirement relating to fossil fuel investments, citing antitrust issues...

BlackRock and Vanguard, the leading asset managers and Gfanz members, recently said they would continue to invest in fossil fuels and did not believe it was necessary to end new coal, oil and gas investment...

The UN expert group was lukewarm on carbon credits — units companies buy to compensate for their pollution — as they could lack “integrity”, it said. Companies must not buy cheap carbon credits in place of reducing their emissions, it added...

ENDS