Destination

Tracking global progress on the

targets and actions companies
are taking to accelerate their
journey to net zero
 rogress on decarbonization has certainly been made since the Paris Agreement. Yet, on our current trajectory, the world will still miss
its crucial net zero goals. If organizations everywhere dramatically accelerate their net zero transitions and move from simply setting
targets to delivering emissions reductions the world can get on track. Across entire industries, business leaders must urgently look
at how they can decarbonize not only their own organizations but also the suppliers and customers that they work with. Entire value chains
must be reinvented to reach net zero, with technology playing a central role in this transformation. The upside is this will create tremendous
growth opportunities along the way through new sustainable products, services, and markets.

Destination Net Zero tracks the progress on both target-setting and the steps that the world’s 2,000 largest companies by revenue are
taking—or not taking—on their net zero journeys. This report lays out the actions that companies can take, from setting robust targets to
adopting 20 practical decarbonization levers.

At Accenture, we are embedding sustainability into everything we do and are committed to helping our clients navigate and deliver the net
zero transition. We’ve recently published three reports that help to show the way. This report, Destination Net Zero, focuses on steps
individual businesses can take to accelerate their progress toward net zero. Powered for Change looks at the ecosystem changes that need
to happen to create the right macroeconomic and policy environment for industrial sectors to reach net zero. The Private Sector SDG
Stocktake, created through our partnership with the United Nations Global Compact, looks at the broader context of the Sustainable
Development Goals and the areas businesses should focus on to help accomplish them.

It’s vital that we work together at both the enterprise and ecosystem levels, to move from commitment to action. Leading companies are
reinventing themselves and using sustainability as both a performance measure and an opportunity to create value. The net zero transition 

is a tremendous opportunity for growth—one that these leading companies are grasping.

Stephanie Jamison
Jean-Marc Ollagnier

Global Resources Industry CEO—EMEA

Practice Chair and Global
Sustainability Services Lead Destination net zero 2
Business commitment to 


net zero continues to grow;

action continues to lag

To limit global warming to 1.5°C, as the Paris reducing their operational (Scopes 1 and 2)

Agreement calls for, global greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse gas emissions over the past decade.

must peak no later than 2025, decline by 43% by

2030, and reach net zero by 2050.

Our 2023 analysis shows that the share of these

companies setting targets continues to grow— 


Business has a critical role to play in achieving these 37% of them are now committed to achieving net

ambitious targets. To gauge progress, over the past zero emissions. Yet, among those disclosing their

three years, Accenture has looked at the 2,000 emissions data since 2016, half continue to increase

largest public and private companies by revenue their emissions, 33% are cutting emissions but not

globally (the G2000). We have examined both their fast enough, and only 18% are on track to reach 


net zero commitments and their track records of net zero by 2050.

37%
33%
18%

of companies are of companies are 
 of companies are 


committed to achieving cutting emissions 
 on track to reach 


net zero emissions but not fast enough net zero by 2050

Destination net zero 3

Setting 20 decarbonization levers

targets 
 Energy efficiency and

decarbonization
Supplier strategy

10.


Improving the environmental
Individual behavior

15.

Promoting sustainable behavior

is still critical

1.
Switching to renewable energy
commitments and 
 choices for consumers

performance of suppliers

2.
Improving energy efficiency
16. Promoting sustainable behavior
11. Actively sourcing 
 choices for employees
3.
Decarbonizing fleets

Companies that have set net zero targets sustainable materials

4.
Making IT infrastructure greener
Carbon offsets and removals
are typically cutting emissions faster than
5.
Decarbonizing buildings
Organizational design
those that haven’t. And in our research this 17.

Using offsets as part

year, we placed a greater emphasis on how 6. Using digital technology 
 12.

Adopting internal 
 of a net zero strategy

companies are reducing emissions. To do (AI or automation) to 
 carbon pricing

18. Removing carbon from 


reduce emissions
this, we identified 20 decarbonization 13.


Incentivizing employees by 
 the atmosphere with 

actions or 'levers’ that will be required for 
 linking financial rewards to either nature-based or
Circularity and waste sustainability goals
technological solutions
full value chain decarbonization. We then
looked for evidence of companies adopting 7.

Embracing circular economy 14. Creating travel policies that aim 

principles
to avoid or reduce greenhouse 
 Business model
these 20 decarbonization levers, which
gas emissions
range from renewable energy use to carbon 8.

Facilitating sustainable 
 19.


