Was 2025 the year that business retreated from net zero?

"Almost a year since Donald Trump returned to the White House with a rallying cry to the fossil fuel industry to drill baby, drill, a backlash against net zero appears to be gathering momentum. More companies have retreated from, or watered down, their pledges to cut carbon emissions, instead prioritising shareholder returns over climate action."

"Big players in retail and automotive this week became the latest businesses to weaken pledges a retreat that threatens devastating consequences for the climate. Running counter to this, many countries notably China have continued the march towards renewable power (which surpassed coal generation this year). Investment in clean energy, at $2tn a year, is now double that going into fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency."

"For a few years after the pandemic, carmakers made bold promises that they would switch their factories to electric cars within a few years. Yet that momentum for change petered out by 2024 amid disappointing growth in battery car sales. In the US, EU and UK the lobbying campaign for weaker regulations has been intense and successful. A new electric Leaf car comes off the production line at the Nissan factory at Sunderland. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Trump has torn up US electric vehicle subsidies costing carmakers billions of dollars and eased emissions rules to allow them to sell more cars with polluting petrol and diesel engines."

Backlash against net zero policies has grown amid political shifts and intensive industry lobbying. Many companies have retreated from or watered down carbon-cutting pledges, prioritising shareholder returns over emissions reductions. UK political fragmentation has led major parties to abandon or defend net-zero commitments. Automotive manufacturers scaled back electric-vehicle transitions amid disappointing battery-car sales and looser regulation. US policy changes removed EV subsidies and eased emissions rules, favouring petrol and diesel models. In contrast, several countries, notably China, continued expanding renewable power, and global clean-energy investment reached about $2tn a year, doubling fossil-fuel investment.

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