SBTi · Science Based Targets initiative · Target setting and validation
SBTi target validation consulting for climate targets your inventory can support and your business can deliver.
Set science-based emissions reduction targets that pass validation and that your operations and suppliers can actually meet. Sterling's expert and experienced consultants build the greenhouse gas inventory behind the targets, model the reduction pathways against the SBTi criteria, prepare the submission and stay with you through validation and the yearly progress reporting that follows, in 60+ countries. The SBTi validates targets, through SBTi Services, its distinct validation entity; it does not certify organisations. We ensure successful target validation for our clients.
- Fixed scope, one proposal: consulting, Effivity software, Sterling Academy access and internal auditor training, as applicable to your standard, in one proposal
- A team of expert and experienced climate target consultants, advising on management systems across sectors and countries since 2003
- The Sterling Promise: 100% on-time completion, 100% success, 8,100+ client engagements. Sterling builds the inventory, the pathway and the submission; the SBTi validates the target
8,100+ client engagements in 60+ countries.
SBTi client experience
What it is
What is the SBTi and what is target validation used for?
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) sets the standards, criteria and methods that companies and financial institutions use to define greenhouse gas reduction targets consistent with climate science. A company calculates its emissions across scope 1 (its own fuels and processes), scope 2 (the electricity, heat and steam it buys) and scope 3 (its value chain, upstream and downstream), applies the SBTi's methods to derive targets, and submits them to SBTi Services, the distinct entity that validates them against the criteria. Conforming targets are published on the SBTi's Target Dashboard, updated every Thursday, with the target wording, scopes, base year and target year.
The practical question for your business is whether the target can be delivered. A validated target is public, reported against every year and reviewed at least every five years, so a number chosen for an announcement, with no reduction plan behind it, stays visible long after the press release is forgotten. The work that matters happens before the submission: an inventory your finance team would sign, reduction levers with owners and budgets, and a target your leadership chose knowing what it will cost.
Current version. Targets submitted now are validated against the Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 1.3.1, whose criteria document is dated April 2026; the first Corporate Net-Zero Standard was launched in 2021. Version 2.0, a full revision developed through two public consultations and pilot testing, was released on 11 June 2026 with an effective date of 1 February 2027. SBTi Services expects to open V2.0 submissions in the first quarter of 2027; from then until 31 January 2028 companies may submit under either version, and from 1 February 2028 every new target submission must follow V2.0. Further V2.0 guidance is due in the fourth quarter of 2026, so the route is confirmed against the latest documents at submission. SBTi Version 2.0: what changes and which version to use
Who it is for
Who needs SBTi target validation?
SBTi Services validates targets for large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and financial institutions worldwide. There is no minimum size: smaller companies that meet the SBTi's eligibility criteria have a streamlined SME route. Organisations come to Sterling for SBTi support from four starting points:
- A customer has asked for validated targets. Buyers working on their own scope 3 emissions increasingly ask key suppliers for validated targets, often with a date attached.
- An investor, lender or parent company wants a credible commitment. A validated target is an independent check that the stated ambition meets published criteria, which a pledge in an annual report is not.
- You committed, and the clock is running. A company that publishes a commitment has 24 months to submit its targets for validation; after that, the Target Dashboard shows the commitment as removed until targets are validated.
- Your targets are due for review, or the business has changed. Validated targets are reviewed at least every five years and revalidated if they no longer meet the criteria in force; a merger, divestment or corrected method may mean recalculating the base year sooner.
The benefit is a target that customers and investors can check for themselves and a reduction plan the business owns. Validation confirms that the target met the criteria when it was submitted; delivery is judged year by year in your own public reporting.
Business benefits
How validated climate targets protect revenue and direct investment
A science-based target earns its cost when it keeps a customer, satisfies a lender or points capital at the emissions that matter. We start from the people asking for the target and from where your emissions actually sit, then build the plan around both.
