Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what guidance the Government has issued to the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero on adopting an agreed definition of net zero.

The Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) was launched in April 2021 by Mark Carney (the Prime Minister’s Finance Adviser for COP26) in partnership with the UNFCCC Climate Action Champions, the Race to Zero campaign and the COP26 Presidency.

Access to GFANZ is anchored in the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero campaign to ensure credibility and consistency. This means GFANZ firms’ net-zero commitments must use science-based guidelines to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, cover all emission scopes, include 2030 interim target settings and commit to transparent reporting and accounting in line with Race to Zero criteria. The net zero guidelines and standards used are drawn from UNFCCC’s Race to Zero, as well as the conveners and secretariats of the underlying alliances – such as UN Environment Programme, the Science Based Targets Initiative, and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change. GFANZ facilitates collaboration between practitioners, scientists, academics, the official sector, and NGOs to help to identify, develop, and mainstream best practice in this area. The UK government engages with and supports these initiatives but does not issue formal guidance to them.

Next year, GFANZ will continue to partner with the UNFCCC’s Race to Zero, who will continue to set the net zero criteria for entry, alongside the secretariats of the alliances that compromise GFANZ (such as UNEP FI). Further, the Chancellor announced at COP26 that a Taskforce would be established to develop standards for disclosure of transition strategies for companies listed in the UK, which will include industry, academics, and civil society. HMG and GFANZ will therefore continue to collaborate on accelerating the decarbonization of the UK and global financial system.