Global net zero commitments have held firm through another year of political and economic turbulence – but stability in the headline figures conceals a more dynamic picture underneath, according to the Net Zero Stocktake 2026, published today.
Net Zero Tracker’s annual assessment of more than 4,000 countries, states and regions, cities, and the world’s largest companies, finds that 47% (1,926 of 4,062) have a net zero or similar target, unchanged from 2025. This remains more than two-and-a-half times the 18% recorded in 2020.
This year’s Stocktake also introduces a Corporate Back-Tracker analysis, with the aim of shedding light on efforts by some of the world’s largest companies to water down their climate targets. The report launches just ahead of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, which gets underway on 9 November.
Other key findings:
- Almost two-thirds of the world’s largest companies (64%) have net zero targets, representing nearly $40 trillion in annual revenue, or 72% of tracked company revenue.
- The rapid growth in target-setting seen earlier this decade has stalled, but there is little evidence of widespread abandonment. Across governments and firms, 92% retained the same or a similar net zero target status as in 2025.
- The share of US companies with net zero targets stayed broadly stable, edging down from 52% to 51% (to 289 companies), while the equivalent share in China is 28%.
- Ralph Lauren dropped its goal and Nike stopped publicly stating one. Tesla went the other way, adopting its first net zero target.
- In China, the share of companies with any type of emission reduction targets rose from 35% to 42%.
- Some 78% of companies with net zero targets now publish plans to implement their targets, up from 69% in 2025.
- Only 28% of large cities have net zero targets, compared with nearly 70% of countries – highlighting a critical gap in target-setting.
John Lang, Net Zero Tracker Lead, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, and an Oxford Net Zero Associate, said:
“Net zero target-setting has held firm globally and more detailed plans have emerged. Dig beneath the surface and progress is uneven. But Chinese firms are catching up, and European firms continue to lead. In one sense it’s remarkable how many US firms have stuck with net zero – the only scientific way to stop climate change getting worse.
Conflicts are exposing the costs of fossil-fuel dependence, strengthening the case for net zero – clean energy goes hand in hand with energy security and lower import bills. At COP31, if leaders back the ‘35 by 35’ electrification target, they will help turn net zero goals into demonstrable progress.”
Thomas Hale, Professor of Global Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government and Oxford Net Zero Co-Investigator, said:
“In a world of energy chokepoints, wildly cheap renewables, and El Niño-fueled disasters, a net zero plan is less a political statement, and more a hallmark of seriousness. Any company or country that thinks it can ignore these mega-trends is daring the world to call its bluff.”
The Net Zero Tracker is a collaboration between Oxford Net Zero, the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, the Data-Driven EnviroLab and the NewClimate Institute.
Photo by Conny Schneider on Unsplash.