- Customer requirements answeredA validated, published target satisfies supplier questionnaires and tender criteria that ask for targets checked against the SBTi criteria, not only a stated ambition.
- A reduction plan with numbers attachedScope 1, 2 and 3 pathways turned into year-by-year milestones with owners, budgets and the projects that deliver them.
- Capital directed at the largest sourcesEnergy, fleet, refrigerant, process and procurement decisions ranked by the tonnes they remove, so spending follows the inventory.
- A value chain you can influenceScope 3 hot spots identified by category and supplier, with engagement focused on the materials, services and transport that carry the emissions.
- One set of numbers for every disclosureThe same inventory and targets feeding CDP, EcoVadis, customer surveys and sustainability reporting, so the answers agree everywhere.
- Credibility that survives scrutinyTargets checked by a validator and reported on every year, which is far harder to challenge than a pledge written for an announcement.
Track the programme by what it changes: emissions against the trajectory each year, reduction projects delivered on budget, the share of scope 3 resting on supplier data. A published target is the starting line, not the result.
Criteria
What are the main SBTi requirements?
The SBTi has no clauses and no management system to certify; it sets criteria that the targets, and the inventory beneath them, must meet. The table maps the Corporate Net-Zero Standard V1.3.1 criteria, open for submissions now, in plain language, with the main Version 2.0 changes in the last row; your targets are checked against the full criteria before anything is submitted.
| Element | What the criteria ask of you | What it looks like in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory Boundary and base year | A scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory for the base year, with no more than 5 per cent of combined scope 1 and 2 emissions left out of the inventory or target boundary, and a base year no earlier than 2015 | The organisational boundary and consolidation approach written down, every scope 3 category screened, and each estimate or exclusion documented with its reason |
| Scope 1 and 2 Near-term ambition | Targets for direct and purchased-energy emissions consistent with the decarbonisation required to keep warming to 1.5°C | Absolute reduction targets backed by projects: efficiency, electrification, fuel switching, refrigerant control and renewable electricity |
| Scope 3 Near-term coverage | Where scope 3 is 40 per cent or more of total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, near-term targets that together cover at least 67 per cent of scope 3, at an ambition consistent with well-below 2°C | The categories that carry the emissions identified, supplier and product data gathered where it changes the answer, and targets shaped around them |
| Timeframe Near-term horizon | A target year at least five and at most ten years from the date the target is submitted for validation | A target year chosen alongside the capital plan, so reductions and investments fall in the same years |
| Long-term Net-zero target | Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions reduced to zero or a residual level by the net-zero year, no later than 2050, with long-term targets covering at least 90 per cent of scope 3 | A pathway beyond the near-term target, and an accurate estimate of the residual emissions it leaves |
| Residual emissions Neutralisation and action beyond the value chain | Carbon removed from the atmosphere and permanently stored to counterbalance unabated emissions at net zero; action or investment outside the value chain recommended alongside the reductions | A removals strategy for the residual only, kept out of the reduction arithmetic, and any climate finance described as what it is |
| Sector rules FLAG and fossil fuels | FLAG targets for land-intensive sectors and for companies whose forest, land and agriculture emissions are 20 per cent or more of the total, with a no-deforestation commitment; no validation for companies directly involved in fossil fuel exploration, extraction, mining or production | Land-use emissions and removals separated from energy and industry emissions, and eligibility confirmed before any modelling |
| Disclosure Reporting and review | Company-wide emissions and progress against published targets reported publicly every year; all active targets reviewed at least every five years | A yearly progress report in the sustainability report, on the website or in the CDP response, and the review date in the management calendar |
| Version 2.0 What changes from 2027 | Companies grouped as Category A (large companies, and medium-sized companies in high-income countries) or Category B (small companies, and medium-sized companies in lower-income countries); near-term scope 1 and 2 targets for all; scope 3 targets, a disclosed transition plan and third-party assurance of base-year data required for Category A and optional for Category B; an overarching net-zero target optional; annual reporting and an end-of-cycle assessment of progress | Your category established first, then the assurance provider engaged early enough for the base year to be assured before submission |
What does useful SBTi evidence look like?
