Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is an organization that encourages businesses to set emissions reduction targets that align with the latest scientific findings related to climate change. As per the latest climate science, there is an urgent need to limit the rise in global temperatures to prevent the disastrous consequences of climate change.

Science-based targets provide companies and financial institutions with clear direction on how much and how quickly they need to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to avoid the worst effects of climate change. The SBTi not only defines and promotes best practices for emissions reductions and net-zero targets but also offers expert guidance and technical resources to companies that set science-based targets.

Furthermore, the organization assembles a team of experts to provide independent assessments and validation of targets. The SBTi is the lead partner of the Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, which is a global coalition of UN agencies, business, and industry leaders, mobilizing companies to set net-zero science-based targets consistent with a 1.5°C future. The SBTi has enabled over 2,000 organizations worldwide to set science-based emissions reduction targets grounded in climate science, as they lead the transition to a net-zero economy. The challenge is to limit global warming to 1.5°C and prevent the worst effects of climate change by reducing GHG emissions. Science-based targets are essential in driving businesses towards the resilient, zero-emissions economy we urgently need.

The SBTi mobilizes the private sector to take urgent climate action, empowering them to decarbonize and boost their competitiveness in the transition to a net-zero economy. The SBTi provides clarity and guidance on the journey towards science-based target setting, which is critical in achieving a net-zero world by no later than 2050. Science-based target setting must become the new normal to create a thriving economy in harmony with the natural world that sustains us all.

The SBTi has doubled the number of new companies setting and committing to set targets and tripled the rate at which new targets were validated. At the end of 2022, more than 4,000 companies covering over a third of the global economy’s market capitalization were setting targets or committing to do so via the SBTi. The launch of the SBTi Net-Zero Standard provides the world’s first framework for corporate net-zero target setting, which requires companies to make rapid and deep emission cuts, through both near- and long-term science-based targets, anchored in climate science and 1.5°C pathways.