City–company collaboration towards aligned science-based target setting

Şiir Kılkış (), Anders Bjørn, Xuemei Bai (), Jianguo Liu, Gail Whiteman, Beatrice Crona, Lauren Seaby Andersen, Syezlin Hasan, Varsha Vijay and Oscar Sabag
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Şiir Kılkış: The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye
Anders Bjørn: Technical University of Denmark
Xuemei Bai: Australian National University
Jianguo Liu: Michigan State University
Gail Whiteman: University of Exeter Business School
Beatrice Crona: Stockholm Resilience Center Stockholm University
Lauren Seaby Andersen: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Member of the Leibniz Association
Syezlin Hasan: Griffith University
Varsha Vijay: Science Based Targets Network and University of Tennessee
Oscar Sabag: Science Based Targets Network

Nature Sustainability, 2025, vol. 8, issue 1, 54-65

Abstract: Abstract Cities and companies have great potential to reduce pressures on Earth system boundaries. Science-based target setting has emerged as a powerful tool to help achieve the potential, but its uptake has been limited. Moreover, cities and companies usually develop their targets separately, even though many are co-located. Focusing on the top 200 cities and 500 companies by greenhouse gas emissions, we analyse the current state and potential of adopting science-based targets for climate. Of these key actors, 110 cities with existing net-zero targets and 22 companies with existing science-based targets could together eliminate up to 3.41 GtCO2e of annual emissions. We argue that this reduction potential could increase by as much as 67% (to 5.70 GtCO2e) if the cities and companies that already have targets bring their co-located counterparts on board to keep abreast of their ambitions. Using freshwater as another example, we discuss entry points for addressing interrelated Earth system boundaries through city–company collaborations. Our findings elucidate previously untapped potentials that could accelerate transformations for operating within Earth system boundaries.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41893-024-01473-w

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