Chapter 3

Set target

  1. Introduction
  2. Step 1: Understand the fundamentals of net zero target
  3. Step 2: Shape short and long-term targets to define your net zero commitment
  4. Step 3: Turn your targets into action
  5. Learn more
    1. Understand the role of carbon removals in your net-zero strategy
    2. 7 attributes for high-credibility net-zero targets
    3. Net zero comparable climate pledges
    4. Science Based Targets Initiative
    5. Case studies: net-zero strategies in action
    6. Climate Justice, biodiversity, and their relevance to net zero targets
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Climate Justice, biodiversity, and their relevance to net zero targets

Climate justice calls for a net zero transition that incorporates global fairness

Climate change impacts people differently in ways that are unjust given which communities will see the most negative impacts and which communities have contributed the most to rising concentrations of GHGs. Concern, a global humanitarian organization, summarizes five injustices at the heart of climate change:

  • Degree of responsibility: Those who bear the least responsibility for climate change are the ones who will suffer the most

  • Impact on lower income regions: When natural disasters strike, they hit poor communities first and worst. Countries with lower incomes are being hit hardest by climate change

  • Lack of capacity to deal with the impacts of climate change: Climate change is having a disproportionate effect on the most vulnerable countries, communities, and people, some of the least-equipped to deal with these impacts

  • Intergenerational impacts: Younger generations will suffer these consequences more than their parents and grandparents

  • Gender disparity: In many countries, women are not only responsible for producing food, water, and childcare, but also for managing these elements within their larger communities. Women (and children) are more likely to die than men during natural disasters

Climate justice implies that our response to addressing climate change should consider the injustices described above. Actions companies can take to pursue climate justice include evaluating and changing supply chains in order to support their sourcing communities, and engaging with employees or customers to raise awareness about climate justice issues.