Multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ environmental self-regulation to establish legitimacy in international markets. We investigate a phenomenon wherein MNEs make commitments to self-regulate their environmental practices across global operations but implement these commitments to varying degrees between home and foreign countries. Drawing on institutional theory research, we argue that MNEs are more inclined to undertake substantive rather than symbolic actions, when implementing their environmental pledges in their home countries compared to abroad. Specifically, we examine this issue in the context of MNEs' adoption of carbon emission reduction targets. We posit that adoption of carbon emission targets are more effective in containing emissions within MNEs’ home countries compared to host countries. Furthermore, such disparity in target effectiveness between home and host countries is more pronounced for MNEs from developed economies and is mitigated when foreign markets hold greater significance for an MNE. To test our hypotheses, we analyze a sample of MNEs reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2009–2020. The findings provide support for our theoretical framework and shed light on how MNEs implement their pledges in different nations beyond the mere act of making such pledges in their environmental self-regulation.