Science Based Targets Initiative—carbon accounting for corporates
Many companies are now working to reduce the carbon emissions from their business activities, and have sought reliable guidance to do so. Under the Paris Agreement, countries aim to reduce their emissions dramatically, in order to limit global temperature rise to below 1.5 °C. In contribution to the global effort, several voluntary initiatives are providing guidance to companies on how they should reduce their emissions to be in line with the same temperature goal.
The highest-integrity effort is the Science Based Targets Initiative. SBTi has maintained the necessary scientific rigor and principled commitment to get companies on the path to meaningful emission reductions.
CLARA has noted the important role of SBTi to spur action by companies to decarbonize their own supply chains, as well as that of their suppliers. In 2024, CLARA applauded SBTi for refusing to recognize the use of carbon offsets in its criteria.
But despite SBTi’s promising beginnings, concerns are growing about whether their stringent standards will continue.
CLARA Members Comment on SBTi
Doreen Stabinsky from College of the Atlantic responded to SBTi’s April 2024 announcement that it had “decided to extend their [carbon offset credits] use for the purpose of abatement of Scope 3 related emissions beyond the current limits.” Read “If not offsets, then what?”
In “Stronger Standards Needed for Corporate Climate Reporting”, Dr. Steve Suppan from CLARA member organization Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) writes about SBTi and the need for better integration of climate targets and risk reporting (June 2025). Read Stronger Standards Needed.
In “Is SBTi surrendering to carbon credit marketeers?”, CLARA members look critically at recent statements in the June 23, 2025 Wall Street Journal by SBTi’s new CEO, David Kennedy, concerned that SBTI’s position against use of carbon offsets under its “science-based” targets could be reversed.
Dr. Steve Suppan responded to the Wall Street Journal article on June 24 in this Letter to the Editor.
About SBTi
The Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi) is proposing to require corporates to set permanent removals targets alongside their net zero target setting. Under the proposed new addition to the Corporate Net Zero Standard, corporates could be required to set removals targets from 2030 or 2035 to begin to “address” the “residual emissions” they plan to have in 2050, by investing now in permanent removals. Eligible permanent removals being considered by SBTi include BECCS, DACCS, and biochar. It is likely corporates would be expected to fulfill their targets through purchase of carbon removal credits.
CLARA members and other civil society organizations are concerned about a recent proposal within SBTi to allow for -- and require investment in -- 'removals'. On September 19, CLARA delivered an open letter to the SBTi, signed by 31 civil society organizations, urging elimination of the “Removals” chapter in their proposed Corporate Net Zero Standard, and arguing that SBTi essentially is creating a mandate for corporations to invest in geoengineering solutions post 2035.