A new climate report that expounds on how screwed we are dropped last Monday.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) report warns that unless countries significantly reduce emissions immediately, it’ll be impossible to cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius — and avoid some of the worst impacts of a heating planet.
Some companies are using the moment to underscore their progress on reducing emissions and make new pledges. A few highlights:
Walmart
On Wednesday, Walmart said it’s more than halfway toward its 2017 initiative of cutting its supply chain emissions by a gigaton by 2030.
Walmart’s ambitious climate goals include:
- Reaching zero emissions by 2040
- Using renewable energy to fuel 50% of global operations by 2025 and 100% by 2035
Pinterest announced that it’s banning ads and posts that feature climate misinformation. This includes content that denies climate change is happening, or that humans are causing it.
Ford
Last week, Ford said it’s ready to ship the 1st of its all-electric E-Transit cargo vans to the European market. Ford is targeting zero emissions for all European vehicle sales and carbon neutrality in its European supply chain by 2035.
Though firms are making progress…
… it’s happening way too slowly. Governments and companies are spending ~$600B per year to spur clean energy investment and emissions reductions, but last week’s report found that we need to be investing 3x-6x more.
On the bright side, the report notes that we have the tech and tools to draw down emissions — we just need to actually put them to work.
