The most apparent difference between carbon neutral and Net Zero is the amount of change each makes.
Carbon neutrality keeps the status quo.
A company can easily become carbon neutral simply by planting enough trees or purchasing enough offsets.
There is no need for the company to make any changes to its practices, culture or emissions.
Offsetting simply means it uses some profit to offset its emissions.
This isn’t ideal and could potentially raise accusations of greenwashing, especially if the company makes sustainability claims.
Net Zero (and one step further, Climate Positivity) means that a company is on a journey to reducing its emissions to the minimum possible.
Also, it will have a plan in place to reduce its 3 scopes of emissions and preferably a footprint report to measure the starting point and progress.
Finally, whatever emissions remain can then be offset preferably using nature-based solutions that have other impacts such as social.