The path to corporate net zero must deliver what the planet needs, and that includes protecting tropical forests

Authors: Eron Bloomgarden, Executive Director of Emergent and Ruben Lubowski, Associate Vice President for Climate and Forests at the Environmental Defense Fund

The world’s forests are disappearing. Science tells us that if we don’t reverse deforestation in the next decade – in addition to taking urgent action to decarbonize our economies – our climate goals will be out of reach. Some corporate net-zero guidance directs companies to focus nearly exclusively on cutting their own emissions, including emissions associated with their supply chains and energy use. Under this approach, a company’s pathway to net-zero emissions consists of deep internal emissions cuts combined with investment in removals to balance any remaining hard-to-abate emissions.

Focus on internal corporate emission reductions is absolutely necessary for achieving global net zero by mid-century. But the problem is that even if all companies achieve net zero for their own emissions, this will not necessarily lead to net zero for the planet. That’s because there is no pathway to global net zero without protecting nature – most urgently ending tropical deforestation within the decade. Many global companies are currently focusing on how to eliminate deforestation from their corporate supply chains. While essential, this shouldn’t be the only form of corporate support for ending deforestation as most tropical deforestation occurs outside companies’ value chains.

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