SBTi target setting and validation support
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTI) – Are climate targets that hold up to science, to your customers, and to the law.
The Science Based Targets initiative is the closest thing there is to a global standard for credible climate targets. More than 10,000 companies now have validated targets, and for a growing number of them it was a customer who asked first.
We help you go from “we should probably do this” to a validated target and a plan your organisation actually follows.
What is the Science Based Targets initiative?
The SBTi helps companies set greenhouse gas reduction targets in line with climate science and the goals of the Paris Agreement. You calculate your emissions, set targets that match what science says is needed to limit warming to 1.5°C, and submit them to the SBTi for independent validation.
Approved targets show customers, investors and employees that your organisation is serious about climate action and has a credible transition plan behind it — not an ambition on a slide.
There are two kinds of target, and most companies set both:
Near-term targets cover the next five to ten years. This is where the real work sits, because it is the horizon your current management team is accountable for.
Net-zero targets commit you to reducing emissions by around 90% by 2050 at the latest, and neutralising only what genuinely cannot be eliminated.
Both cover scope 1 and 2 — your own operations and purchased energy — and scope 3, the emissions in your value chain. For most companies scope 3 is by far the largest share, and it is the part that requires working with suppliers rather than with your own facilities.
Download your SBTI checklist
Six questions to aks yourself before publishing your claim.
When is SBTi relevant for your organisation?
- You want to set credible climate targets aligned with the Paris Agreement
Customers, tenders or retailers are asking for science-based climate commitments - You want insight into your CO₂ footprint and where the real reduction opportunities are
- You want a clear roadmap towards net zero, rather than a number without a route to it
- You are making public climate claims and need them to stand up under the new EU rules
- You report under CSRD, or supply someone who does, and need targets that survive contact with an auditor
SBTi is not only for large corporates. There is a streamlined route for small and medium-sized enterprises, broadly, fewer than 250 employees, under €50 million turnover and under 10,000 tonnes CO₂e in scopes 1 and 2, with lighter documentation, a much lower fee, and no requirement to set a scope 3 target. If you are an SME, this is usually a smaller project than you fear.
Our approach to SBTI
For many organisations the SBTi process feels technical, because it needs emissions data, reduction pathways and a clear implementation plan before you can even submit.
With our help it becomes something more useful: a practical framework to reduce emissions, future-proof the business, and meet what customers are increasingly going to require. We help you define realistic targets, steer you through validation — and, most importantly, get your organisation into action.
1
Baseline
We start by understanding and measuring your current emissions, the data you already have, and your climate ambitions, so we can determine what a credible SBTi project looks like for you. This is also where we tell you honestly how big the job is.
2
Target Setting
Based on your footprint and business activities, we develop realistic science-based reduction targets that meet SBTi requirements — near-term, net-zero, or both — and get them agreed internally before they go anywhere near a submission.
3
Implementation
We support you in translating targets into practical actions, governance and reduction initiatives across your organisation and value chain. A validated target that nobody owns changes nothing.
4
Validation
We prepare and submit your targets and supporting evidence, manage the process through the SBTi portal, and handle the technical questions that come back during the review. Once your targets are approved, we help you communicate them properly — and keep reporting on progress, which is a condition of keeping them.
Why choose NEWKINDS for SBTI Support?
We’ve spent 15 years making sustainability tangible for 342 companies, offering services to measure, improve and show your sustainability, from strategy to certifications. Because we coach rather than take over, your team builds the knowledge to check claims independently.
SBTI
We are as interested in the action as in the target. Validation is a milestone, not the point. Our fourth step does not end when the certificate arrives.
We tell you the size of the job up front. The baseline exists so you can make an informed decision, including the decision to wait. We would rather lose a project than start one you cannot finish.
Scope 3 is a communication problem as much as a data problem. Most of your emissions sit with your suppliers, which means the work is asking hundreds of people for something they have never been asked for before. That is what we are good at.
We connect the target to the claim. Most consultancies stop at validation. We work in sustainability communication, so we also make sure what you say about your target is accurate, compelling and lawful under the new EU claims rules.
Proportionate, not maximal. If the SME route fits you, we will say so.
Frequently asked questions about SBTI
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Typically seven to fifteen months from starting to a validated target, depending on how good your emissions data is when you begin. The SBTi’s own review is a smaller part of that than people expect — it commits to 30 business days for near-term targets and 60 for net-zero. The long part is building a defensible footprint, especially scope 3.
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Two things: the SBTi’s validation fee, and the work to get there. The validation fee is set by the SBTi and depends on your size, with a substantially lower rate for SMEs. The bigger variable is your own data — a company with a clean, complete footprint has a much shorter project than one starting from scratch. We give you a realistic figure for both after the baseline.
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For most companies, yes. Scope 3 is usually the majority of the footprint, and if it is a significant share of your total emissions the SBTi requires you to address it. SMEs on the streamlined route measure and commit to reduce scope 3 rather than setting a formal target.
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Almost nobody does at the start. You begin with spend-based estimates and improve the data where it matters most — the categories that dominate your footprint. Waiting for perfect data is the most common reason companies never start.
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No. The Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 was published in June 2026, but validation under it opens in early 2027 and it only becomes mandatory for new submissions from February 2028. Companies setting targets now should use the current standard, and existing targets stay valid to the end of their timeframe. Waiting costs you a year of reductions and gets you nothing.
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The headline changes are a simpler approach to scope 3, a requirement to identify your most emissions-intensive activities, new expectations around taking responsibility for ongoing emissions, and — for the largest companies — third-party assurance of the base-year inventory and a published transition plan after validation. We build current projects so the step up to V2.0 is manageable rather than a restart.
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Not to meet the reduction target itself. The SBTi’s model is reduce first; credits and beyond-value-chain contributions sit alongside your reductions, not instead of them. This matters commercially too: under the new EU claims rules you cannot advertise a product as neutral on the basis of offsetting, whatever your climate programme looks like.
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No, but they fit together. CSRD is about what you disclose; SBTi is about what you commit to and whether the commitment is credible. If you report under CSRD, a validated target gives you something solid to report — and the emissions data you build for one serves the other.
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You disclose your targets and report progress annually. Targets also need reviewing and updating over time. This is where projects most often go quiet, so we build the reporting rhythm and the internal ownership as part of implementation rather than leaving it as an afterthought.
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Often more realistic than you think. The SME route has lighter requirements, a much lower fee, and no formal scope 3 target. If you are close to the thresholds we will tell you which route makes more sense before you commit to anything.