This was reaffirmed in a new study published in Science by a team from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, which said that in an accountability framework, it distorts competition and could protect well-established, high-polluting companies.

Many corporations make public that their goals and activities are aligned with Paris, but the groups that validate companies’ voluntary emission reduction targets often use basic formulas that suggest a need to reduce emissions,’ the text pointed out.

Against this backdrop, the researchers discuss how widespread adoption of voluntary corporate net-zero emissions targets cannot guarantee rapid global decarbonization and should not substitute for necessary regulations. ‘Companies must compete economically and at the same time contribute to sustainable innovation and emission reductions,’ they stressed.

They also criticized that allocating emissions space exclusively among existing companies under-measures the growth of more efficient firms that could have growing emissions in a decarbonizing market.

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