The Science Based Targets initiative has released two new reports to guide companies in accelerating net-zero efforts beyond their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions through investment in conservation and carbon removal, engagement with stakeholders outside of the private sector, and more.
The new reports focus on beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM) strategies, or actions that companies may take to enable other economic and social actors to avoid, reduce, or remove emissions. BVCM represents one of the four Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) pillars, which also include near-term science-based targets, long-term science-based targets, and neutralization of residual emissions.
The first report, “Above and Beyond: An SBTi report on the design and implementation of BVCM,” explores the business case for companies looking to fund BVCM.
The report claims that such funding may help mitigate future risk and enhance long-term value to companies -- SBTi provides the example of a food and agriculture company identifying supply chain resiliency opportunities from supporting BVCM for landscape restoration indirectly linked to its supply chain. The report also includes guidelines for establishing a BVCM pledge, taking action to deliver on such pledges, and how to best report outcomes.
The second report focuses on incentivizing BVCM to allow for accelerated corporate implementation of the practice. This report, “Raising the Bar: An SBTi report on accelerating corporate adoption of BVCM,” focuses on the broader climate ecosystem, explaining how companies may engage with stakeholders such as civil society, academia, and policymakers.
It also incorporates SBTi research on the barriers and incentives to BVCM expected within the private sector.
SBTi explains that corporate value chain decarbonization has increasingly become a minimum expectation, and companies have the potential to play a critical role in meeting global climate targets. Corporate engagement with BVCM may help address the gap the world currently faces on its way to meeting decarbonization goals established for 2030.
Corporate efforts toward forest conservation, scaling up restoration projects, and investing in carbon removal technologies may all provide significant and necessary emissions reductions, according to SBTi. Corporate investment has been continually emphasized as a major tool for meeting decarbonization goals, but the world currently faces a major investment gap, especially in terms of funding climate projects for developing countries.
"SBTi’s BVCM Report is a call to action: companies must scale up climate finance,” said Lydia Sheldrake, director of policy and partnerships at the Voluntary Carbon Markets Targets Initiative. “SBTi highlights the importance of transparent BVCM claims. Companies can now make a VCMI 'Carbon Integrity' claim and get recognized for accelerating global net zero, by using high-quality carbon credits to go above and beyond science-aligned emissions cuts."