23 September 2019: At the UN Secretary-General’s Climate Action Summit, 87 companies announced that they will set climate targets across their operations and value chains to align with actions needed to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels and reach net zero emissions by no later than 2050. The companies are part of the ‘Business Ambition for 1.5°C – Our Only Future’ campaign.

In July, an initial 28 companies committed to the 1.5°C target in a Call to Action. Since then, the number of companies committing to the target has more than tripled to 87 companies, which have a combined market capitalization of over USD 2.3 trillion and annual direct greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to 73 coal-fired power plants.

Many first-movers in the private sector are aligning with civil society and ambitious governments by stepping up in support of a 1.5°C future.

To date, AstraZeneca, BT, Burberry Limited, Deutsche Telekom AG, Dexus, Elopak, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intuit, Levi Strauss & Co, SAP, Schneider Electric, Signify, Sodexo, The Co-operative Group and Unilever have already verified 1.5°C-aligned reduction targets covering GHG emissions from their operations. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) independently assesses the corporate emissions reduction targets of companies that have committed to the Campaign. All 87 signatories have committed to apply these reductions across their entire value chains, which represents an emissions reduction target that is 5.5 times higher than a target for their operations, on average.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said it is “encouraging to see many first-movers in the private sector align with civil society and ambitious governments by stepping up in support of a 1.5°C future.” He called on more companies to “join the movement” and “send a clear signal that markets are shifting.” UN Global Compact (UNGC) Executive Director, Lise Kingo, welcomed the companies’ actions, saying they are “leading the way towards a positive tipping point where 1.5°C-aligned corporate strategies are the new normal for businesses and their supply chains around the world.” She highlighted this type of action as the type of transformative change needed to deliver on the SDGs. [UNFCCC Press Release] [UNGC Press Release] [Call to Action] [SDG Knowledge Hub Climate Finance Update Featuring Call by Investors, Civil Society, Businesses and UN Leaders for Governments and Companies to Reduce Emissions] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on UN Climate Action Summit]