Changing or transforming
disposal for customers
business model to achieve
removal to business model change.
9. Reducing waste decarbonization

20. Developing new products or 


services to generate positive
environmental impact
Source: Accenture Net Zero Lever Library

Destination net zero 4

This year, 
 01 Companies are continuing 


to adopt targets and levers—

our three main
but not uniformly

findings are:

02 More companies are cutting

carbon—but not fast enough

03 Decarbonization levers work—

and companies must adopt

more of them

Destination net zero 5

01
Companies are
continuing to adopt
targets and levers—
but not uniformly

Destination net zero 6

2023 commitments to net zero by G2000 companies*
Overall 2023 37%
Almost two-fifths (37%) of the G2000 are now fully committed to net zero— 

up three percentage points since 2022. The Scope 1 and 2 emissions of these

37%
2022 34%
companies with net zero targets account for almost 13% of global emissions.
2021 27%
Within that 37% figure, however, there are significant regional variations.

Europe 2023 61%

Compared with 2022, the share of European companies in the G2000 with 

net zero targets is up 10 percentage points. This seems to refute the idea that

61%
2022 51%
ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges in the region would
2021 37%
dampen climate ambition.

North America 2023 28%

By contrast, progress among North American companies has stalled. There may
be many reasons for this, including both political and regulatory developments

28%
2022 28%
in the region. But regardless of the underlying causes, the diverging trends are
2021 23%
clear; the share of European companies in the G2000 with net zero targets is
now more than double that of their North American counterparts.

Rest of the world 2023 30%

The rest of the world, meanwhile, has crossed the 30% mark (up from 28% 

in 2022), indicating that net zero is increasingly on the agenda for companies

30%
2022 28%
headquartered across the globe.
2021 24%

* We consider a company to have a net zero target if it has publicly committed to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to net zero across Scopes 1, 2 and 3. Where in later pages we focus on net zero relating
to operational emissions only, we refer to Scopes 1 and 2 accordingly. The G2000 list changes every year by up to 10%, so the samples between the years comprise a slightly different set of companies. Destination net zero 7
Many companies are adopting a range of 

the decarbonization levers we examined
In general, we found that a few decarbonization However, some levers remain relatively uncommon. Decarbonization approaches 

approaches were popular throughout. Large We find that a few are concentrated in certain popular among G2000
majorities of G2000 companies are switching to sectors, reflecting their specific needs and companies:
renewables (79%), implementing energy efficiency priorities. Efforts to decarbonize one’s information

82%

(82%), reducing waste (80%), and adopting circular technology infrastructure (“Green IT”) are, for
principles (68%). Given the apparent maturity of example, likely to be more impactful in industries
these levers, they are likely to represent the where data and technology contribute a greater are implementing energy efficiency
“starting point” for companies embarking on their share of emissions. Indeed, we found that while
decarbonization journeys. 64% of net zero-committed Communications &
Media firms displayed evidence of Green IT
implementation, none of their counterparts in
80%

are reducing waste

Chemicals or Natural Resources did so. On the
flipside, 57% of these net zero-committed
Chemicals firms use incentives like internal carbon
pricing, while just 29% of their Communications &
79%

Media counterparts do. are switching to renewables

Destination net zero 8

02
More companies are
cutting carbon— 

but not fast enough

Destination net zero 9

 77%

of companies have reduced Grouping


based on firms with emissions data1
Annual change in operational (Scope 1 + 2) emissions – median CAGR

2016 to latest available year, %
Companies reducing 

emissions, %2
operational emissions intensity
Reducing emissions Increasing emissions
Region Europe 67%
North America 53%
Rest of the world 39%
Since the ratification of the Paris Agreement in 2016, 1396
(70%) of the G2000 companies have reported sufficient Industry Utilities 68%
emissions data for us to analyze. Out of these, half of them Travel 71%
have cut operational (Scope 1 and 2) emissions since 2016—
 Insurance 55%
Retail 60%
a rise of five percentage points compared with the five-year Banking 59%
period prior to 2016. While the increase of companies taking Capital Markets 56%
action to decarbonize may seem modest, a more promising Comms & Media 51%
Life Science 53%
trend can be seen when looking at operational emissions Aerospace & Defense 76%
intensity (which considers emissions in relation to revenue and Consumer Goods & Services 45%
controls for business performance). For instance, during the Chemicals 48%
five years leading up to 2016, 40% of companies managed to Industrial 45%
Mobility 45%
decrease their operational emissions intensity. This proportion High Tech 45%
has nearly doubled to 77% in the years following the Paris Natural Resources 40%
Agreement, signaling a clear acceleration in progress.
Energy 36%
Health 42%
Software & Platforms 35%
Although the general trend points to progress, there is much
diversity across industries. On average, companies in many Overall -0.1% 50%
industries, including various carbon-intensive ones such as
Utilities, have been cutting emissions since 2016. But in others, -5% 0% 5% 10% 15%
the typical firm is still going in the wrong direction. The past
decade saw immense advances in digital technology and with 1 Total sample of G2000 with emissions data in the selected period is 1396. 

