The flood of pledges before and during COP26 suggests that the pace of corporate climate action is accelerating. We donвЂ™t have the means, honestly.вЂќ Empty pledges ItвЂ™s not only that we donвЂ™t have the mandate. ItвЂ™s almost: вЂThen we have to replace the governments,вЂ™вЂќ Wenning said. вЂњVery often IвЂ™ve heard things like вЂin the absence of governments doing their jobвЂ‰.вЂ‰.вЂ‰.вЂ‰we the private sector, we the economic leaders, have to take care of combating climate changeвЂ™. While some global business leaders are embracing the opportunity to help drive the new economic agenda, others like Joachim Wenning, chief executive of reinsurance giant Munich Re, feel a growing sense of unease. A recent survey of global chief executives by Accenture and the UN Global Compact found that just 18 per cent believe governments have given them the clarity they need to set goals in line with a 1.5C warming trajectory. The Business Roundtable, for example, argued in September that the country had made significant progress towards reducing emissions вЂњin part because of corporate leadership in the absence of a smart, national climate policyвЂќ.Д¬orporate America is far from unique in this, however.

In the years after BidenвЂ™s predecessor, Donald Trump, pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, US companies embraced the idea that they were filling a void left by Washington by voluntarily setting вЂњnet zeroвЂќ targets to cut their greenhouse gas emissions in line with the goals of that agreement, or offset any they could not eliminate.Д«usiness leaders mingle at COP26 after receiving Prince CharlesвЂ™s seal, which recognises companiesвЂ™ efforts to become more environmentally friendly В© Ian Forsyth/Getty

It matters,вЂќ US president Joe Biden said. You have major corporate America factoring in the price of carbon. The message from some politicians at COP26 was not much different. Companies were now the ones asking for more ambitious climate action and saying вЂњfor GodвЂ™s sake, do something about itвЂќ, Francesco Starace, chief executive of Enel, told Fortune. The US Business Roundtable and its counterparts in Europe, Australia, Canada and Mexico told world leaders that companies could not вЂњshoulder the burden aloneвЂќ of investing in new clean energy technologies and needed better co-ordination between countries. The International Chamber of Commerce told governments to вЂњwake upвЂќ to the risk that their patchwork of carbon pricing regimes could slow progress on cutting emissions. The corporate crowd jetted in with a self-assured message for politicians: that business has been leading the way on climate action and it is high time that governments catch up. But this yearвЂ™s summit was swarming with executives and their consultants, crowding out campaigners and even national delegates from GlasgowвЂ™s overfull hotels. Embracing net zeroД¬ompanies are not formally part of the Conference of the Parties meetings, which are reunions of countries that signed the 1994 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Instead, he warned, вЂњwhat is needed is radical change - and fastвЂќ. вЂњTheir main goal at COP is to emerge as undisrupted as possible,вЂќ Pat Brown, founder of the alternative protein start-up Impossible Foods, says of both the business and political elites gathered in Glasgow. Such concerns are driving pressure for the next chapter of the corporate response to climate change to be marked by fewer parties and press releases and by more verifiable standards, mandatory reporting and meaningful carbon prices. Indeed, some in Glasgow argued, the focus on voluntary corporate action risks weakening the drive for badly needed government policy interventions. Prince Charles meets business leaders at COP26 in Glasgow, where he awarded his Terra Carta Seal to companies including AstraZeneca, Bank of America and IBM В© Ian Forsyth/Getty Some companies, the critics charge, are also engaged in hypocritical lobbying that is undermining the climate action they claim to want to see.ДЇor growing numbers of environmental activists, regulators and multilateral organisations, the voluntary steps companies have taken so far have had nowhere near the impact needed to steer humanityвЂ™s course away from climate catastrophe. But the regal validation was paired with a harsher critiqueВ from others at the summit - that many companiesвЂ™ emissions-cutting plans do not oblige them to change their behaviour any time soon or hold senior executives accountable for realising them.

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