A base-year inventory with its boundary, consolidation approach, activity data, emission factors and estimation methods recorded; a scope 3 screen showing why each category is in or out; the target calculations with the method used; the record of the leadership decision; and, for Category A companies under Version 2.0, third-party assurance of the base-year inventory at a minimum of limited assurance. Every calculation is built so a validator can trace each figure to its source, and the data stays in Effivity so each year's progress report draws on the records the targets were set on.
SBTi criteria explained, in plain languageThe validation route
How do you get SBTi targets validated?
There is no certification body, no audit visit and no certificate. Validators at SBTi Services assess the submitted targets against the criteria, and conforming targets are published on the Target Dashboard. Sterling prepares the inventory, the modelling and the submission with you; the targets remain yours and the decision remains with SBTi Services.
- 01Confirm the route, the version and the deadline.Standard corporate route, SME route or a financial-institution standard; V1.3.1 or V2.0 and, under V2.0, Category A or B; who is asking and by when; and whether a published commitment is already running against its 24 months.
- 02Gap analysis: review your inventory and data against the criteria.The gap analysis tests the boundary, the scope 3 screen, the base year and the quality of the data against what target setting needs, and agrees actions, owners and dates.
- 03Complete the base-year inventory.Scope 1 and 2 from metered and invoiced data, scope 3 by category from spend, activity and supplier data, and every exclusion justified within the thresholds.
- 04Model the targets and take the decision.Target options calculated with the SBTi's methods, the levers that would deliver each, and a decision paper for the leadership that owns the capital plan.
- 05Submit and see the validation through.The submission checked against the criteria before it goes, the validation fee paid to SBTi Services, and the validator's questions answered with you until the decision is made.
- 06Announce, report and review.The validated targets communicated within the SBTi's communications guidance, emissions and progress reported publicly every year, and the targets reviewed at least every five years.
Judge a provider by the route it describes, not the price it quotes. Nobody outside SBTi Services can promise validation, and no consultant, platform or certification body can certify a company to the SBTi. A target built on an incomplete scope 3 screen, or on a template still carrying another company's base year, returns from validation with questions and costs more time than it saved. How to choose a credible SBTi consultant · The certification buyer's checklist
Cost
How much does SBTi target validation cost?
The programme carries two separate charges, and a clear proposal keeps them apart: the validation fee SBTi Services charges for assessing the submission, and Sterling's fixed consulting fee for the inventory, modelling and submission work. Where Version 2.0 or a customer calls for base-year assurance, the assurance provider's fee is a third, also shown on its own line. Every component is visible in the proposal, and nothing is added later.
| Cost component | What affects it |
|---|---|
| Consulting and implementation | Inventory maturity, the number of entities and sites, how many scope 3 categories matter, the supplier data available, and how much of the work your team takes on (Design™ or Drive™) |
| SBTi validation fee | Charged by SBTi Services for the route and service used, at the rate it sets when you submit; paid by your company and never marked up by Sterling |
| Base-year assurance | Where required or wanted, a separate engagement with an accredited independent third party; required of Category A companies under Version 2.0 |
| Internal resources | Time from finance, energy, facilities, procurement and logistics owners to supply data, and from management to choose the targets and fund the reduction plan |
| Software and learning | Included in a Sterling engagement: Effivity for activity data, targets, reduction projects and progress, and Sterling Academy access for your people, with users, courses and access period confirmed in the proposal |
| Continued support | Annual inventory updates and progress reports under Sustain™, recalculation when the business changes, and the five-year target review |
What moves the price
- The number of legal entities, sites and countries inside the inventory boundary
- How many scope 3 categories are relevant, and how much supplier data exists
- Whether a base-year inventory exists, and whether it has been verified
- The route and the version: SME, standard corporate or financial institution; V1.3.1 or V2.0
- Sector rules such as FLAG, and the deadline set by a customer or a commitment
What a Sterling proposal always shows
- Deliverables, responsibilities, assumptions and exclusions, in writing
- The SBTi Services validation fee and any assurance fee identified separately, never marked up
- Effivity software, Academy access and training itemised at no additional cost
- Payments tied to delivered milestones: the inventory, the decision pack, the submission
- One all-inclusive proposal. No surprises, ever
Timeline
How long does SBTi target validation take?
