Can I set a Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) target on market-based Scope 2 and track progress on location-based?

No. Criterion C8 says you disclose whether you use the location-based or market-based approach for the base year and for tracking, and a single, consistent approach must be used for setting and tracking progress. The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol still asks you to report both methods.

What C8 says

Companies shall disclose whether they use a location-based or market-based approach under the GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance to calculate base year emissions and to track performance against a science-based target. The GHG Protocol requires measuring and reporting Scope 2 with both approaches, but a single and consistent approach must be used for setting and tracking progress. The criteria's own example is location-based for both.

What that means in practice

• Pick the method before you submit and write it in your target documents.
• Do not set the target on a market-based base year and then compare a location-based figure with it, or the reverse.
• My reading: keep reporting both figures in your inventory, and only the one used for the target is tracked.

Renewable electricity targets are a separate route

Under C21, a renewable electricity target can replace a Scope 2 reduction target. The thresholds and what 2025 being past means for a new target are in the linked answer.

Where the factor changes under you

On the location-based method the grid factor falls as the grid gets cleaner, so part of a drop in tonnes is the factor and not your use. Keep the kilowatt hours next to the tonnes so you can say which is which.

Example: location-based set and tracked, financial year (FY) 2024-25 to FY 2025-26

• Base year: 560,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) x 0.710 = 397,600 kilograms (kg) = 397.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2).
• Next year: 520,000 kWh x 0.675 = 351,000 kg = 351.0 tonnes.
• Change: 397.6 less 351.0 = 46.6 tonnes, or 46.6 / 397.6 = 11.7 percent.
• Use alone fell 40,000 / 560,000 = 7.1 percent. The rest of the drop comes from the lower grid factor.

kWh figures are example numbers. 0.710 and 0.675 are the Central Electricity Authority grid factors for FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads fuel invoices and electricity bills into monthly records, so the litres, kilowatt hours and months are in one place to copy from. It reports Scope 2 on the location basis at the grid factor for the bill's year. It does not choose your SBTi method or submit a target.

• SBTi renewable electricity target: 80 to 100 percent
• Indian renewable energy certificates for an SBTi target
• Scope 2 method for the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report
• Market-based Scope 2 is not a net figure
• Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) carbon number

Sources: SBTi Corporate Near-Term Criteria, Version 5.3.1, April 2026

Last reviewed 2026-11-05. SBTi updates its criteria from time to time. Check the version your target will be assessed under before you rely on this answer. Version 2 of the SBTi Net-Zero Standard has its own Scope 2 rules.