17 Apr Focus: Why is SBTi advocating the carbon offsets market?
The SBTi, the Gold Standard for corporate net zero, has been the point of discussion over its advocating for carbon offsets over high-impact sustainability plans. In a recent statement, the SBTi Board of Trustees said that the SBTI recognises that environmental attribute certificates i.e. carbon offsets, for abatement purposes on scope 3 emissions could be used as an additional tool to tackle climate change. SBTI decided to expand their use for the abatement of Scope 3 emissions, explaining that this is another step to accelerate the decarbonisation of value chains with ‘compensation logic’.
The announcement gained criticism, with some industry members stating that it implied a business-as-usual approach and reduced the responsibility for decreasing large emission volumes. A few days after the announcement, SBTi highlighted that no changes had been made to the current SBTi standards.
Simon McKeating, Programme Manager at the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership Net Zero Commitment, explains that the decision to enable companies to use carbon credits to offset emissions could create a challenging precedent. McKeating believes it could undermine the credibility of SBTi and encourage a new phase of carbon businesses trading carbon credits. McKeating highlights that the principle of creating targets and not including carbon sets as part of the progress towards these targets has been a major part of the SBTi Corporate Net Zero Standard since it was first published. Real progress on emissions reductions can only happen by taking action in your operations and along your value chain, according to McKeating.
The New Climate Institute states that if businesses can achieve their scope 3 targets via offsets, they have little incentive to align their business models with the 1.5C temperature limit defined in the Paris Agreement. Sabine Frank, the Executive Director of Carbon Market Watch, believes that by enabling further flexibility to companies, SBTi will lose its defining feature – promoting structured and effective corporate climate action.
The announcement concerning carbon credits from the SBTI did gain some support, believing the added flexibility can be an opportunity to SBTis gold standard for corporate targets, suggesting the SBTI’s previous approach towards Scope 3 emissions wasn’t very effective for many businesses.
Anna Nesbitt, the CEO of Climate Collective, explains that time is running out and that we spend too much time in conflict rather than focusing on the solutions. Nesbitt highlights that the integrity of carbon markets has improved over the last few years, and several new technologies and providers are strengthening data integrity. Nesbitt believes we should be celebrating these developments and start using these solutions to their full potential.
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