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

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-v2-volume-alignment-low-carbon-purchases

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](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-v2-emissions-intensive-activities-suppliers)
- [SBTi Net-Zero Standard V2: supplier impact](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-net-zero-standard-v2-suppliers)
- [Green steel certificates in Scope 3](https://senseible.earth/answers/green-steel-certificate-scope-3)
- [Scope 3 supplier evidence](https://senseible.earth/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](https://files.sciencebasedtargets.org/production/files/Corporate-Net-Zero-Standard-V2-Criteria.pdf)

Last reviewed 2026-11-01.