Harvard database tracks 25 years of corporate climate targets across Russell 3000 firms
A new Harvard database tracks corporate climate targets and emissions trends across Russell 3000 companies over the past 25 years, arriving as federal climate reporting in the United States is being dismantled.
The Corporate Climate Targets Database, produced by the Salata Institute at Harvard University's Corporate Climate Targets Project, is the most comprehensive effort so far to track corporate commitments and their implementation. It draws on primary sources including annual reports, 10-K filings and sustainability reports, and is available as both a dataset and an online tool.
The timing matters. As the United States backtracks on federal climate commitments, many companies are reassessing net-zero targets: some are no longer publicising information about targets or progress, and others are weakening their emissions reduction goals.
A shift from voluntary to mandatory disclosure
Disclosure policies require companies to publish information about their greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related risks, allowing stakeholders to assess a company's emissions profile and climate strategy. Mandatory regimes are now in force in California and the European Union, and other US states are considering similar requirements.
In California, hundreds of companies have reported on climate-related risk despite a court ruling that paused enforceability. The reporting companies span technology, health care, real estate, consumer goods and hospitality. While many had disclosed voluntarily for some time, the new requirements appear to be driving a surge of first-time reporters: over half of reporting companies, many of them private or smaller US-based firms, are disclosing their climate risks publicly for the first time.
Federal data is being withdrawn
At the same time, the federal government is expected to cease emissions reporting programmes. The administration has proposed ending the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, which requires companies in high-emitting sectors to report emissions annually, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun rescinding climate-related risk disclosure requirements that had not taken effect because of litigation.
The result is a patchwork: companies reporting different content in different jurisdictions using different formats, leaving investors and advocates with inconsistent data on corporate climate risks and impacts.
What the database is for
The database incorporates state clean energy and climate policies, allowing users to analyse how state-level policy shapes corporate climate ambition. Researchers hope it will help design disclosure policies that achieve emissions reductions while avoiding unintended consequences, such as chilling compliance in the face of litigation risk.