Emissions This was the year many firms rejected net zero

After 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.

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More companies have retreated from, or watered down, their pledges to cut carbon emissions, instead prioritising shareholder returns over climate action.

In the UK, the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK has helped fracture the political consensus that had helped make Britain the first big economy to enshrine a commitment to cutting carbon emissions into law, in 2019. Earlier this year, the Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, officially ditched net zero by 2050 as a Tory policy. The Labour party was even forced to defend its net zero policy after an attack by its former leader, Tony Blair.

Big players in the retail and automotive sectors last 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 (£1.5tn) a year, is now double that going into fossil fuels, according to the International Energy Agency.

Here we look at how important industries are treating net zero.

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.