What if one of a year has a higher emission than the year before?

SBTi commitments and submissions
1

Hi,
If our company has achieved the emission reduction target every year, but the emission in one year is higher than the previous year. Will it still meet the SBTi standard?

Thank you!

2

Hi~

I saw the following discussion in the guide: The emissions intensity trajectory of a mortgage portfolio in the power sector “shall continuously decline” from the base year toward the target level, even if the emissions are below the pathway benchmark.

I want to confirm that even though our company achieved the intensity target every year, it is still not allowed that the intensity in one year is higher than the previous year, right? And what if this happens?

Thanks for your help.

Best,
Wei

3

Hi Wei,
Thanks for your question. It is still possible to achieve a target even if the emission in one year is higher than the emissions in the previous. Therefore we do not expect a linear reduction in emissions, but appreciate that targets may be achieved in a non-linear fashion.
We are currently developing a MRV protocol to provide further guidance on tracking progress over time. This will be released later this year and should help to address these issues.

1 Like
4

What happens if the FI has a near zero base year but finds itself having to lend to more emissions intensive electricity generation due to market conditions - a maintenance target would not be possible, and the intensity may end up higher in 2030 than today. Presumably SBTi would not validate a target higher than base year, even if the target is still lower than all pathways and convergence points?

5

No, a low emissions intensity maintenance target that has been proposed for electricity generation project finance in draft Version 2 of the Near-Term Financial Sector SBT Guidance under certain conditions would require a commitment to maintain the base year portfolio emissions intensity through 2030. Please see Section 5.4.1 and Appendix C for more details.

The proposed changes in draft Version 2 are up for public consultation so we welcome your feedback/questions on this document, and two other new documents, through the survey by Aug 14.