A “greenwashing” watchdog is being set up by the United Nations to name and shame companies that fail to deliver on net zero commitments, according to Ben Spencer, Science Editor at The Times.
The Cop26 summit in Glasgow has been beset by accusations of greenwashing — when the environmental credentials of products or organisations are overstated — as businesses and politicians compete to make ever more ambitious claims.
With major oil firms such as Saudi Aramco announcing they will hit net zero emissions by 2050, experts are increasingly concerned that unsubstantiated rhetoric threatens to undermine the credibility of the meeting.
Dr Ben Caldecott, director of the Oxford Sustainable Finance Programme at Oxford University, said: “The creation of this panel is really important. They will want to ensure the integrity of climate commitments and will need to make sure targets are robust and not open to greenwashing and lobbying from vested interests.”
