⁉ What on earth are Science Based Targets initiative (#SBTi) doing ⁉
Here's my short summary...
📰 HEADLINE 📰
Absolutely nothing has changed, yet.
❓ WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED ❓
On Tuesday 9th April, SBTi's Board of Trustees unilaterally announced that they were 'intending' to allow "Environmental Attribute Certificates" (essentially carbon offsets / credits) to be more widely used as part of net zero targets to reduce Scope 3 (indirect value chain) emissions.
They were always clear that this was not an immediate change, but an intended direction that would be subject to consultation, with the aim to publish a first draft of proposed guidance in July (ie. still not implemented even then).
We have ZERO specifics on what they are actually proposing.
☢ SBTi EMPLOYEES PUSHBACK ☢
On Wednesday 10th April (the next day), an open letter signed by the majority of SBTi staff made it incredibly clear that there had been no internal consultation or agreement on the Board of Trustees Statement.
The counter-statement said that their Board of Trustees had undermined and ignored SBTi's agreed Standard Operating Procedures and governance processes, and fundamentally did not have the sole decision-making authority to make such a statement, and indeed that there was no evidence that it would be "science-based" to use offsets for scope 3 emissions.
🚣♂️ RAPID ROWBACK 🚣♂️
By Friday 12th April, SBTi issued an official clarification confirming that there had been no change to SBTi standards and that they would go through the proper process and consultation to produce a first draft proposal by July.
🕵♂️ WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT? 🕵♂️
It's honestly hard to say, but broadly I see three possibilities:
1) Pushback succeeds - if enough pressure builds from SBTi staff and other stakeholders, the idea of offsetting scope 3 could be entirely ruled out.
2) Limited Weakening - they decide to allow scope 3 offsetting, but with very tight rules and guardrails (e.g. it can only cover x% of scope 3 emissions)
3) Open Season for Offsetting - I think this is extremely unlikely, but in principle they could open the door to offsetting being used fairly indiscriminately for scope 3 emissions mitigation.
💥 WHAT COULD CONSEQUENCES BE? 💥
Honestly, the biggest consequence is that the confusion has already rattled everyone and undermined confidence in SBTi.
If a change does eventually get made, it would be a significant shift from the current standard, which says offsets can only be used against unavoidable 'residual' emissions in a net zero strategy, which is limited to <10% of a company's baseline carbon footprint (with Scope 3 typically representing 75%-99% of a company carbon footprint).
Supporters say scope 3 emissions are REALLY hard and that corporates need more tools to tackle them.
Detractors say this would reduce corporate motivation to take direct action and reduce emissions.
What do you think? I'll do my best to answer additional questions...
