The Science Based Targets initiative has released Version 2.0 of the Corporate Net-Zero Standard. Not an update, but a complete rewrite. If you look across all the changes, you see a single shift: from hit an ambitious target to show that you're delivering. An important step not mentioned often.<\/p>\n\n\n
Version 1.3 was about setting a target against a fixed historical base year. Version 2.0 moves the centre of gravity to implementation, with a mandatory transition plan, a hierarchy that prescribes how you decarbonise, annual reporting with assurance (for large companies), and an assessment at the end of each five-year cycle that forces you to cut more steeply if you fall behind. A snapshot becomes more of a continuous process.<\/p>\n\n\n
But the more interesting question is why this was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n
Scientifically, a sector pathway is the purest reduction approach: \"producing a tonne of steel may emit only so much CO\u2082 by 2040.\" For companies, that is a benchmark and a reduction path in one. The problem? Such a path only works for a (homogeneous) product or activity that has already been mapped out: think steel, cement, power, transport, FLAG. For the vast majority of the economy no such path exists, and it won't appear any time soon. Developing these approaches takes time, and the world doesn't fit neatly into sector boxes.<\/p>\n\n\n
That's why version 1.3 fell back on a single, universal approach for the whole economy. A practical choice, and a well-founded proxy in the absence of anything better. And that was precisely the snag for many companies. In many cases the criteria set out in Version 1.3 led to unrealistic reduction targets. A fixed annual reduction ignores, for instance, the replacement cycle of a factory or a fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n
A generic approach also proved difficult for those companies that had already shown considerable effort in cutting their emissions. The generic method doesn't look at what a company has already done; it looks only at the emissions in a chosen base year and the reduction target applied to them. Anyone who has already cut sharply in recent years therefore starts all over again, applying a full reduction percentage from their new, lower level, while a laggard gets off relatively lightly on the same line. Early action isn't rewarded; if anything, it's penalised. And so, for many companies, the bar simply became unattainable<\/p>\n\n\n
With that context, I see Version 2.0 not as a weakening, but as a recognition of -and a solution to- the impossibilities outlined above. The three new options for scope 1 (absolute, intensity, and an \"asset transition\" route for those who are capital-bound) are precisely a tiered approach to closing the gap. Use the sector pathway where it exists, fall back on the generic where you must, and offer bespoke solutions for the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n
And for the front-runners who have already reduced substantially, the solution lies in the base year itself. Version 2.0 no longer works from a percentage off a historical year, but draws a line from your current level to an absolute endpoint: the emissions level that fits your activities in a net-zero world. Those already close to that endpoint therefore get a flatter reduction path. No penalty for early action, but no licence to sit on your hands either. (Anyone paying attention saw the shift coming back in April, when the absolute-reduction method in Version 1.3 was already adjusted!)<\/p>\n\n\n
The flip side of this new approach, geared towards \"proven ambition\", is verifiability. You trade the easy verifiability of a single quantified number for qualitative realism. That's exactly why Version 2.0 places so much emphasis on transition plans, assurance and that end-of-cycle assessment. Let go of the uniform, quantifiable bar, and the scrutiny of delivery has to tighten, otherwise the integrity evaporates.<\/p>\n\n\n
Whether the trade-off succeeds remains to be seen. But one factor will certainly shape the outcome, and that is the development of SBTi-recognised sector pathways. The more pathways there are, the less companies need to fall back on the generic routes, and the closer we get to that ideal in which every company follows its own scientifically grounded route. Precisely something the SBTi has acknowledged and appears to have built into its new strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n
To me the intention seems clear: a workable standard that gets more companies moving in the right direction is worth more than one that scares them off<\/p>\n\n\n
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
De Science Based Targets initiative heeft Versie 2.0 van de Corporate Net-Zero Standard uitgebracht. Geen update, maar een complete herschrijving. En als je naar alle wijzigingen kijkt, zie je \u00e9\u00e9n beweging: van “behaal een ambitieus doel” naar “laat zien dat je levert”. Versie 1.3 draaide om het vaststellen van een target tegen een vast historisch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":636,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":602,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597\/revisions\/602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blu3point.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}