Setting Targets for New Funds without Portfolio Companies

FAQ
1

Hello, we are raising a new fund in the base metals space. We are at the marketing stage so do not have any capital commitments or investments. Can we sign up as a financial institution if we have not completed the fund raise and therefore have not deployed any capital (have no portfolio companies and, therefore, no scope 3 emissions)? If so, how can we set standards at this point?

Alternatively, would you recommend we register as a small business and once the fund is raised and capital deployed, we register as a financial institution?

2

Hi @Laurisfer,

Welcome to the community and thanks for your question. Apologies for the late reply.

You can commit to setting targets (https://sciencebasedtargets.org/set-a-target), but to then have the targets approved it would be more difficult, as you wouldn’t have any investments or lending in any of the asset classes in table 5.2 of the guidance (p 53).

However, as you have 2 years from commitment until you need to submit your targets to the SBTi for validation, you should also have time to get your fund off the ground, to be able to set target before the 2-year anniversary of your commitment.

I hope that helps.

3

Thanks Donald. I understand it is required to have a website or some other public presence in order to be accepted into the SBTi. Does that apply to Financial Institutions and SMEs or only Financial Institutions? Thank you

4

All general requirements that you find in the setting targets step-by-step guide also apply to financial institutions.