ESG & Investing

Carbon Markets Test the Limits of Voluntary Action

As companies retreat from green pledges, advocacy for broader corporate climate action may be misplaced.

Emissions rise from smokestacks and cooling towers in China.Photographer: Bloomberg Creative Photos/Bloomberg

The limits of voluntary climate action are evident everywhere you look.

Every day it seems there’s another company scaling back its sustainability ambitions or another investment firm pulling out of industry coalitions set up to press corporations to decarbonize their operations.