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PTWayCarbon Talks: SBTi goals in practice
Are companies prepared to meet the SBTi targets adopted? This is the motivating question of the 13th episode of WayCarbon Talks, which had the participation of Higor Turcheto (Mitigation Manager) and Vitor Magno (Mitigation Consultant), from WayCarbon’s consulting team. Lauro Marins (Head of Consulting and Digital Solutions) is the moderator of the videocast.
Identity crisis: is SBTi still reliable?
One of the most recognized ways by the market to establish decarbonization commitments, the Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) attests that corporate goals are based on the most current climate science and have the necessary ambition to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement.
In 2024, the institution faced a crisis after its board announced that it would start allowing the use of carbon credits to offset Scope 3 emissions. This decision was seen as a setback by experts and officials of the initiative, which led the council to reverse the decision. In this scenario, the experts opened the videocast by discussing the question: is the SBTi still reliable?
As a standard, looking at decarbonization and Net-Zero strategies, the SBTi remains the best methodological reference, as it is more complete, including sectoral guidelines and the calculation of the necessary emissions reduction, according to experts. “We cannot say that it is simple, it is something quite complex, but it is a reliable guide. I would say that the questions began when the market woke up to the complexity of meeting the goals, especially the companies that came out ahead in the approval”, explains Higor Turcheto.
After questions about the process, governance and the inclusion of offsets, the SBTi improved its evaluation from the point of view of method and approval. “Some alternatives have been launched, but the SBTi is the only standard that has managed to make this transcription into something more concrete and has intensified this objective with the launch of sectoral guides”, says Turcheto.
Vitor Magno adds that the main issue is that the scientific truth has not changed. “I believe that companies thought that the process could be made more flexible, but the challenge of reducing emissions will not disappear without major changes. The SBTi standard is very high, but this rigor was what brought reliability to the standard,” he says.
Key challenges
Once the issue of reliability was overcome, the conversation was directed to the challenge of submitting and having a goal approved. The consultants explained that the process follows rites and criteria that, at first, were not so clear, but were improved after the 2024 criticism. “Thus, I believe that the main challenge is to have clarity about the information in the organization’s inventory, especially the visibility of Scope 3 emissions, which are more difficult to make tangible,” says Turcheto. Magno completes by noting that this occurs due to the breadth of value chains and the difficulty of obtaining data from third parties.
Another point reinforced in the chat is that the short-term goals are close, since there are only a few years left until 2030. Especially in this context, being clear about the actions necessary to achieve the goals and a financial plan are essential points so that it is not necessary to retreat from commitments. “The organization will need to look at the processes and evaluate suppliers, so if there are no financial resources for the decarbonization plan, the goal alone will not get off the ground,” says Turcheto.
As an example, the consultants pointed out that, if a company aims, in five years, to reduce the consumption of a fuel, it needs to plan now. In addition to planning, it is necessary to frequently review and monitor actions and results, act in a transversal way, involve senior management, and define clear roles to succeed in this journey.
Watch the full episode on YouTube (audio in Portuguese, enable automatic subtitles).
