Bloomberg and Macron unveil global database for corporate net-zero targets

The proof of concept for the Net-Zero Data Public Utility (NZDPU) will act as the world’s first global, centralised database for private sector climate-related data. The NZDPU will be freely accessible and will inform users of climate transition-related data in a bid to improve transparency across the private sector.

The NZDPU will provide information on corporate Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, reduction targets and any transition-related data. It will be populated with the data from companies that disclose through CDP.

scaling accessibility of companies’ direct (Scope 1) and indirect (Scope 2 and Scope 3) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and GHG emissions reduction targets. Populated with data from hundreds of companies that disclose publicly through CDP.

A public consultation is open through March 1, 2024 to give stakeholders the chance to feedback on the development of the platform.

French President Emmanuel Macron said: “To achieve our climate ambition, it is our entire financial architecture which needs to be redesigned: this is what we agreed in the Paris Pact for People and the Planet last June. We will need a massive scale-up of private financial flows towards investments that contribute to the net-zero objective.

It is now already possible to compare climate commitments of 400 companies, and many more will come on board to make it a universal platform, accessible to consumers and investors for free.”

Combined, the firms with net-zero targets in place have an annual aggregate revenue of around $27trn.

At the start of the year, CDP found that less than half a percent of 18,600 companies that disclosed climate information through its platform last year had a credible climate transition plan to net-zero by mid-century.

Additionally, CDP has warned that just four FTSE100 companies have net-zero transition plans that would meet the ‘gold standard’ requirements of the UK’s forthcoming reporting mandate.

The latest analysis from the Net Zero Tracker has confirmed that the 1,000th company from the Forbes Global 2000 has now set a net-zero target, but warns that the integrity of climate plans needs to urgently improve if the private sector is to play its role in delivering the Paris Agreement.

Additionally, only 4% of companies with net-zero targets would comply with the revised ‘Starting Line criteria’, set out in June 2022 by the UN Race to Zero campaign.

“The most valuable currency in financial markets is reliable data,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Climate Ambition and Solutions. “This new data portal will allow investors and regulators to see which companies are making progress on their commitments, while also empowering the public to hold companies accountable for backing up words with action. I want to thank President Macron, the Climate Data Steering Committee, UN Climate Change, and all our partners who helped to bring the project to life.”