SBTi Board of Trustees oversteps its authority to open the door to offsets

Reclaim Finance criticizes a statement released by the SBTi Board of Trustees on April 9, 2024, which suggested extending the use of environmental attribute certificates for Scope 3 emissions abatement. The organization asserts that this move contradicts existing SBTi policy, which limits carbon credits to long-term net-zero targets for residual emissions (up to 10%), and was made without consulting the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) or Scientific Advisory Group (SAG). Reclaim Finance warns that this decision threatens the scientific integrity of science-based targets and could facilitate greenwashing.

• On April 9, 2024, the SBTi Board of Trustees issued a statement proposing that environmental attribute certificates could serve as an additional tool for abating Scope 3 emissions, extending their use beyond existing limits.
• The Board's statement contradicts current SBTi policy, which restricts carbon credits to long-term "net zero" targets for residual emissions, capped at 10%, and excludes them from short and middle term targets to prioritize actual emissions reductions.
• The decision was made without consulting the SBTi Staff, the Technical Advisory Group (TAG), or the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG), which Reclaim Finance describes as a breach of governance processes and an abuse of authority by the Board.
• The proposed change may undermine the scientific integrity of the SBTi and contradicts the organization's published guidance on "Beyond Value Chain Mitigation" (BVCM), which allows for the use of carbon credits while keeping decarbonization targets intact.

APA

Schreiber, P. (2024). SBTi Board of Trustees oversteps its authority to open the door to offsets. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/04/12/sbti-board-of-trustees-oversteps-its-authority-to-open-the-door-to-offsets/

Chicago

Schreiber, Paul. SBTi Board of Trustees oversteps its authority to open the door to offsets. Reclaim Finance, 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/04/12/sbti-board-of-trustees-oversteps-its-authority-to-open-the-door-to-offsets/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Schreiber |first1=Paul |title=SBTi Board of Trustees oversteps its authority to open the door to offsets |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=12 April 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/04/12/sbti-board-of-trustees-oversteps-its-authority-to-open-the-door-to-offsets/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{schreiber2024sbti, author = {Schreiber, Paul}, title = {{SBTi Board of Trustees oversteps its authority to open the door to offsets}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/en/2024/04/12/sbti-board-of-trustees-oversteps-its-authority-to-open-the-door-to-offsets/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }