India, April 11 -- A heavy reliance on carbon offsetting helps companies shirk accountability for a majority of their emissions

The Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM) 2024 released by non-profit New Climate Institute on April 9, 2024, assessed climate targets put forth by 51 of the world's largest companies. These 51 companies had a collective revenue of $6.1 trillion in 2022 and self-reported greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions of 8.8 gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent in the same year - roughly equal to the total annual GHG emissions of India, Russia, and Brazil combined. That is 16 per cent of global GHG emissions in 2022.

Their improvement with regards to climate action, however, have been slow.

Emissions reduction and net zero...