What is an SBTi V2 "volume alignment" target, and why would a buyer ask our product's carbon intensity?

A Scope 3 target, under SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0 C15.3 Group A, to raise the share of purchased commodities or transport that are lower carbon or net-zero aligned. To decide whether your steel, cement or freight qualifies, the buyer needs its emissions per tonne, not just your company total.

Where it can be used

• Category 1 and 2 purchases of commodities that have a sector pathway.
• Category 4 inbound and category 9 outbound transport.
• Category 6 business travel.
• Not for purchases with no commodity pathway, such as services (Table 3).

Volume alignment vs supplier alignment

• Supplier alignment judges you as a company: are you in transition or net-zero aligned?
• Volume alignment judges what you deliver: is this tonne of steel, or this freight lane, lower carbon?
• A supplier with a good company target can still sell a product that misses the benchmark, and the reverse.

The benchmark is not in the criteria

The criteria say what counts is the share meeting the benchmark for lower carbon or net-zero aligned, but the criteria document does not print the benchmark values. Ask your buyer which benchmark it applies and in what unit.

What to send

1. Emissions per tonne of the product you deliver, cradle-to-gate, for the year.
2. The method and boundary, and whether the figure is plant-specific or an average.
3. For freight: mode, fuel, tonne-kilometres and the figure on a well-to-wheel basis.
4. Tonnes delivered to this buyer, so it can count your share.

Example: a buyer's steel share

• Buyer purchases 10,000 t of steel a year
• 2,500 t meets its lower-carbon benchmark: 25%
• Target: 40% by the target year, so 4,000 t
• It needs 4,000 minus 2,500 = 1,500 t more qualifying steel; a supplier who can prove its per-tonne figure is in line for that business

Example company.

What Senseible does here

Senseible builds your plant's Scope 1 and 2 from bills and invoices, the core of a per-tonne figure, and keeps Scope 3 purchase and freight lines as supplier evidence. It does not set, validate or assure SBTi targets.

• SBTi V2 emissions-intensive activities
• SBTi Net-Zero Standard V2: supplier impact
• Green steel certificates in Scope 3
• Scope 3 supplier evidence

Sources: SBTi, Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0, Criteria (final, released June 2026, effective 1 February 2027): C15.3, Table 3, C37.5

Last reviewed 2026-11-01.