Can carbon credits count toward my SBTi target?
No. Under the current SBTi criteria, credits cannot be counted as reductions toward a near-term or long-term science-based target. Your progress is measured on your own Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory. Credits can be reported separately as beyond value chain mitigation, and permanent removals neutralise only residual emissions at net zero.
Where credits do fit in the SBTi model
- Near-term and long-term targets: met only by cutting your own emissions. Avoidance or removal credits do not reduce the inventory you report against.
- Beyond value chain mitigation: SBTi encourages companies to fund climate action outside their value chain, including through credits, and to report it separately, not netted off.
- Net zero: at the target year, after the required deep cuts (at least 90% for most sectors), the small residual must be neutralised with permanent carbon removals.
This is not the same as India's CCTS
Under India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme, an obligated plant can surrender carbon credit certificates to meet its emission intensity target. That is a legal compliance route, and it is valid for CCTS. It does not carry over to an SBTi target, so the same certificate cannot be used to show progress on a science-based target.
What could change
SBTi is revising its Corporate Net-Zero Standard. Drafts have discussed whether removals could play a role before the net-zero year and whether some instruments could be recognised for Scope 3. Until a revised standard is published and in force, plan on credits counting for nothing toward the target.
How to report credits honestly alongside a target
- Report gross emissions against the target, with no credits subtracted.
- Report credits retired in a separate line: type, standard, vintage and serial numbers.
- Describe them as a contribution, not as offsetting progress toward the target.
Worked example: a 42% near-term target
- Base year emissions (Scope 1 and 2): 10,000 t CO2e
- Target: 42% lower, so 10,000 x 0.58 = 5,800 t CO2e
- Retiring 4,200 credits leaves the reported inventory at 10,000 t: no progress
- Cutting 4,200 t through fuel switching and efficiency brings it to 5,800 t: target met
What Senseible does here
Senseible measures the gross Scope 1 and 2 emissions your target is tracked against, from your own invoices and bills. It does not net credits off that figure and does not validate SBTi targets.
Sources: SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard (v1.2), neutralisation and beyond value chain mitigation, SBTi Corporate Near-Term Criteria
Last reviewed 2026-10-15. SBTi's Net-Zero Standard version 2 and its consultation on credits for Scope 3 may change this; check the standard in force before relying on it.