From gap analysis to published targets usually takes four to nine months. The inventory sets the pace: a company with a complete, documented base year moves quickly to modelling and submission, a first scope 3 inventory built from spend and supplier data takes longer, and an eligible SME on the streamlined route sits at the short end. Validation by SBTi Services then adds its own time after submission.
| Phase | What determines the pace |
|---|---|
| Route and gap analysis | Access to energy, fuel, procurement and logistics records, and to any existing inventory or CDP response |
| Base-year inventory | The number of sites, the scope 3 categories in play, supplier responses and the time needed to close data gaps or document estimates |
| Target modelling and decision | The options modelled against the reduction plan, and the meeting cycle of the board or parent company that approves them |
| Submission and validation | The completeness of the submission, the validation queue at SBTi Services and the time taken to answer any validator questions |
If a customer's deadline or the end of a 24-month commitment is fixed, tell us at the start and we will say what is achievable. A target rushed in before the inventory is ready does not save time; it usually spends it answering the validator's questions.
Challenges
Common SBTi target-setting challenges
Most delayed or disappointing target programmes run into the same five problems. Each has a practical answer.
Scope 3 is estimated from spend and nobody trusts the number.
Spend-based factors are a reasonable way to screen, but the categories that carry the target deserve better data. We find where supplier-specific or activity data would change the answer, collect it there first and document the estimates everywhere else.
The base year no longer describes the business.
Acquisitions, divestments, outsourcing and corrected methods distort the comparison. A recalculation policy with a significance threshold is agreed before modelling, so the base year can be defended at submission and adjusted transparently later.
The target is agreed, but the plan to reach it is not.
A validated target without costed levers becomes a reporting problem in its second year. We model the reductions project by project, with owners, budgets and dates, before leadership approves the number.
The 24-month commitment deadline is close.
After 24 months without a submission the dashboard shows the commitment as removed. We plan backwards from that date, put the inventory on the critical path and agree early which data gaps can be estimated and documented rather than chased.
Nobody knows whether to wait for Version 2.0.
The choice depends on your deadline, your V2.0 category and whether base-year assurance is achievable in time. We set out both routes, with their dates, before your team commits effort to either.
Your engagement
What your SBTi engagement includes
Your agreed scope covers what a sound submission and a deliverable plan both need. Many providers run a calculation and hand over a number; a Sterling engagement carries the inventory, the targets, the submission and the reporting years after it, under one all-inclusive proposal.
Scope, gap analysis and implementation plan
Route, version, boundary and data gaps reviewed, with a plan, owners and dates agreed before work starts.
Base-year GHG inventory
Scope 1, 2 and 3 calculated and documented on Sterling's own templates, with a methodology note a validator or assurance provider can follow.
Effivity ISO & GRC software
Activity data, emission factors, targets, reduction projects and annual progress run in Effivity from day one, included with the engagement at no additional cost.
Training for everyone
Internal auditor training for the people who will audit your emissions data and reduction plan, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.
Target modelling and decision pack
Near-term and, where chosen, long-term and net-zero options, the reduction levers behind each, and a decision paper for your board.
Submission and validation support
The submission prepared and checked against the criteria, validator questions answered with you, and the announcement kept within the SBTi's communications guidance.
Validation decisions remain with SBTi Services, applying the SBTi's criteria.
