A protocol to help asset owners set decarbonization targets was released Thursday by the U.N.-convened Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.
The Inaugural 2025 Target Setting Protocol is designed to complement individual decarbonization targets for achieving net-zero emissions by 2025.
Asset owners are setting their own targets for Scope 3 emissions, also referred to as portfolio emissions, that are called for under the Paris Agreement.
Scope 3 emissions targets are not expected to be set until data become more reliable, but the alliance requires members to publish interim targets every five years, in line with a similar Paris Agreement requirement for signatories. The next updated emissions reduction plans are due in 2025.
Gunther Thallinger, chairman of the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance and an Allianz management board member, said in a statement that the alliance and the new protocol have "set the net-zero implementation ball rolling," but that investors and companies have to publish their own rigorous, science-based and accountable targets.
