Establishing a base year

Criteria
1

Dear SBTi team,

Could you please provide us a with bit of guidance in establishing a baseline year for our targets?

For example, if we were consider 2019 for a base year, for both our operations and our portfolio and were to adopt a portfolio coverage approach for an SBTi, would the baseline be number of companies who had not committed to Net Zero/SBTi as at 31 December 2019? Grateful if you could advise.

2

Hi Mark. That is correct. A base year of 2019 would mean that you would assess the % of companies in the portfolio as of Dec 31 2019 who already had approved SBTs. The target then being to increase this % over time.

3

Hi Mark,

The % coverage of SBT companies is not defined by number of companies, as described below:

  • Target Formulation: Financial institutions shall provide information in the disclosed target
    language on what percentage of the corporate equity and debt portfolio is covered by the
    target, using a weighting approach in the SBTi Finance Tool consistently throughout the target period.

You may use a weighting option as described on page 152 of the guidance. You may also use the scope 1+2+3 emissions of the companies(or scope 1+2 emissions, if that information is not available) to define the coverage, which is most recommended by SBTi.

4

Hi there,

We report and verify our submissions according to ISO 14064 standard. However, our reporting is based on the financial year (01.04.2020-31.03.2021) rather than the calendar year (01.01.2020-31.12.2021).

For accuracy and consistency purposes, can we submit our emissions on this basis? We fall into the category of SME, and it would be only our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions in this case.

Thanks for all your help!

Giedre

5

Hi, yes you can set your baseline using a calendar or a financial year. If it is a financial year, this will be noted in the target language.

6

Hi Eoin,

That’s great!

Thank you!

Giedre