Only 5% of Europe’s big firms on net-zero course

Big push: A worker is seen on a pontoon with a steel factory in the background in IJmuiden, the Netherlands. Almost one-third of Europe’s largest 1,000 listed companies have committed to reaching net zero by 2050. — AP

FRANKFURT: Only one in 20 of Europe’s largest 1,000 listed companies will achieve their net-zero pledges unless they speed up emissions cuts in the next decade.

Almost one-third of those companies have committed to reaching net zero by 2050, and just 9% of those are on course to succeed if they continue the pace of reduction between 2010 and 2019, according to global professional services firm Accenture Plc.