The Net Zero concept is an international climate change concept that defines a future state where human-caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are balanced by human-caused removals from the atmosphere. The concept originated from scientific research in the late 2000s and early 2010s, which established that global warming would only stop if carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions were reduced to net zero. It was developed to solve the problem of halting the ongoing rise in global temperatures.
The concept was formally enshrined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which, under Article 4.1, commits parties to "achieve a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of this century". The mechanism works in two parts: first, deep and rapid cuts in gross emissions, reducing them as close to zero as possible. Second, any small residual emissions that cannot be eliminated must be neutralised by an equivalent amount of permanent carbon removal. For instance, robust standards now require a 90-95% absolute emissions reduction before neutralising the residual with permanent removals.
Net Zero is fundamentally connected to the Paris Agreement and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose 2018 Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C (SR15) concluded that limiting warming to 1.5°C requires reaching net zero CO₂ emissions by mid-century. The concept has become more rigorous recently, with a shift away from simple carbon neutrality, which can rely heavily on offsets. The current standard emphasizes deep emissions cuts and permanent removals, rather than just offsetting. India has set a national target to achieve net zero emissions by 2070.