that the rapid growth of technology firms; a by-product is that 2 Proportion of G2000 companies that have emissions data.
the median Software and Platforms firm has seen its
operational emissions grow by 15% annually since 2016. At this
rate, a company’s carbon footprint doubles every five years.

Destination net zero 10

Differences exist within industries, too
Some companies emit much more
carbon than their peers. The top 20% 
 Top emitters lag on action but lead on ambition
of emitters in each industry account for
Of companies that have provided sufficient data:
70% of the total operational emissions of
G2000 companies that report sufficient

70%
31%
42%

emissions data.

All companies need to achieve net zero,

but those with a disproportionate impact of the total operational of the top emitting of the top emitting
have a greater responsibility to do so. 

Yet while they tend to be leading on net
emissions come from companies have cut companies have a 

zero target-setting compared with their the top 20% of emitters emissions since 2016— net zero target—
industry averages, the reverse is true
when it comes to reducing emissions.
in each industry much lower than the compared with 37%
50% across the full set across the whole
of companies G2000

Destination net zero 11

 Grouping
 Distribution of companies by “on track by 2050” status

Only 18% of companies are 
 Based on firms with emissions data1 Based on 2016 to latest available year CAGR; share of sample with emissions data, %2

on track to achieve net zero 
 Region Europe 24% 43% 33%

North America 20% 33% 47%
by 2050 Rest of the world 13% 27% 61%

Differences across and within industries aside, Industry Insurance 36% 20% 45%
Utilities
the overall trend is that companies are not acting 30% 38% 32%
Capital Markets 28% 28% 44%
fast enough or boldly enough to limit the most Retail 27% 34% 40%
severe impacts of the climate crisis. Half of the Software & Platforms 22% 13% 65%
reporting companies still need to start cutting Comms & Media 21% 30% 49%
emissions—a basic prerequisite for getting on Banking 21% 38% 41%
track. And of the other half, which are Life Science 20% 33% 47%
Travel
decarbonizing, 33% are not cutting fast enough. 19% 52% 29%
Industrial 16% 29% 55%
Based on rates of reduction since 2016, only 18% High Tech
13% 31% 55%
are on track to achieve net zero by 2050. Chemicals 12% 36% 52%
Aerospace & Defense 12% 65% 24%
Mobility 10% 35% 55%
Energy 8% 28% 64%
Health
8% 33% 58%
Natural Resources 8% 32% 60%
Consumer Goods & Services 6% 39% 55%

Ov erall 18% 33% 50%

On track Off track, but decreasing emissions Off track, and still growing emissions

1 Total sample of G2000 with emissions data in the selected period is 1396. While we cannot calculate trajectories for over 600 G2000 companies, 

it is likely that these companies that do not report emissions data are increasing emissions.

2 “On track by 2050” refers to whether a company is projected to reach net zero in Scope 1 and 2 (defined here as reducing emissions to 5% of 2021 emissions by 2050).

Proportions may not appear to equal 100% due to rounding

D estination net zero 12

03
Decarbonization levers
work—and companies
must adopt more of them

Destination net zero 13

Companies that adopt ten or Levers

Analysis based on adoption by firms with emissions data1
Change in operational emissions—median CAGR

2016 to latest available year, % % adopting lever2

more levers are much more likely Reducing emissions Increasing emissions
to be decarbonizing Energy efficiency 
 Fleet decarbonization 42%
& Decarbonization Renewable adoption 79%
Energy efficiency 82%
Publicly disclosed targets are true signals of intent, Digital tech 21%
and companies that set targets typically cut Buildings 61%
emissions faster than those that don’t.
Green IT 11%

Circularity 
 Packaging disposal 26%

Adopting decarbonization levers has clear & Waste Circular principles 68%
benefits. On almost every individual lever we Waste reduction 80%
looked at, the typical company that adopted 

Supplier 
 Material sourcing 41%
the lever tended to cut emissions, whereas the Strategy Working with suppliers 60%
typical non-adopter still increased them.

