Should we just get rid of corporate net-zero goals?

Companies should abandon corporate net-zero goals in favor of initiatives that demonstrably increase the construction of clean energy and climate-related infrastructure, according to a new paper from the Searchlight Institute. The think tank argues that current net-zero targets, often met through carbon credits and renewable energy certificates, provide little actual benefit to the climate. This approach incentivizes companies to pursue the least impactful and cheapest mitigation strategies, such as purchasing forest carbon offsets, which are vulnerable to environmental changes like wildfires and drought, thus releasing stored carbon. Jane Flegal, a senior fellow at the Searchlight Institute and author of the paper "Beyond Carbon Accounting," stated that the incentive structure of net-zero commitments drives businesses towards the least effective actions. The paper highlights the limitations of these goals, particularly in light of the AI data center boom, which has led some companies to increase emissions while relying on carbon offsets. The Searchlight Institute proposes that corporate climate efforts should be measured by their tangible contribution to building more clean energy and infrastructure than would have otherwise existed.