Business leadership teams hold the key to achieving 2030 climate targets – is your team delivering?

In today’s ever-changing geopolitical landscape, staying committed to climate targets is more challenging and critical than ever. With growing Net Zero scrutiny, economic uncertainty, and shifting policies, it’s no surprise that business leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to balance long-term Net Zero goals with short-term operational and financial demands.

21 May 2025
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Michael Rea
Chief Executive Officer, the Carbon Trust
Michael Rea, the Carbon Trust's CEO, in the Carbon Trust office at Arbor in London, next to a mission statement that says "Our mission is to accelerate the move to a decarbonised future"

As the climate crisis continues and the Net Zero conversation evolves – with the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) releasing a draft of the Corporate Net-Zero Standard v2.0 and ISO developing its own standard for Net Zero Aligned Organisations – it’s crucial that senior leaders and boards act with resilience and foresight, keeping 2030 climate goals in sharp focus and grounded in credible, science-based emissions targets. 

Currently over 7,000 businesses across regions and industries have science-based targets (SBTs) validated by the SBTi, many more have not. While the SBTi methodology may not be perfect, it provides an important framework for organisations to define the reductions they need to make by 2030 and 2050. 

One of the key challenges we see once SBTs are set, is that they often sit in a silo within the sustainability team, which does not enable a true change within the organisation. It’s vital that senior leadership teams clearly communicate that sustainability is imperative to the organisation’s future success and that SBTs are an integral part. Championing this from the top down and across business functions such as finance, procurement, HR, IT and marketing, ensures everyone is clear on targets and can contribute to Net Zero planning and implementation, facilitating active collaboration across the business to achieve success. 

To help senior leadership teams enable this, below are some of my observations on what I see leading businesses doing to ensure they are on track to meet their 2030 targets. 

In terms of best practice, sustainability teams will work in tandem with business units to: 

  • Define the changes required and options available to reduce Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions to meet targets
  • Assess the technical and financial viability for the changes needed to help build the business case for investment to decarbonise
  • Evaluate climate risks and opportunities for the company to assess the resilience of the business and uncover opportunities for growth and competitive advantage
  • Agree with the board on the investment plan to deliver on 2030 targets and beyond
  • Develop a detailed implementation plan, reporting and tracking system; and
  • Give accountability to delivering the SBTs to business units and cross-cutting functions. 

While these steps may sound obvious, what we often see is detailed work on identifying the changes required, but a degree of paralysis when it comes to answering the question on ‘how will we finance these changes in practice?’ which is key. To help bridge this gap, it’s critical for the senior leadership team and board to be actively involved, working through the detail with sustainability and cross-functional heads, to be fully informed about the changes and investments required, trade-offs and potential challenges. In doing this work, it’s important to consider the same steps, also with a 2050 lens and to iterate between the two-time frames so they are consistent. 

Of course, not all solutions to reducing carbon emissions may be commercially viable today. Some will require further innovation and derisking, and some are still nascent. This is an opportunity for boards and senior leadership teams to collaborate within their sector and across their value chain – coming together to invest jointly to derisk technologies – and work with governments to shape the policy agenda that can help accelerate decarbonisation for industries and ensure a level commercial playing field. 

Amidst the shifting geopolitical and economic landscape, which has become the norm, I hope this provides some practical guidance senior business leaders can take to ensure climate commitments are maintained and that SBTs can be successfully delivered by 2030 and beyond.