SBTi Launches Nine-Week Call for Evidence on Carbon Certificates in Climate Targets

The Science Based Targets initiative opened a nine-week Call for Evidence on the effectiveness of Environmental Attribute Certificates in corporate climate targets, running from 21 September to 24 November 2023. The initiative invited all stakeholders to submit objective scientific evidence to inform whether instruments such as carbon credits and energy attribute certificates can credibly drive decarbonisation.

The Call for Evidence is part of broader SBTi research into how companies achieve their targets and the parameters for robust reporting of target progress and achievement. The SBTi defined environmental attribute certificates for the purposes of the call as instruments used to quantify, verify and track environmental benefits associated with commodities, activities or projects. This included emission reduction credits and energy attribute certificates potentially eligible for use in Scope 1, 2 and 3 abatement. Instruments used for neutralisation targets or BVCM claims were explicitly excluded from scope.

Chief Technical Officer Alberto Carrillo Pineda stated the SBTi believes any use of these instruments must be grounded in objective evidence. The call was designed to gather, synthesise and analyse available scientific data rather than to pre-determine an outcome. The evidence collected was intended to inform the SBTi's standards development process, with any updates subject to full governance procedures including stakeholder consultation and Technical Council and Board approval. This rigorous approach has been cited as foundational to the initiative's credibility.

The Call for Evidence generated over 400 individual submissions, which the SBTi reported processing for a results report expected in mid-2024. The evidence fed directly into the Corporate Net-Zero Standard revision process and the April 2024 Board of Trustees statement expanding EAC use for Scope 3 abatement purposes under defined guardrails. A timeline for subsequent steps and all submitted evidence were made publicly available on the SBTi website. The process marked a key milestone in the ongoing debate over the role of carbon markets in corporate climate targets.

Key figure — Over 400 submissions received during the nine-week Call for Evidence period