Only a relative few companies have set net-zero targets, and even fewer expect to fully stop emitting greenhouse gases. For the majority, the plan is to eliminate their carbon footprint by 2050 through offsets—a reduction or removal of emissions elsewhere to compensate. Offsets, however, are controversial, in part because they’re difficult to get right.
Tech options, like carbon capture, are of nowhere near the scale needed, leaving nature-based solutions, like growing new forests, as the current best choice. But nature is able to absorb only so much carbon from the atmosphere each year, and as more companies set climate goals, the more likely it is that there won’t be enough land to meet corporate demand. Here’s a look at the math behind the pledges.
- Here’s How Effective the Original Vaccines Are Against Omicron
- The Promise—And Possible Perils—of Editing What We Say Online
- How Trump Survived Decades of Legal Trouble: Deny, Deflect, Delay, and Don't Put Anything in Writing
- Flint Is Still Shaken by its Water Crisis—and Residents Are Experiencing Long-Term Mental-Health Issues
- A Beer Shortage Is Brewing. A Volcano Is Partly to Blame
- How Fasting Can—and Can't—Improve Gut Health
- Cities Keep Enforcing Curfews for Teens, Despite Evidence They Don't Stop Crime
- Joe Manchin’s Red Tape Reform Could Supercharge Renewable Energy in the U.S.
- Column: We Should Talk More About What a Brilliant Actor Marilyn Monroe Was
