Oil industry ânet-zeroâ pledges are an attempt to delay climate action, new paper warns Fossil fuel companies, experts say, âcannot be relied upon to decarbonize at the speed and scale neededâ to tackle rising global emissions. A growing number of oil companies in the past year have announced targets to achieve ânet-zero emissionsâ by mid-century, seemingly signaling a monumental shift in the history of the oil business towards low-carbon solutions. But a new report argues that not only is the oil industry unlikely to be a leader on carbon reductions, but the sudden flurry of net-zero pledges is instead a cynical effort to bolster corporate images in a calculated attempt to buy time to extract more oil and gas.