Validation asks for the base-year number first. Everything else follows from that.
Runs on your public disclosures. Nothing from you.
You are the Head of ESG at a large-cap Indian corporate, or an Indian arm of a global one. Your biggest customer asked for a Scope 3 target. The commitment letter is easy. The number to back it is not.
SBTi is the Science Based Targets initiative, a global body that validates corporate emission-reduction targets against a 1.5°C pathway. The current standard is the Corporate Net-Zero Standard v1.2 (April 2024). A company commits, submits its base-year inventory, submits its target, and SBTi either validates it or rejects it. Around one in three submissions fails on data quality before it fails on ambition.
SBTi accepts near-term targets (5 to 10 years out), long-term targets (2050 or earlier), and net-zero targets that combine both. Every target uses a base year, an absolute or intensity metric, and a scope declaration (1, 2, 3).
The Scope 3 requirement is the one most Indian companies fail. If Scope 3 is more than 40% of total emissions (it usually is), the company must set a Scope 3 target covering at least two thirds of the category. Getting the two-thirds coverage right needs a Scope 3 screen every category, not a wave of the hand.
Once validated, the target is public on the SBTi dashboard with a status: Committed, Targets Set, or Removed. Removed is what happens to companies that miss the two-year deadline from commitment to validated target.
A customer questionnaire (Wipro, Infosys, HUL, Airbus, a European buyer) asks for a validated SBTi target. Without one, the RFP is at risk. Without the base-year number, the target is unbuildable. The two-year clock from commitment to validation is short if the number is not in hand.
Three failure modes we see on every SBTi scan.
The company uses ICAI-published averages for supplier emissions across all 15 Scope 3 categories. SBTi validation asks for the calculation method per category. The number gets kicked back.
The company picks a base year with unusually high emissions so the reduction target looks generous. SBTi requires the most recent full year of data. The submission is invalid.
The company sets a Scope 3 target on Category 1 only. SBTi requires two-thirds coverage across the material categories. The target is rejected.
Carbon-OS runs a screen across all 15 categories, sizes each one, and defines the "material" set that must be in the target. Two-thirds coverage becomes an evidence exercise, not a guess.
Every base-year figure carries its source (ERP, invoice, supplier data). Every method carries its citation. The base year survives the validation reviewer.
For heavy sectors (steel, cement, chemicals, transport, financial), Carbon-OS applies the SBTi Sector Guidance directly. Ambition is calibrated once, not iterated in three rounds.
Four steps a Carbon-OS engagement runs for SBTi, in order.
All 15 categories screened for materiality using the SBTi Scope 3 minimum boundary rules.
A full Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory for the base year, sourced line by line with evidence.
Absolute contraction, intensity, or SBTi Sector Guidance path, matched to the company shape.
SBTi Target Setting form filled and submitted. Validation feedback handled inside Carbon-OS.
Commitment letter filed with SBTi. Board scope confirmed. Two-year clock starts.
All 15 categories sized. Material categories identified. Two-thirds coverage designed in.
Scope 1, 2 and 3 built line by line for the base year. Evidence captured.
Target set against SBTi criteria, tested for Sector Guidance alignment.
SBTi Target Setting form submitted. Validation queue: 6 to 8 weeks average.
Target validated, published on the SBTi dashboard, status becomes Targets Set.
| Dimension | CDP | BRSR Core |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Voluntary annual investor-facing disclosure | Mandatory Indian regulatory disclosure |
| Scope | Climate, water, forests strategy and metrics | Nine attributes across environmental, social, governance |
| Targets required? | Yes, for a top score | Not mandated, but disclosure of targets required |
| Uses SBTi? | Cross-references SBTi validation in scoring | BRSR asks whether the company has an SBTi target |
Every item on this list is what an auditor asks for on SBTi work.
Case-study copy for SBTi arrives in a follow-up pass. It will slot in here.
Around six to eight weeks in the current queue, once the target is submitted. The two-year clock from commitment to validation includes the time you take to build the base-year number, which is the long pole.
No. SBTi requires two-thirds coverage across the categories that are material for your business. The rest can be excluded with a documented reason.
Yes, that is the SBTi threshold for a mandatory Scope 3 target. Most Indian corporates cross the threshold, so the exception is rare.
Near-term is a 5 to 10 year target, typically a 42% absolute reduction by 2030. Net-zero is by 2050 or earlier, requires deep decarbonisation of at least 90%, and neutralises the residual with permanent removal.
No. Banks and insurers use the SBTi Financial Sector Guidance, which sets targets on financed emissions using PCAF as the accounting method.
The public status changes from "Committed" to "Removed". The company appears in the SBTi Removals list. That list is public. Customers and investors read it.
No. Offsets do not count towards the reduction target. They can only be used for beyond-value-chain mitigation and for the final residual under the Net-Zero Standard.
No. SBTi validates emission-reduction targets, not credits. A separate integrity body (VCMI, ICVCM) governs the credits side.
Power, cement, iron and steel, aluminium, chemicals, oil and gas, transport (aviation, shipping, road), buildings, forest-land-agriculture (FLAG), and financial institutions. If you are in one of these, use the sector guide.
The Head of ESG builds it. The Chief Financial Officer signs the commitment letter and the target. The CEO endorses publicly. All three names go on the submission.