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A carbon neutrality target is a formal commitment to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and offset any residual emissions through removals — such as afforestation, soil carbon sequestration, or engineered carbon capture — so that net CO2 emissions reach zero by a specified date. The term is often used interchangeably with "net-zero CO2," though strictly speaking net zero may cover all greenhouse gases (including methane and nitrous oxide) while carbon neutrality refers narrowly to CO2.
The concept gained political traction after the Paris Agreement (2015), whose Article 4 calls on parties to achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks in the second half of this century, consistent with holding warming well below 2°C. The IPCC's Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (2018) concluded that limiting warming to 1.5°C requires global CO2 emissions to reach net zero around 2050.
Major pledges include the European Union's climate neutrality goal for 2050, codified in the European Climate Law (2021); the United Kingdom's 2050 net-zero target, written into the Climate Change Act in 2019; China's announcement at the UN General Assembly in September 2020 of carbon neutrality before 2060; and India's 2070 pledge made at COP26 in Glasgow (2021). The United States rejoined the Paris Agreement in 2021 and committed to a net-zero economy by 2050.
Credibility of targets varies. Analysts at bodies such as the Climate Action Tracker and the UN's Race to Zero campaign assess whether pledges are backed by interim milestones, sectoral plans, legal force, and transparent accounting of offsets versus actual reductions. Common critiques concern over-reliance on unproven negative-emissions technologies, double-counting of offsets, and the exclusion of consumption-based or aviation/shipping emissions from headline figures.
Not exactly. Carbon neutrality refers to balancing CO2 emissions only, while net zero typically covers all greenhouse gases, including methane and nitrous oxide measured in CO2-equivalent.
Critics argue that long-dated targets can defer action, rely heavily on unproven carbon removal technologies, and use offsets that may not represent genuine, additional, or permanent emission reductions.