Net zero targets are steadily becoming a norm for companies and countries in developed markets, and this trend is spreading into emerging ones. Yet, investors will be wise to ask: What is behind these lofty claims? Can we rely on them? Are there achievable plans behind the targets? What are the criteria investors should use to assess them and separate genuine progress from greenwashing?

We invited John Lang from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit to speak about these and other questions. He runs the Net Zero Tracker on behalf of four international organizations including Oxford Net Zero. The Net Zero Tracker is a global resource for collating, assessing and presenting the scale and quality of net zero pledges across nationals, regions, cities and publicly listed companies. John specializes in visually explaining climate science and policy to the public. Earlier this year he explained two of the latest IPCC reports: the science of climate change and how we stop it.

John introduced the tools the Net Zero Tracker offers to investors, reviewed the situation with net zero targets in developing countries and companies, and talked about the indicators of quality in assessing these targets by investors.

The event was moderated by Pavel Laberko, Director of the Extractive Industries Program, EMIA.