What does this mean, if anything? How would it be possible for a car company to be carbon neutral? Is this just nonsense/posturing since it’s so long from now?
Sorry, not an answer here, but a good analogy. It has a lot to do with creative accounting and making up definitions.
😂 hilarious and perfect
Delta airlines is running similar ads. It all sounds like they are kicking the can down the road. “Oh in thirty years everything will magically be better!”
It’s not like these pledges are legally binding. You just say you’re working on it and that means governments can point at that and say they don’t need to implement any regulation as ‘the industry is self regulating’. Then 30 years later nobody will think to check, or the corporation will be acquired by someone else, or, best case scenario we have magical technology that makes it actually possible.
They can, when they limit CO2 emissions as much as possible and compensatw for the remaining emissions by planting trees and other tricks.
Also, ‘being carbon neutral’ can mean several things:
- ensure the company doesn’t produce CO2 (net)
- ensure the company and the commute of the employees doesn’t produce CO2 (net)
- … plus suppliers
- … plus transport of the goods produced
- …
And so on,… it all is just how you define it.
My house is the greenest in the neighbourhood and probably in the country. That it has nothing to do with being eco friendly but more with the paint on it is just a minor detail. ;)
Thank you for actually attempting to answer the question instead of just spouting the knee-jerk reaction of “it’s bullshit”.
And yes, maybe it is bullshit. Maybe they’ll never end up actually offsetting their carbon footprint. Maybe they’ll think they are, but end up getting scammed out themselves. Last Week Tonight did a great piece on Carbon Offsets on that whole subject.
It means they’re either holding out of a sudden breakthrough that will let them become carbon neutral overnight for free or they’re hoping no one will be around to call them out on their bullshit by then
By 2050 we will be so fucked no one will be paying attention.
Most probably carbon offsetting
This should be the top comment.
Could mean the world will end in 2049, so nobody will be here to dispute it.
Nice! :)
Green washing.
Roche pharma also has a goal to reduce their cost to society by half by 2030.
What does that mean? What metric measures cost to society? What will they actually do? Nothing, nothing, nothing.
It’s like Micheal Scott yelling “AND WE’RE GOING CARBON NEUTRAL!!!” at the stock holders meeting.
Just gotta buy some carbon credit and then you can burn as much oil as you want.
And the carbon credits are basically some scammer that promises to plant some trees somewhere remote where nobody can actually check.
While it’s a different company I think Bosch as an automotive supplier can serve as an example on how this can be calculated as they are already “carbon neutral”.
https://www.bosch.com/sustainability/environment/
At present, we use carbon credits to offset residual CO₂ emissions, such as from combustion processes (heating, process heat). In addition, we refer to carbon credits to offset electricity sourced in countries with only limited availability of green electricity. As we make progress with levers 1 to 3, we want to gradually reduce the share that we offset to achieve carbon neutrality to no more than 15 percent by 2030.
Yes, it’s nonsense. In 2050 if they aren’t carbon neutral, they haven’t broken any laws so there’ll be no punishment. So why not announce lofty goals?
Why do you think it is impossible for people at Honda to care?
It is not impossible for people at Honda to care. Just not the right people, those that can actually make a difference. The decision makers are all looking for what gives them the most profit, if not then they are not in their position long or, really, never get to a position that matters in the first place.
The only thing that capitalism cares about is profit, by very definition.
Therefore it is up to consumers to make sure that being environmentally conscious is profitable.
I was going to buy Hondas anyway because they are cheap and reliable but if Honda as a company really does become carbon neutral that’s an added bonus that I’m thrilled about. Even if Hondas become moderately priced and reliable instead of cheap and reliable as a result, they’ll still be on my radar.
You counter your own point…
You cannot trust people to do what is right for the environment. They wont do anything until they see the effects for them selves and by then it is far too late to do anything meaningful. And if/when they do finally care all they see is a lot of green washed campaigning by every company claiming to be green when non of them are and they have no real choose and a lot of confusion. You need strict and effective regulation to curve this behavior in companies.
You cannot trust people to do what is right for the environment
Until we get our AI GPT overlords, people is all we’ve got.
Money tends to have that effect.
I remember when the future date for goals no one intended to meet was 2030.
Yeah…. Well… The future isn’t what it used to be.
Same way phone manufacturers are aiming to be 100% green by passing off all the blame to the client. “We may have made it impossible for you to change the battery once it’s fucked but it was your choice to throw the phone in the bin”
