The 1.5-degree target: a guide for businesses
Direct answer
The 1.5 degree target is the commitment in the 2015 Paris Agreement to hold global warming well below 2 degrees and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level. Countries chose 1.5 degrees because the impacts at that limit are considerably smaller than at 2 degrees. It is a target for countries together, not a law that binds your company directly.
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The 1.5-degree target: scattered information versus Energy Intelligence
Climate agreements are often summed up as the 1.5 degree target, but what that number really means stays vague for many business owners. Yet it keeps moving closer to your own organisation: a large customer asks about your CO2 emissions, a bank wants to see a reduction plan, or a tender sets sustainability requirements. It then helps to know where that number comes from, why 1.5 degrees specifically, and how a global agreement ends up on your desk.
- The target comes from the 2015 Paris Agreement: hold warming well below 2 degrees and pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above the pre-industrial level.
- The 1.5 degree limit was chosen because the IPCC shows the damage at 1.5 degrees is noticeably smaller than at 2 degrees, for example less extreme heat and less flooding.
- The target is not a direct obligation for companies, but reaches them through legislation such as the Dutch Climate Act and EU targets, and through customer requirements in the supply chain.
Insight
Traditional approach
Information is scattered across portals, documents, invoices or separate spreadsheets.
Modern approach
Data, context and interpretation are brought together into a clear decision picture.
Decision-making
Traditional approach
Choices are made based on averages, assumptions or occasional analyses.
Modern approach
Scenarios, KPIs and current measurement data make the trade-off more concrete and repeatable.
Follow-up
Traditional approach
Actions often stay non-committal or disappear into separate reports.
Modern approach
Follow-up actions, monitoring and reporting are linked to the same energy data.
What is the 1.5 degree target exactly?
In 2015 almost every country signed the Paris Agreement. It sets out the commitment to hold the average warming of the Earth well below 2 degrees, and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degrees above the level of before the industrial revolution. That reference point is the period 1850 to 1900, before large-scale use of coal, oil and gas took off. It concerns the average over many years, not a single warm year. The IPCC, the climate panel of the United Nations, calculated that to stay below 1.5 degrees, global CO2 emissions must reach net zero around the early 2050s.
- Set out in the Paris Agreement, adopted in 2015.
- The reference point is the pre-industrial level, the period 1850 to 1900.
- The target is measured over decades, not against a single year.
- Staying below 1.5 degrees requires global net zero CO2 emissions around the early 2050s, according to the IPCC.
Why 1.5 degrees and not 2?
The IPCC mapped the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees of warming in a dedicated report. Every half degree turns out to matter noticeably. At 2 degrees the hottest days on land warm more than at 1.5 degrees, the risk of heavy rainfall and flooding rises in several regions, and droughts and damage to nature increase further. Vulnerable systems such as coral reefs and polar regions come under much greater pressure at 2 degrees. That is why, alongside the upper limit of 2 degrees, countries chose the sharper aim of 1.5 degrees: every fraction of a degree avoided limits the damage. It is not an arbitrary round number, but a limit grounded in scientific research.
- The IPCC devoted a separate report to the difference between 1.5 and 2 degrees.
- At 2 degrees, extreme heat, heavy rainfall and drought are more severe in several regions than at 1.5 degrees.
- Coral reefs and polar regions face considerably greater risk at 2 degrees.
- Every fraction of a degree avoided limits the consequences, hence the sharper aim.
How does this affect your business?
The 1.5 degree target is an agreement between countries and does not impose anything directly on your organisation. It works through three indirect routes. First through legislation: the Dutch Climate Act aims to cut emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared with 1990 and to be climate-neutral by 2050, and the EU is also steering towards net 55 percent lower emissions by 2030. Those targets translate into rules and standards that can affect you. Second through the supply chain: large customers, banks and insurers increasingly ask about your emissions and reduction plans. Third through voluntary standards such as the Science Based Targets initiative, which lets companies agree a reduction path aligned with 1.5 degrees. In this way a global target reaches your own purchasing and administration through laws and customer requirements.
- The target applies to countries, not as a direct legal obligation for your business.
- Dutch Climate Act: 55 percent lower emissions by 2030 and climate-neutral by 2050.
- Large customers, banks and insurers increasingly ask for your CO2 figures and a reduction plan.
- Through the Science Based Targets initiative, companies can have a 1.5 degree target validated.
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