Major corporations from energy to tech are maintaining public commitments to climate action even as federal regulators work to eliminate climate disclosure rules and political rhetoric frames sustainability as partisan. A new compilation from Harvard Law School's Corporate Governance Forum documents how leading American and global companies continue treating climate change as a material business risk, signaling that corporate climate acknowledgment remains widespread across sectors despite what researchers call "greenhushing".

Why Are Companies Still Talking About Climate When Politics Have Shifted?

The past two years have seen a dramatic shift in the public conversation around corporate climate commitments. Regulatory momentum behind mandatory climate disclosure at the federal level has reversed, with the SEC moving to eliminate company climate disclosure rules. The EPA has worked to eradicate climate regulations, and sustainability language in public debate has increasingly been recast as a "woke" political position rather than sound business judgment.

Yet numerous major corporations continue to acknowledge that climate change is a critical risk and material business issue. When a food company states that changing weather patterns threaten its agricultural supply chain or when an electric utility describes its net zero commitment in the environmental strategy section of its annual report, these are not political statements, according to the Harvard Law School analysis. They are assessments of business risk and opportunity made by managements and boards with fiduciary obligations to their shareholders.

"Climate risk is investment risk," noted Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, a principle that continues to guide institutional investors representing trillions of dollars in assets seeking decision-useful information about how companies assess and manage climate-related risks.

Larry Fink, CEO, BlackRock

What Are Major Companies Actually Committing To?

The breadth of sectors represented in corporate climate statements demonstrates that climate risk is not confined to any one industry, business model, or customer base. Companies across energy, technology, retail, and food production have made specific, measurable commitments.

• Energy Sector: Dominion Energy committed to achieving net zero carbon and methane Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and material categories of Scope 3 emissions by 2050, as stated in its 2025 Form 10-K filing.
• Technology Sector: Meta Platforms has maintained net zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in its operations since 2020 and has matched 100% of its annual electricity use with clean and renewable energy, with contracts for more than 30 gigawatts of clean and renewable energy projects globally as of January 2026.
• Retail and Logistics: Amazon co-founded The Climate Pledge in 2019 with a goal to reach net-zero carbon emissions across its operations by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement's 2050 target, and has attracted more than 550 companies across more than 55 industries and more than 45 countries to join the initiative.

Oil and gas companies are also making climate-related statements. Chevron's board stated in its 2024 proxy statement that the company "consistently strives to be more capital-, cost-, and carbon-efficient" and aims to "safely deliver higher returns and lower carbon" as part of its strategic and business planning processes.

How Are Companies Justifying Climate Action to Shareholders?

Rather than relying on boilerplate language from financial filings, companies are increasingly articulating climate commitments through management responses to shareholder proposals and sustainability reports. An analysis of company Form 10-K disclosures shows that most climate-related descriptions appear in risk factor sections, where language is drafted primarily from a legal perspective and often results in generic statements. Companies are moving beyond this approach to provide more substantive public statements about their climate strategies.

NVIDIA, for example, emphasized in its 2026 proxy statement that its "current practices evidence a clear commitment to sustainability, climate risk management, and effective disclosure," noting that the company "consistently publishes highly detailed climate reporting, including in our 2025 Sustainability Report, which is assured by our financial auditor".

Steps Companies Are Taking to Address Climate Risk

• Renewable Energy Contracting: Companies are signing long-term contracts for clean energy projects, with Meta securing over 30 gigawatts of renewable capacity and Amazon leading a coalition of 550+ companies committed to net-zero operations.
• Emissions Tracking and Reporting: Major corporations are publishing detailed climate reports that include Scope 1, Scope 2, and material Scope 3 emissions categories, with some reports independently audited by financial auditors to ensure accuracy.
• Nuclear Energy Investment: Tech companies like Meta are identifying nuclear energy as a pivotal technology for the transition to a cleaner, more reliable, and diversified electric grid to support their operations.
• Supply Chain Assessment: Companies across sectors are integrating climate risk assessment into their strategic business planning processes to identify vulnerabilities in agricultural supply chains, logistics networks, and resource availability.

Why Does Corporate Climate Acknowledgment Matter Now?

Corporate acknowledgment of climate risk carries significance beyond public relations. It informs investors seeking decision-useful information about climate-related risks, reflects good corporate management through accountability to communities and shareholders, and preserves an accurate historical record at a moment when corporate climate language is being downplayed on websites, shareholder letters, and public communications.

The Harvard Law School analysis notes that this documentation of what companies have said over time carries independent value, particularly as regulatory momentum shifts and political rhetoric changes. The fact that companies acknowledge climate as a business risk in today's shifting environment remains a strong and relevant message, even if some companies have missed emissions targets, revised goals downward, or face ongoing criticism regarding the adequacy of their transition plans.

The persistence of corporate climate commitments suggests that regardless of political headwinds or regulatory rollbacks, many of the world's largest companies view climate action as a prudent and sensible way to do business, driven by fiduciary responsibility to shareholders rather than political ideology.