Will the SBTi’s new net zero standard push companies to walk the talk?

(...) One such change is a separation of direct and indirect emissions reduction plans. In effect, this would mean ending the use of combined Scope targets by corporates – which the previous standard permits.

Frédéric Ducoulombier, climate regulation and policies programme director at the EDHEC Climate Institute says this is a step in the right direction.

“The proposed standard would end this practice — a quiet but significant structural shift. It closes a longstanding and under-appreciated weakness: the possibility to meet headline targets, such as combined Scope 1+2 targets, by offsetting a shortfall in one Scope with progress in another”, Ducoulombier told Net Zero Investor.

Ducoulombier contends that it also channels the pressure on companies to demonstrate progress into more productive areas.

“In the absence of clearer guardrails, the pressure to demonstrate progress may lead companies to rely on accounting manoeuvres rather than real emissions reductions — the setting of separate targets for each emissions Scope would support real-world action”, he adds. (...)