Sustainability reporting standards are fundamentally changing. In June 2026, the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard, used by over 10,000 corporates around the world to make their net-zero public commitments, released its second version.
Our take of the biggest change? It’s a mindset shift away from A La Carte.
Taking Scope 3 carbon emission as an example. Under the previous SBTi standard, a company needs to set carbon reduction targets for categories that jointly make up 67% of its Scope 3 emission. Under the 2.0 version, the company is required to set a target for any category that makes up more than 5%, i.e., deemed significant enough, of Scope 3 emission.
This change leaves little room for “cherry picking” categories that may be easy to reduce while avoiding the “elephant in the room” like those categories that matter but are hard or inconvenient to take actions.
With SBTi 2.0 it will be impossible for us to continue committing to the targets, should we withdraw our targets?
Absolutely not! Rather, you should take advantage of the SBTi standard changes.
Under SBTi 2.0, scope 1 and 2 is pretty straightforward. Most companies have already gotten the hang of it. The elephant in the room is Scope 3, which companies are still at early stages of mapping it out and drilling into it.
Getting into Scope 3 is actually a great way to truly merge “sustainability” work into the wider operations of the company because the 15 categories under Scope 3 cover every operational aspect from investments to delivery.
💡TIP
With 15 categories under Scope 3, it can feel a bit overwhelming not knowing where to get the data.
The good news is, each Co2e data point is actually linked to a data point that you can find between your financial and operational data.
By breaking down Scope 3 into categories, you can leverage the operational data behind Co2e targets to engage in discussions about:
- Shifting towards a data-driven, fact-based approach to prioritize specific topics that can help identify and address internal operational improvements
- Holistically managing resources, processes, and finances on topics important to the company
- Setting stronger internal KPIs related to improving operational efficiencies that can ultimately drive Co2e reduction in Scope 3 categories and recognize its outcomes in ESG metrics as well