The result would be approximately constant global average surface temperatures over decades or centuries. This would be at a rate just fast enough to compensate for this deep ocean adjustment. If CO 2 emissions that result directly from human activities are reduced to net zero, the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere would decline. However global average surface temperatures would continue to increase for many centuries due to the gradual adjustment of deep ocean temperatures. If the concentration of CO 2 in the atmosphere were kept constant, some CO 2 emissions could continue. This happens even after current CO 2 emissions are reduced to zero. This is because the carbon cycle continuously sequesters or absorbs a small percentage of cumulative historical human-caused CO 2 emissions into vegetation and the ocean. This is a term that dates from the 1992 Rio Convention. The idea of net zero emissions is often confused with "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere". The term "net zero" gained popularity after the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 ☌ (SR15) in 2018, This report stated that "Reaching and sustaining net zero global anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and declining net non-CO 2 radiative forcing would halt anthropogenic global warming on multi-decadal timescales ( high confidence)." This stated that we must "achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century". Net zero was basic to the goals of the Paris Agreement. This research found that global warming will only stop if CO 2 emissions are reduced to net zero. The idea of net zero came out of research in the late 2000s into how the atmosphere, oceans and carbon cycle were reacting to CO 2 emissions. Several countries including Switzerland are developing such legislation. There is currently no national regulation in place that legally requires companies based in that country to achieve net zero. These are laws that legislatures have passed which contain net zero targets or equivalent. To date, 27 countries have enacted domestic net zero legislation. It is also due to the need for continued innovation and investment to make decarbonization possible. This low credibility reflects a lack of binding regulation. While 61% of global carbon dioxide emissions are covered by some sort of net zero target, credible targets cover only 7% of emissions. This is despite the increasing number of commitments and targets. Net zero claims vary enormously in how credible they are. Company targets can result from both voluntary action and government regulation. Among Fortune 500 companies the percentage is 63%. 65% of the largest 2,000 publicly traded companies by annual revenue have net zero targets. Country-level net zero targets now cover 92% of global GDP, 88% of emissions and 89% of the world population. They include some countries that were resistant to climate action in previous decades. Today more than 140 countries have a net zero emissions target. Both countries and organizations are setting net zero targets. In the last few years, net zero has become the main framework for climate ambition. Some standards for carbon neutral certification allow heavy carbon offsetting, however net zero standards require reducing emissions to >90% and then only offsetting the remaining <10% to fall in line with 1.5☌ targets. : 22–24 However in some cases, these terms have different meanings from each other. People often switch between the terms net zero emissions, carbon neutrality, and climate neutrality with the same meaning. Organizations often offset their residual emissions by buying carbon credits. One example would be by shifting from fossil fuel energy to sustainable energy sources. To reach net zero targets requires actions to reduce emissions. In some cases, "emissions" refers to emissions of all greenhouse gases, and in others it refers only to emissions of carbon dioxide (CO 2). Global net zero emissions describes the state where emissions of carbon dioxide due to human activities and removals of these gases are in balance over a given period.
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