How we deliver
How Sterling supports your SBTi target setting
Sterling OS™, our delivery operating system, runs every SBTi engagement in five phases, each with named deliverables, decision owners and evidence. Choose the level of support your team can absorb; the method, the software and the accountability do not change with it.
- 01Design™Guided target setting: your sustainability and finance team builds the inventory and models the targets with Sterling's templates, workshops and review.
- 02Drive™Fully managed: Sterling consultants build the inventory, run the modelling and prepare the submission with your data owners.
- 03Sustain™After validation: annual inventory updates, progress reports, recalculation when the business changes and the five-year review, with refreshers and new-hire training.
- 04Automate™Emissions data, targets, reduction projects and progress indicators in one Effivity workspace, each with an owner and a date.
- 05Revise™The move to Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0, and updates when methods, sector guidance or your business change.
In the first week we agree the engagement team, the standing working session, the deliverables and who decides what. Progress is reviewed against those commitments, so a data gap surfaces in month one, not in the validator's queries.
How Sterling OS™ worksOften combined with
Standards organisations pair with SBTi
- AA1000AA1000 implementation and requirements: apply the AccountAbility Principles and SES, then prepare for AA1000AS v3 assurance by a licensed provider.
- B Corp CertificationB Corp certification made clear: the new B Lab Standards, Foundation Requirements, seven Impact Topics, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
- CBAMCBAM compliance and requirements explained: authorised declarant status, the 50-tonne threshold, verified embedded emissions and how Sterling helps you prepare.
- CDPCDP disclosure consulting: a complete, evidenced response on climate, forests and water, prepared with your team.
- CSDDDCSDDD compliance and requirements after Omnibus I: scoping, risk-based due diligence, complaints, monitoring and the 2029 start, delivered in one all-inclusive proposal.
- CSRD / ESRSCSRD and ESRS Sustainability reporting consulting: double materiality, ESRS disclosures and data prepared for limited assurance of your statement.
Effivity · emissions and targets software, included in every engagement
How Effivity helps you fulfil, automate and simplify the requirements of the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard, V1.3.1 and V2.0.
Effivity is the ISO and GRC automation platform built by the Sterling group, in use in 50+ countries, and it comes with every Sterling SBTi engagement. Your consultant configures it around your inventory boundary: sites and sources, activity data by period, emission factors with their versions, scope 3 categories with their data owners, the targets and the reduction projects that deliver them. Submission figures and every later progress report then come from one controlled record, not a chain of spreadsheets. As a Sterling consulting client, your Effivity subscription is included with the engagement, at no additional cost.
Entities, sites and emission sources
The organisational boundary, the consolidation approach and a register of every site and source, so the 5 per cent limit on excluded scope 1 and 2 emissions is shown, not asserted.
Fuels, processes, fleet and refrigerants
Fuel and refrigerant records, process emissions and vehicle data captured by site and month from existing invoices and logs, each figure with its source attached.
Purchased electricity, heat and steam
Meter readings and utility bills with location-based and market-based factors, and renewable electricity contracts and certificates kept beside the consumption they cover.
Value-chain categories and supplier data
The category screen, spend and activity data, supplier-specific figures where they exist and the estimation method for each category, so coverage against the thresholds can be shown.
Near-term and long-term targets with their pathways
Each target with its base year, target year, scopes, method and yearly trajectory, compared with actual emissions as each period's data arrives.
The projects that deliver the tonnes
Efficiency, electrification, fuel-switching, renewable-supply and supplier-engagement projects with owners, budgets, dates and expected reductions, tracked like any other objective.
Annual progress, ready to publish
Emissions and progress against targets assembled each year for the sustainability report, the website and the CDP response, from the same records the targets were built on.
Recalculation and the five-year review
A recalculation policy with its significance threshold, the structural changes that trigger it, and the review date five years after publication, with actions assigned in advance.
