Inside climate activists’ uneasy relationship with ‘net-zero’

In the premier episode of Apple TV's climate show, Extrapolations, it's 2037 and Earth is in turmoil. Although the concept of global net-zero is rooted in climate science, today's carbon neutrality pledges from individual governments and corporations have been criticized in some quarters as a "con," because they allow polluters to continue emitting greenhouse gases. "Global net-zero is nonnegotiable if you're serious about climate targets," said Sam Fankhauser, a professor of climate change economics and policy at the University of Oxford. Levin said polluters too often use poorly regulated and opaque "junk offsets" to delay the absolute emissions reductions required to combat climate change. "While real zero is a valuable guiding light, net-zero is still a worthy and necessary goal," said Jackie Ennis, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council.