In a 2018 special report published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the organization stated that countries must bring carbon dioxide emissions to net-zero by 2050 in order to keep global warming within 1.5 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial levels. Global temperatures are already rising, bringing with them not only excessive heat but also an increased frequency of extreme weather events such as snowstorms, hurricanes, and droughts. The world is currently on a trajectory to reach 2.4 degrees Celsius warming, and while it may be too late to reverse course in the damage that has been done to the environment, reducing that number by less than one percentage point would build a significantly safer line of defense against climate change’s worst impacts.

Three years later, the adoption of the Glasgow Climate Pact after the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference saw 197 member countries commit to reaching a global net-zero emissions target by 2050. The world now has a concrete goal for achieving carbon neutrality, and the questions now lie in how to effectively carry out actions toward this goal.

“The idea is that humanity will be carbon neutral by 2050. I’m not sure if I will be around to see that, but that’s the aim, and in order for the Earth to achieve that the big carbon emitters like the data centers, the coal, and the steel industries all need to get in even earlier,” said Vik Bansal, the chief executive officer and managing director of the Australian steel company InfraBuild.

Industry is the largest emitting sector of greenhouse gasses, accounting for over 40 percent of global emissions in 2019. According to Bansal, he believes that if the world is to become carbon neutral by 2050 those within the industries responsible for large amounts of the emissions must take their goals even further. InfraBuild has committed to becoming a leader in sustainable steel, creating its CN30 initiative to become carbon neutral by the year 2030 and lead its industry in the move toward net-zero emissions.