What this means at validation
A validator works from the submission and asks where numbers came from: the invoices behind a scope 1 figure, the factor applied to a purchased-goods category, the reason a category was left out. In Effivity each of those is a record with its source, owner and date, so an answer is a lookup rather than an investigation. After validation, the annual progress report comes from the same workspace.
In your engagement
- Subscription included with the engagement, at no additional cost
- Configured by your Sterling consultant around your boundary and scopes
- Existing meter, invoice and supplier data imported, not retyped
- Admin and user training for your team
- Modules for EMS, QMS, OHSMS and more when your certified systems supply the data
SBTi client experience
Client letters on file, available on request.
Signed client letters for SBTi are available on request. The client feedback wall lists every letter by standard.
Programmes with SBTi in scope
How a climate target programme runs.
- 01How integrated programmes run
Manufacturer: ISO 14001, ISO 50001 and an ISO 14064-1 inventory as the foundation for SBTi targets
Science-based targets are commonly set on top of an integrated environmental and energy programme. In such a programme the environmental management system supplies the legal register, aspects and objectives; the energy management system supplies metered data and the projects behind most scope 1 and 2 reductions; the ISO 14064-1 inventory, verified where customers or Version 2.0 call for assurance, becomes the base year; and the validated targets are tracked as objectives in the same management review, so progress reports, surveillance audits and customer questionnaires draw on one set of data.
Sterling Academy · SBTi e-learning
Bring every employee into the climate targets, not only the sustainability team.
Sterling Academy provides e-learning for the whole workforce and for the people who own the data and the reduction projects: video lessons with practice checkpoints, a final exam and a numbered Certificate of Completion for each learner, verifiable online. Sterling consulting clients benefit from preferential course access and special pricing through their Sterling consultant, including complimentary awareness training for their people as part of the engagement.
- SBTi awareness for every employee: what the targets commit the company to, and what changes in each role
- Practitioner courses for the energy, facilities, procurement and logistics owners who supply the data
- Internal auditor training for the people who will audit the emissions data and the reduction plan, as applicable to your standard, as part of the engagement
- Learner progress by department, as evidence that the people behind the targets were trained
- New hires trained as they arrive, so the data owners of year three know what the owners of year one agreed
- A Sterling consultant on hand when a learner's question needs an expert
Keep exploring
Explore more about SBTi
Watch a video on how to set science-based targets with the SBTi here.
Watch a video on SBTi target criteria here.
Why Sterling
Want successful SBTi target validation? Come to Sterling.
Whether one company is setting its first targets or a group is aligning subsidiaries in several countries, Sterling builds one inventory method with clear local data ownership. We work through differences in energy markets, emission factors, supplier maturity and language, so the group target adds up from numbers each site recognises.
Management systems in 60+ countries since 2003
Environmental, energy, quality and safety systems implemented for manufacturers, logistics firms, food producers and service businesses, with one engagement team accountable wherever you operate.
All-inclusive proposal
Consulting, Effivity, training and Academy access in one proposal, with the SBTi Services validation fee and any assurance fee shown separately. No surprises, ever.
Targets your operations can deliver
Less paperwork and more reduction: targets modelled from projects your engineers, buyers and logistics team can carry out, and data collected where it already sits.
Expert and experienced consultants
Consultants who have advised on environmental and energy management systems across sectors and countries since 2003, and who build the inventory properly the first time, so validation confirms numbers that already hold up.
The Sterling Promise
What our SBTi target validation success guarantee means
We stay with you until your agreed SBTi outcome is achieved: the inventory complete, the targets modelled and approved, the submission made and the validator's questions answered until SBTi Services reaches its decision. Clear explanations, practical delivery, included software and employee learning turn the investment into a reduction plan the business owns rather than a line on a dashboard.
