SBTi Launches Ambitious Strategy to Drive Adoption of 1.5°C-Aligned Climate Targets

The global Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has launched a new strategy to increase the ambition of climate targets set by corporations. Previously, SBTi called on companies to adopt targets aligning with emissions reductions that aimed to keep global warming “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. The new targets require a stricter ceiling of 1.5 degrees Celsius, in line with the Paris Agreement and mounting scientific evidence.

The SBTi’s target-setting framework now covers 20% of the global economy, driving corporate decarbonization efforts. Between 2015 and 2020, companies with validated targets managed to cut emissions by 25%, compared to a 3.4% increase in global energy and industrial emissions during the same period.

The shift to 1.5 degrees Celsius-aligned targets reflects the growing recognition that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is essential to avoid increasingly severe climate impacts.

Since 2019, over 600 companies worldwide have committed to making changes in line with the SBTi’s Business Ambition for 1.5°C campaign, representing $13 trillion in market capitalization.

The SBTi’s new strategy will focus on accelerating the adoption and implementation of 1.5 degrees Celsius-aligned targets, particularly among companies in high-emitting sectors and within Group of 20 (G20) countries. An independent technical decision-making body will help ensure the robustness of target-setting methods and standards.

SBTi’s goal is to engage every company in setting science-based 1.5 degrees Celsius-aligned emission reduction targets to help halve global emissions over the next eight years.