Organizational Carbon pricing 15%

The data also shows that “stacking” levers tends to design Employee incentives 23%
Travel policy 16%
work better. While it’s not the case that deploying
one more lever will guarantee a faster rate of Individual behavior Customer behavior 35%
emissions reduction, we do see some evidence 
 Employee behavior 40%
in the data of a tipping point. Companies that
Offset & removals Offset usage 27%
adopt fewer than 10 levers (and certainly fewer Carbon removal 15%
than five) typically still grow emissions. But those
that adopt 10 or more are much more likely to 
 Business models Business model change 12%
be decarbonizing.
N ew products 51%

The evidence therefore seems to confirm that Aggregate lever Up to 4 levers 20.8%
setting near- and long-term targets, and boldly adoption3 Between 5 and 9 levers 38.5%
Between 10 and 14 levers 36.6%
adopting multiple levers, accelerates companies' 15 or more levers 4.2%
decarbonization.

-4% 0% 4% 8%

Companies with lever Companies with no evidence of lever

1 Total sample of G2000 with emissions data in the selected period is 1396.

2 The proportions shown here show lever adoption amongst the full G2000 sample.

3 Companies with no lever adoption are not displayed for this category as it would not be meaningful to show this. Destination net zero 14
What Every company is at a different place
along its journey to net zero. But whether

companies 
 they are right at the start, making good

progress or well along the way, the

need to 
 roadmap is similar. The route starts with

setting targets, moves through

do now implementing more well-established

measures, and then progresses by
working on the more complex
decarbonization levers.

Destination net zero 15

For those right at the start: For those developing their plans: For those more advanced:

Set targets
Master the basics
Pull the more 

Almost two-thirds (63%) of companies still do not 
 Goals are one thing; action is another. To make complex levers

have net zero targets covering Scopes 1, 2 and 3. In progress, companies need to adopt common
some hard-to-abate sectors, such as Chemicals (73%) decarbonization levers. Across the G2000 sample, the After the basics comes the more complex work. 

and Natural Resources (77%), the picture is even 
 median number of levers adopted is just nine (out of Some levers are still niche—but key to future success.

more concerning. These companies need to set 
 20). While this rises to ten in the Communications &
targets urgently.
Media and High Tech industries, the typical Insurance Few companies displayed clear evidence that they 

company adopts eight, and in Health it is only four.
are shifting their business models for the purpose 

Net zero is unlikely to be achieved if it isn’t targeted. 
 of decarbonization (12%), or engaging in carbon 

Our research suggests companies make more progress Most companies need to expand their decarbonization removal (15%).

when they commit to hitting net zero, across all scopes. efforts. And in many cases this means just starting with
The typical company with a net zero target has cut the basics. It is now well-known that switching to Such actions are not yet commonplace because they
emissions since 2016; the typical company without a renewables is both an obvious and essential way to are hard or costly, not because they are unimportant.
target has not.
reduce carbon footprints—yet for 21% of G2000 Companies that have mastered the basics should turn
companies, we found no evidence that they are 
 their focus to enabling and deploying these difficult 

They should then make sure they set milestones 
 doing this.
but necessary actions to achieve net zero.
along the way, in the form of publicly announced 

near term targets that are independently scrutinized 
 Levers such as this are almost universally adopted by
by third parties such as the Science-Based Targets 
 companies committed to net zero. And for good reason:
initiative (SBTi). they work. Those still developing their plans should
follow this lead.

Destination net zero 16

Powering an actionable climate roadmap Accenture

Building on our long-

standing commitment to 

Braskem is Latin America’s largest petrochemical company. In 2020, the company
announced its commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. The company also set 

an intermediate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by 2030, based on
160
the environment, we set a
average baseline from 2018–2020.

decarbonization commitment to achieve

initiatives approved 100% renewable electricity
A new Roadmap Prioritization Tool was built to consolidate decarbonization data from
across the company’s industrial complexes into a central database. Braskem can effectively by the end of 2023

pull insights about project maturity or capital expenditure forecasts and use a Marginal
Abatement Cost Curve (MACC) to visualize the cost of any project per ton of carbon 15%
We are pleased to have hit our goal of 100%
emissions reduced.
reduction in greenhouse renewable electricity across our Accenture
offices. Additionally, we reused or recycled
At the end of the engagement, the joint team approved more than 160 decarbonization gas emissions by 2030 nearly 100% of our e-waste in fiscal 2023
initiatives for Braskem’s 2030 GHG emissions’ reduction roadmap. Nearly half of those is the intermediate goal and have eliminated single-use plastics in
projects are currently being prioritized to meet near-term 2030 goals.
our office locations by purchasing reusable
and plastic-free items.
Based on current projections, Braskem estimates that priority decarbonization projects 

will be able to reduce carbon emissions at the six major complexes and achieve its
intermediate 2030 goal.