The engagement identifies the route, version, scope, outcome and responsibilities. Your organisation supplies accurate activity data, approves the targets and funds the reduction plan it chooses. Validation is decided by SBTi Services against the SBTi's criteria and is not promised; our commitment concerns the agreed preparation and submission support, not the future reductions, which depend on your own actions.
After validation
What happens after SBTi target validation?
Validated targets are published on the Target Dashboard, and the work moves from setting to delivering. The criteria require annual public reporting of the company-wide emissions inventory and of progress against published targets, and a review of all active targets at least every five years. The review is triggered five years after the most recent publication of validated targets, the company then has six months to complete it and submit evidence, and a target that no longer meets the criteria in force must be updated and revalidated. Under Version 2.0 each cycle closes with an end-of-cycle assessment of progress.
Under Sterling OS™ Sustain™ we update the inventory each year, report progress in the formats your customers and CDP ask for, recalculate when acquisitions or divestments change the base, and prepare the five-year review, so the target stays credible between submissions.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions about SBTi
Does the SBTi certify companies?
No. The SBTi develops the standards, criteria and methods; SBTi Services, its distinct validation entity, checks a company's targets against them, and targets that conform are validated and published on the Target Dashboard. What is validated is the target, not the organisation, its inventory or its management system, so "SBTi certified" is not an accurate description. Companies with validated targets may use SBTi branding, such as the logo, only as the SBTi's communications guidance allows, in content that clearly refers to the target.
What is the difference between near-term and long-term targets?
Under Version 1.3.1, near-term targets have a target year five to ten years after submission: scope 1 and 2 consistent with 1.5°C and, where scope 3 is 40 per cent or more of total emissions, scope 3 targets covering at least 67 per cent of it, consistent with well-below 2°C. Long-term targets bring scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions to zero or a residual level no later than 2050, cover at least 90 per cent of scope 3, and leave only residual emissions to be counterbalanced by permanent carbon removal. Version 2.0 asks for two or more near-term targets, requires scope 3 targets of Category A companies only and makes an overarching net-zero target optional.
Can a small or medium-sized company set science-based targets?
Yes. Companies that meet the SBTi's SME eligibility criteria, which include scope 1 and location-based scope 2 emissions below 10,000 tCO2e alongside thresholds on employees, turnover and total assets, can use the SME validation route. It offers predefined target options, including absolute scope 1 and 2 reduction targets to be achieved by 2030. Version 2.0 adds accommodations for small and medium-sized enterprises and for companies in lower-income countries. We confirm eligibility against the criteria in force before any work is priced.
What happens if we commit and do not submit in time?
A company with a published commitment has 24 months to submit its targets for validation. If it misses that deadline, the Target Dashboard shows the commitment as removed, and the status changes to validated targets once targets are successfully validated. Commitments are optional, so a company can also submit targets without committing first.
Should we set targets under Version 1.3.1 or wait for Version 2.0?
It depends on your deadline, your size and your data. V1.3.1 stays open until 31 January 2028; V2.0 submissions are expected to open in Q1 2027 and become mandatory from 1 February 2028. Under V2.0 a Category A company also needs scope 3 targets, a disclosed transition plan and assured base-year data, which takes planning. We model both routes against your timeline before you choose.
Does our emissions inventory need to be verified?
Under Version 2.0, Category A companies must obtain independent third-party assurance of the base-year inventory and associated metrics, at a minimum of limited assurance, from an accredited independent third party; for Category B it is optional. The SBTi has said it will develop criteria for recognising third-party frameworks, standards and programmes, so check the accepted routes at the time. Verification of an ISO 14064-1 inventory under ISO 14064-3 is a common form of greenhouse gas assurance; Sterling prepares the inventory for it and does not provide the assurance.
Can carbon credits count towards our targets?
Not in place of reductions. Under the Corporate Net-Zero Standard, carbon removal with permanent storage counterbalances only the residual emissions left at net zero, and action beyond the value chain is recommended in addition to reductions. Version 2.0 adds voluntary recognition for companies that take responsibility for their ongoing emissions, for example through removals or mitigation funding, which the SBTi describes as a complement to reducing the footprint, not a substitute.
