Harvard launches tool tracking corporate climate targets in U.S. public markets

Do voluntary corporate climate targets reduce greenhouse gas emissions? How have these targets evolved over the last few decades? When a firm announces a target, does its behavior change?

The Salata Institute today launches the Corporate Climate Targets Database, a free interactive tool designed to help answer those questions and fill critical gaps in the available data. It tracks voluntary climate targets, corporate emissions, and how they have changed over more than 20 years.

The database covers companies listed in the Russell 3000 Index, representing about 98 percent of U.S. public equities by market capitalization. It documents corporate climate targets from the year 2000 through 2024, drawing from companies’ public disclosures, including sustainability reports, annual reports, 10-K filings, and press releases. Targets are mapped against emissions trends from S&P Global Trucost Environmental data.

Companies have issued thousands of voluntary climate commitments – public pledges to reduce their contributions to climate change beyond what the law requires – often in an inconsistent manner that has made tracking and comparisons difficult. Existing resources have relied heavily on surveys or narrower samples. The Corporate Climate Targets Database builds a broader, independent record.

“Corporate climate targets are now a major part of climate policy, but the public has had few tools to evaluate them,” said co-lead Joseph Aldy, Teresa and John Heinz Professor of the Practice of Environmental Policy, Harvard Kennedy School. “This project shows who has made commitments and what they cover, and it gives researchers a way to investigate whether voluntary action is associated with real emissions reductions.”

Users can explore target and emissions trends over time, compare companies and sectors, and download the underlying data for free.

“Most corporate climate coverage focuses on a handful of high-profile firms,” said co-lead Michael Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School. “This tool enables everyone to see what is happening across nearly 3,000 companies, including firms that rarely make headlines, and to get a fuller picture of targets and trends.”

Corporate climate disclosure is becoming more contested and, in some cases, less transparent. Some companies have walked back earlier climate commitments, while others continue to pursue targets that extend to 2030, 2040, or 2050. The database lets users see when companies add, change, or drop targets.

For example, in the database, 83 percent of firms that have announced at least one emission reduction target have made revisions before the target year. About 15 percent of revisions increased ambition in terms of the level of the target (a target with a lower emissions level or emissions intensity), while about 42 percent set less ambitious targets and 44 percent maintained the target ambition. In recent years, some companies have dropped their targets altogether: the total number of companies in the database with climate targets fell from 1,135 in 2023 to 1,056 in 2024. In the electric utility sector, 24 companies set emission reduction targets with deadlines before the year 2025, and about 45 percent met these targets.

The project team plans to update the database annually and, in the coming months, publish analyses of which companies adopt climate targets, how targets vary by sector and policy environment, and whether voluntary commitments are associated with measurable emissions reductions.

About the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability

The Salata Institute at Harvard University develops and advances durable, effective, and equitable solutions to the climate change challenges confronting humanity.

For questions, contact: salata_netzeroproject@harvard.edu