Learn more here

Destination net zero 17

How Accenture can help
Accenture helps companies become carbon intelligent by focusing on
Recognized as a Leader by the IDC
in its ‘Worldwide ESG/Sustainability Information—to diagnose, assess and set the decarbonization strategy, 

and then monitor and measure carbon performance
Strategy Consulting Services 2023
Vendor Assessment’, Accenture Insight—to record and report emissions with high frequency and granularity, 

as well as to set and translate targets and decarbonization programs into
helps clients develop their ‘carbon actionable metrics, and to performance-manage their delivery
intelligence’. This is a set of Impact—to leverage these enhanced decision-making capabilities to identify,
capabilities that enables prioritize and deploy the levers to reduce, replace, optimize, and offset
emissions; to predict and rebalance the portfolio; and to trade and monetize
organizations to control, improve new products and services.

and create value by embedding

Drawing across our five services—Strategy and Consulting, Technology, Industry X,
carbon—and broader sustainability— Song and Operations—we deliver on the promise of technology and human
data and intelligence into decision- ingenuity to enable our clients to tackle their greatest sustainability challenges.
Together with our partners, we help our clients with total enterprise reinvention
making across the core businesses. and build a strong data and AI foundation enabling them to create business value
and sustainable impact for all stakeholders.

We continue to place an ever-greater emphasis on creating sustainability 


value and impact for our clients by expanding our capabilities and investing 

in expertise across sustainability strategy, supply-chain transformation, and 

data-driven measurement of decarbonization efforts.

Destination net zero 18

Accenture authors Contributors
Jean-Marc Ollagnier 
 Matthew Robinson

CEO—EMEA
Project director

[email protected]

Babak Moussavi

@jmollagnier
Project lead

Stephanie Jamison 

Global Resources Industry Practice Chair
and Sustainability Services Lead
Core team
[email protected] 

@stephanieajamisonaccenture Will Jenkins

Ben Murray

Mauricio Bermúdez-Neubauer
 Katharine Chung

Carbon Strategy and Intelligence 
 Monique de Ritter

Global Lead
Daniel Lawrence 

Grace Melville 

[email protected] 

Guillaume Simon

@mauriciobermudezneubauer
Jackie Brody Tavitas

Annaliese Tucci

Daniel Shropshall


Destination net zero 19

About the sample

Region Industry About the researc h

Europe 
 Industry name Full sample Emissions sample This analysis takes stock of global corporate net 

(N = 473 full sample; 327 emissions sample)
Aerospace & Defense (A&D) 21 17 . Our
zero targets and decarbonization levers

Banking 138 115 sample was based on the Accenture G2000: 


Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark,

Capital Markets 61 39 an Accenture-developed list of the top 2000

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary,

Consumer Goods and Services (CG&S) 147 99 public and private companies in the world by
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg,

Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain,

Chemicals 84 66 revenue . We worked with The SmartCube to
Comms & Media 73 61 collect data on the G2000 across a given set of
Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Energy 118 72 criteria relating to decarbonization . This involved

North America 

Health 53 12 manual inspection of company public

. . websites, annual reports,

(N = 638 full sample; 464 emissions sample)

Hi-Tech 123 105 documentation (e g

United States, Canada, Bermuda

Industrial (Equipment, Freight & Logistics) 362 252 sustainability reports). The approach allowed 


Insurance 147 101 us to construct a proprietary database of the

Rest of world 


Life Sciences 69 55 decarbonization targets and levers adopted by

(N = 889 full sample; 605 emissions sample)

Mobility (Automotive + Public Transport) 73 51 .

companies in the G2000 Emissions data were

: S&P Global Market Intelligence,

Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil,
Natural Resources 163 106 retrieved from

.
Chile, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Hong Kong,
Retail 196 124 Sustainable1
India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia,
Software & Platforms (SW&P) 34 23
Mexico, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan,
Travel 27 21
Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore,
Utilities 110 76
South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand,
Other (excluded) 1 1
United Arab Emirates, Vietnam

Destination net zero 20

About Accenture
About Accenture Research

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