In March 2023, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth assessment report. This report detailed current and projected climate change and established its 2050 goal: achieving global net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2050 so that global warming is limited to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Exceeding that limit significantly increases the risk of severe, irreversible climate impacts that could render the planet uninhabitable. According to the report, meeting the net-zero goal by 2050 requires “immediate greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors this decade.”
Governments, businesses and individuals all have a role to play in meeting this urgent goal. Here’s everything that sustainability experts want you to know about net zero by 2050:
What is net zero, and why 2050?
“Net zero” means no net production of carbon. Richard Bartlett, founder and CEO of Green Hearth, explains that “there will always be some activities that generate carbon. So, the goal of net zero is to minimize carbon production, and then capture the carbon we cannot avoid producing.”
Benjamin Leffel, Ph.D., assistant professor of public policy at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, further explains that net zero means that the “emissions released into the atmosphere are equal to how much is absorbed by carbon sinks, like forests, or captured by carbon capture tech.” As a result, no net carbon is released into the atmosphere.
Ryan Lynch, global practice director for sustainability at the British Standards Institute, stresses that net zero will not be achieved if organizations make no effort to reduce emissions and just buy carbon removal credits. (Buying credits means paying others to capture carbon on an organization’s behalf.) Rather, net zero requires reducing emissions “and then what’s physically impossible to eliminate is what you purchase a carbon credit for,” he says.
Why did the IPCC choose 2050 for the target year? When the panel modeled the pathways that could be used to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, it found that global net zero would be achieved by the early 2050s—thus net zero by 2050.
What does the net-zero goal entail?
Leffel explains that “we need a complete transformation of how we produce, transport and consume energy.” The energy sector—as well as cities, businesses and national leaders—play a major role in achieving net zero, along with all levels of governance—local, regional and federal.
Lynch adds that while 2050 is a long-term goal, organizations must first focus on the next five to 10 years. They should gain a thorough understanding of their current emissions, including what they burn on-site, purchased electricity that releases emissions elsewhere and “scope three emissions, like a product’s end of life, waste from operations and the product’s use.” Then, organizations should consider the impact, expense and feasibility of changes, a process that Lynch’s team facilitates for clients.
As Bartlett notes, first doing “simple things that have the biggest impact for the lowest cost” is wise when considering what investments, behavioral changes and business models people can embrace to reach net zero.
Offering the right incentives plays a large role in meeting this goal. Bartlett, who has 18 years of financial experience, explains that “if businesses want to reduce carbon from power consumption, an easy way to do it is investing in solar panels, but that investment competes with other investments businesses make. So, it’s most effective to find a way to finance solar energy so that businesses have a net savings in their energy bill, which is attractive for them.”
Leffel and Lynch suggest that federal governments can help promote sustainability with an inflation reduction act to spur investment in new sustainable businesses and research into technology that could displace fossil fuel consumption.
Who has signed up to participate in the goal?
According to a report from the U.N., 107 countries have pledged to meet the net-zero goal as of June 2024. More than 11,000 companies, cities, educational institutions and financial institutions have also vowed to cut emissions in half by 2030. In 2016, there were no U.S. states with net-zero targets, but now 19 states have them, Leffel reports.
While these commitments are encouraging, countries’ commitments to the net-zero goal range from laws to policy documents to just announcements from a government official. To produce results, action and robust criteria for what constitutes meaningful action are needed.
For more information, Net Zero Tracker has compiled data about which countries, regions, cities and companies have committed to net zero and what measures they’re taking to reach this goal.
Are we on track to reach the goal by 2050?
Unfortunately, governments’ current commitments are not enough to reach the goal. According to the above report from the U.N., increased commitments are needed from the six largest greenhouse gas emitters: China, the U.S., India, the European Union, the Russian Federation and Brazil.
Leffel argues that cities and businesses also need to pull more weight, as they produce more than 70% of world emissions. On the bright side, his research shows that sustainability efforts from cities and businesses reinforce each other at a local level, and some companies are delivering on targets. However, he also notes that “the bad actors—the monopoly of oil and energy companies—are very powerful.”
Lynch says that additional challenges to our progress include “financing, political will, entrenched monetary interests in fossil fuel infrastructure and misinformation,” which affect citizens’ decisions about what they should buy and whom they should vote for.
What role do governments, businesses and individuals play?
To achieve net zero by 2050, everyone has to participate. Governments must encourage behavioral changes through continuous, incremental economic pressure and foster an economic environment that supports sustainability. To raise the bar of what’s possible for their countries, nations should incorporate in their emission reduction commitments the promises made by local businesses and cities. Local municipalities can also support sustainable infrastructure and homes.
A key change for businesses is to stop relying on carbon offsets. “Carbon offsets are like entering a gym and saying, ‘Could you work out for me? I’ll pay you for it,’” Leffel says. “But even if that actually worked, you’re still left with your lack of gains from not working out yourself.” In other words, buying carbon removal credits instead of actually decreasing emissions limits the positive global impact we can make.
We can help by supporting businesses with emission reduction plans. We can lobby elected officials for change, especially local officials, like mayors and city council members. We can also demand that employers support climate action and, if finances allow, make personal choices, like buying an electric car or eating less meat (the U.N. reports that meat production releases more emissions than most other food industries). Educating ourselves matters too, as 15% of Americans think climate change is fake, according to a 2024 University of Michigan study.
Is net zero by 2050 possible?
Reaching net zero by 2050 requires immediate changes and becomes less feasible the more we delay action. But, ultimately, it is achievable and progress is possible.
Bartlett notes that the price of solar panels is much lower than it was 10 years ago, and our collective ingenuity means that new technologies are made every day to help us. To create a brighter future, we must continue shifting our mindsets to understand the environmental impact of our daily activities.
This article originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of SUCCESS+ Magazine. Photo by fahroni/Shutterstock
