Net zero is entering an era of quiet progress

The next era of corporate climate leadership is already underway and it's nothing like the last one.

Gone are the glossy pledges and PR campaigns. In their place: rigorous procurement, strategic multi-year commitments and quiet, confident execution.

Since last year, we’ve seen major corporations exit climate coalitions, record outflows from environmental, social and governance funds and the Net-Zero Banking Alliance – the UN-backed banking coalition supporting Paris climate goals through financing – softening its targets.

Behind the scenes, though, serious companies are still taking action. While weaker climate policies have infiltrated the most influential governments, the physics of climate change remain the same, and so too does the business imperative to decarbonize.

Corporations understand that climate risk is material and growing (from supply chains and capital costs to insurance and operations) and delayed action only makes the crisis more costly to solve.

But the stakes go beyond balance sheets. For many companies, climate poses an existential threat to their viability. So, while public messaging may have cooled, internal momentum hasn’t. Instead, many are managing short-term political risk while continuing to invest in long-term decarbonization. Here's how.

Corporate sustainability isn’t backpedalling, but it is maturing. In private conversations, climate leads at global firms acknowledge that their net-zero strategies must withstand greater scientific scrutiny and impending regulation.

As the climate crisis intensifies, reducing emissions alone is insufficient to address the issue. That’s why many are pursuing a recalibrated strategy focused on high-quality carbon dioxide removal, the next frontier in credible climate action.

The scientific consensus around carbon dioxide removal is clear. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Oxford Offsetting Principles and the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) all agree: even the most ambitious emissions reduction plans will leave residual carbon pollution that must be permanently removed from the atmosphere. There is no net zero without carbon removal.

Global regulation is trending in the same direction. The EU is tightening climate disclosure rules and moving toward carbon removal mandates. China still aims to peak emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Markets across Europe and Latin America are phasing out low-quality offsets and preparing to integrate permanent carbon removals. Even in the US, California’s Climate Accountability Package is prompting corporations to increase transparency regarding their carbon footprint.

For today’s corporate climate leaders, it’s about getting ahead of the curve.

Demand for durable carbon removal is accelerating. In 2024, the carbon removal market grew by 78% despite the broader voluntary carbon market contracting by 61% the previous year. This divergence is no accident. It reflects a shift away from flimsy carbon avoidance offsets toward real, verifiable carbon removal.

Yet supply isn’t keeping pace with current and future demand. The number of companies with SBTi-aligned targets more than doubled in 2023, led by firms in Asia. While that figure now tops 10,000, only a few dozen are currently procuring removals. That means the industry faces a massive surge in latent demand and competition will only increase as more buyers move from targets to action.

To stay below 1.5 degrees of warming, we must remove 10 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide per year by 2050, which is more than 14,000 times the current rate of removal. Building that much infrastructure requires capital, permitting, engineering and deployment on timelines far exceeding a single election cycle.

To meet this challenge, multi-year offtake agreements are critical.

These are long-term contracts that allow companies to lock in future carbon removal supply at favourable prices, years in advance. They offer buyers up to 30% discounts compared to credits on the spot market, where supply exists today but prices are higher and quality less predictable.

Just as importantly, they provide suppliers with the certainty needed to secure financing and develop new projects. Companies waiting to act may find themselves locked out as demand for high-quality removal outstrips supply.

We’re already seeing American carbon removal companies shutter. But growth may yet follow.

As PwC’s 2025 decarbonization report puts it: “We are entering an era of quiet progress, where companies avoid publicizing climate pledges that can open them up to unwanted scrutiny and instead focus on making progress far from the spotlight.”

Here's how companies can navigate this complex environment:

As long as companies continue to procure permanent carbon removal credits, it matters less whether they remain in climate coalitions or highlight their green goals.

Ultimately, delivering progress is about follow-through, which is where our attention should lie.