Are there separate SBTi rules for our sector?
For some sectors, yes. Companies in food production, food and beverage processing, food and staples retailing and tobacco, and any company whose forest, land and agriculture (FLAG) emissions are 20 per cent or more of its total, set FLAG targets under the FLAG Guidance, now Version 1.2 (March 2026), which requires a no-deforestation commitment. Financial institutions use the Financial Institutions Net-Zero Standard (Version 1.0, July 2025) or the Financial Institutions Near-Term Criteria (Version 2.0, May 2024). Companies directly involved in the exploration, extraction, mining or production of oil, natural gas, coal or other fossil fuels are not eligible for validation under the current criteria. We confirm which rules apply before any modelling.
What do you need to prepare an SBTi proposal?
The entities and sites to be covered, approximate headcount and turnover, your sector, any existing inventory or CDP response, who is asking for targets and by when, and whether a commitment or targets are already published. That is enough for a scoped, all-inclusive proposal; no finished inventory is needed first.
Before the first call
Prepare a useful SBTi readiness brief
You do not need a finished inventory before the first discussion. Bring a short account of the business and of who is asking. Seven questions are enough:
- Who is asking for science-based targets: a customer, an investor, a lender, a parent company or your own board? What deadline or version have they set?
- Which legal entities, sites and countries should the targets cover, and what are the headcount and turnover of the group?
- Do you have a greenhouse gas inventory today? For which years and scopes, prepared by whom, and has it been verified?
- Which scope 3 categories are likely to matter most: purchased goods and services, transport, use of sold products, business travel?
- Has the company already published a commitment or targets, and if so, when?
- Does the business have land-based, agricultural or fossil fuel activities that could bring sector rules into play?
- Who owns the energy, procurement, logistics and finance data, and who can approve the targets and the budget to deliver them?
We use these answers to scope the work and price it realistically. They prepare a conversation; they are not a scored assessment or an estimate of your targets.
Don’t be fooled by certification scams
If it comes with a certificate, it is not SBTi target validation.
SBTi Services assesses targets against published criteria and the SBTi lists the result on its Target Dashboard; no one issues an SBTi certificate. The market still offers "SBTi certification" packages, targets lifted from a sector average with no inventory beneath them, and logos displayed before any target was validated. They cost less, until a customer looks the company up on the dashboard.
How to choose a credible SBTi consultant
- Check the Target Dashboard yourself. A validated target appears there with its wording, scopes, base year and target year; a consultant's certificate, badge or PDF is not the same thing.
- Walk away from "SBTi certification" offers. The SBTi validates targets, it does not certify organisations, and no certification body or consultant can do either on its behalf.
- Ask how the inventory will be built. A target is only as sound as its base year: scope 3 screened across every category, exclusions inside the thresholds and each estimate documented.
- Identify who carries each task, who answers the validator's questions, which fees are paid to SBTi Services or an assurance provider, and what support exists after publication.
- Ask what your people will learn and where the data will live. No training and no system means next year's progress report starts from nothing.
- Be cautious of logos used before validation. The SBTi's communications guidance reserves its logo and marks for companies with validated targets, in content that clearly refers to the target.
Keep exploring
More on SBTi and related standards
More in Environment, energy & climate
Talk to a consultant
Plan your SBTi target validation with confidence.
Tell us your goals, locations and target date. We’ll help you define the scope, timeline and next steps.
hello@sterling-grc.com+1 201 263 4443 (global headquarters) · your nearest office and its number are at the top of this page
What would you like to achieve?
Choose a starting point. The enquiry form takes about a minute.
Book my free discovery callContinue to the enquiry form to share your details. Please do not include passwords, sensitive personal information or confidential files. A Sterling consultant replies within one working day. Privacy notice