The Conveyor Belt model

How diverse yet complementary institutional tools can collectively guide the private sector toward credible net zero.

by John Lang

A full version of the article below was originally published on zerotracker.net. It's based on a paper by Professor Thomas Hale, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford.

What's the Conveyor Belt model?

No single tool alone can coordinate what's necessary to tackle the collective action problem of climate change. Strengthening effective links between voluntary initiatives, orchestration initiatives, the international standards systems and national regulations can build a more complete governance ecosystem around net zero.

Governance that's greater than the sum of its parts

The four cogs of the convey belt have their own strengths and weaknesses, but as a whole they accommodate the flexibility of voluntary initiatives and the coordination of orchestration initiatives with the scale of standards and bindingness of regulation. If the cogs are turning in sync, the Convey Belt can support credible climate action and help shift what's politically possible.

A vertical view of the system

Progress on net zero will be a multidecade process characterised by uncertainty and political headwinds. That's why governance has to be adaptive and dynamic. While regulation will be necessary to compel laggards, achieving net zero requires a broader governance system that remains while shifting the bounds of political feasibility.

The ‘Ambition Loop’ that catalyses more action

In climate policy, does action by one group inspire actions by others? This question is now being tested. For example, using Net Zero Tracker data, researchers found a mutually reinforcing relationship between national and company net zero target-setting. Countries that enshrine net zero targets in law increase the likelihood of companies within their borders adopting similar targets, and vice versa.

1. Voluntary initiatives: finding and defining good practice

Voluntary initiatives are not binding but they can have bite. For companies that care about what consumers, investors, or courts think, "soft governance" can compel action by leveraging reputation and market pressures. CDP, formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project, is an example of a voluntary initiative that has shaped good practice.

Born of necessity

Net zero governance has largely been voluntary to data. Despite limitations to voluntarism, hundreds of initiatives have informed and shaped the climate actions of thousands of entities, from governments to companies to financial institutions.

The ‘Frontier of best practice’

Only complex answers exist to questions of what the "right" path to net zero emissions is for any given sector, company, region or nation. This is because the "how" of achieving net zero is deeply political and context dependent.

Voluntary climate initiatives help. They're often designed to find, mobilise and promote net zero good practice among entities with similar interests or goals. In other words, they experiment at the frontier of best practice.

Fast and flexible

Advantages go beyond the catalytic effect voluntary initiatives have on other parts of the conveyor belt model.

2. Orchestration initiatives: consolidating good practice

Orchestration initiatives such as the Race to Zero campaign and Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero coordinate and consolidate global voluntary action. Some "orchestrators" provide expert-based guidelines, others convene broad coalitions of diverse entitles, yet others highlight good practice and credible climate action. Some do all the above.

Credible coordination

3. International standards: scaling good practice

Standards bring consistency and credibility to the economy, including to the global diffusion of net zero best practice. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) will release its Net Zero Standard in 2025 - other international organisations like the World Bank and the OECD refer to ISO standards as a matter of course. Meanwhile, the International Sustainability Standards Board's new standards should bring consistency to the incoherent corporate reporting landscape.

Standards are sexier than they look

ISO 1460, IFRS S1... Standards may look like a jumble of letters and numbers, yet they're silently driving some of the most important changes in climate action today. The quality infrastructure that's part and parcel of the ISO system sets it apart from voluntary initiatives because it brings consistency, credibility and network effects to net zero governance.

Scaling trust: quality infrastructure

ISO does not just scale standards globally, it scales trust. The standards system operates on a higher level and at a larger scale than voluntary initiatives such as the Science based Targets (SBTi) and CDP. National assurance bodies verify that companies or organisations meet the criteria outlined in the relevant standards, ensuring consistent high quality.

Existing and emerging standards

International organizations for standardization (ISO)

To become legally binding, standards must be adopted by jurisdictions. For example, the EU and its member states mandate the use of climate-related ISO standards, including ISO 14067 for quantifying the carbon footprint of products and ISO 14064-1 for the design, development, management, reporting, and verification of companies' emission inventories.

International sustainability standards board (ISSB)

Disclosure standards do not mandate action like verifiable ISO standards, but they do play a supporting role.

More than 20 jurisdictions - representing 55% of global GDP and including China - are moving to adopt or align with the ISSB disclosure standards, IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. ISSB is harmonising disclosures, including transition plans, and is partnering with voluntary initiatives, such as CDP and the Transition Plan Taskforce, to ensure maximum interoperability.

4. Regulations: binding good practice

Regulations help to level the playing field, increase investment certainty and force laggards to act. Net zero-related rules are proliferating all over the world, but so too are risks of fragmentation across regulatory domains and between jurisdictions.

Under the Conveyor Belt Model, national regulations should, where possible, draw from common international standards to ensure interoperability and consistent application.

Preventing fragmentation and strengthening coordination

The proliferation of net zero-related regulations globally risks fragmentation and dislocation across different national jurisdictions and regulatory domains. The UN-established Taskforce on Net Zero Policy aims to help the nascent regulatory landscape by creating a forum and a process to drive upwards convergence across different jurisdictions and domains.

Preventing, or at least mitigating, regulatory fragmentation is essential for maintaining globally comparable and consistent rules.

Institutional updates?

As efforts to incorporate mandatory net zero rules increase, there are growing calls to reassess international legal institutions - most of which were established decades before the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 by 195 countries.

The bottom lines

The effectiveness of the Conveyor Belt lies in its ability to leverage existing market mechanisms and governance institutions. But the connections between these cogs are not automatic; they have to be developed, greased, and regularly maintained.

Four cogs, plus the rest

The Conveyor Belt Model of net zero governance is supported by and supports, a broader governance system that includes multilateral bodies (e.g. IPCC), sector-specific initiatives, data platforms (e.g. Net Zero Tracker), academic institutions, activists, and other networks. e.g...

Acknowledgements

This infographic explainer is based on University of Oxford professor Thomas Hale's paper, 'Governing Net Zero: The Conveyor Belt".

About the author

John Lang manages the Net Zero Tracker on behalf of the Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit in London, NewClimate Institute in Germany, Data-Driven EnviroLab in the US, and Oxford Net Zero. He specialises in analysing and communicating climate science and policy to the public. He also runs Consult Climate, a sustainability-focused consultancy, and founded Kiwis in Climate, a 500-strong group of international New Zealanders working in climate and related fields. John holds a Master of Laws in international environmental law and policy from UCL and undergraduate degrees in history and law from the University of Otago.

Discover more

Watch the snippet from the "Introduction to Net Zero Targets" video with John Lang, who explains what the pillars of integrity for ‘good net zero’ are and the phases of implementation.

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