# Can carbon credits count toward my SBTi target?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/can-carbon-credits-count-toward-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

1. Report gross emissions against the target, with no credits subtracted.
2. Report credits retired in a separate line: type, standard, vintage and serial numbers.
3. 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.

- [India CCTS targets](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/india-carbon-credit-trading-scheme-targets)
- [SBTi SME route eligibility](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-sme-route-eligibility)
- [What 42% by 2030 means](https://senseible.earth/answers/what-does-42-percent-by-2030-mean)
- [Net zero vs carbon neutral](https://senseible.earth/answers/net-zero-vs-carbon-neutral)

Sources: [SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard (v1.2), neutralisation and beyond value chain mitigation](https://sciencebasedtargets.org), [SBTi Corporate Near-Term Criteria](https://sciencebasedtargets.org)

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.