SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2.0: What Changes for Companies

Status checked on sciencebasedtargets.org on 11 October 2026: Version 2.0 is published and final. It is not a draft.

The Science Based Targets initiative published Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0 on 11 June 2026. It is a final standard, not a consultation draft. SBTi’s Technical Council approved it on 8 May 2026 and its Board of Trustees adopted it on 21 May 2026, after two public consultations, in March to June 2025 and November to December 2025, and a round of pilot testing with companies.

It is a large revision. SBTi’s Main Changes Document, June 2026, says 42% of the sections in V2.0 are entirely new and the rest modify or expand earlier approaches, and that a criterion-by-criterion mapping back to Version 1.3.1 is not feasible. Anyone who knows the old standard well should read the new one from the start.

The dates that matter

Date	What happens
11 June 2026	V2.0 published
1 October 2026	SBTi Services publishes its V2.0 validation resources
1 February 2027	Validation against V2.0 opens
31 January 2028	Last day to submit under Version 1.3.1 or the Corporate Near-Term Criteria V5.3
1 February 2028	V2.0 mandatory for all new target submissions

Source: SBTi, Guide for Companies in the Transition to Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0, June 2026, and sciencebasedtargets.org/net-zero, checked 11 October 2026.

Through 2026, Version 1.3.1 is the standard SBTi validates against. Existing near-term targets stay valid to the end of their timeframe.

SBTi’s June executive summary and FAQs say Version 1 stays open “until the end of 2027”. Its website and transition guide give 31 January 2028. Treat the later date as a closing date, not a target.

Which version to use

SBTi’s guidance turns on where a company is in its cycle.

• Setting targets for the first time in 2026: use Version 1.3.1 now. SBTi says so directly, and there is no reason to wait.
• An active commitment without targets: if the commitment falls due before 31 January 2027, use Version 1.3.1. If it falls due between 1 February 2027 and 31 January 2028, either version. After that, V2.0. A company that wants V2.0 but has a commitment due before February 2027 can ask SBTi Services for an extension.
• Validated 2030 targets: finish the current cycle under Version 1, and set the 2030 to 2035 cycle under V2.0 from 2028.
• New commitments: the option to commit separately to near-term or net-zero targets closes on 31 January 2027. After that there is a single statement of intent to set targets under V2.0.

Version 1.3.1 keeps flexibilities that V2.0 drops, notably combined scope 1 and 2 targets and its scope 3 boundary and assurance rules. SBTi is also making several V2.0 features available to Version 1.3.1 users, including the new target-setting methods and the best-efforts basis for targets.

What changes

Companies are sorted into two categories

V2.0 replaces the separate SME route with two categories. Category A is large companies in all countries and medium-sized companies in high-income countries. Category B is small companies in all countries and medium-sized companies in lower-income countries. The split is set by revenue and other criteria, including geography, emissions and headcount.

Several Category A requirements are optional for Category B: disclosure of the transition plan, assurance of base year data, and scope 3 targets. Check the thresholds in the standard before assuming which category applies.

Governance and a transition plan become requirements

The highest level of governance in the company must sign off its SBTi targets, with governance below it to oversee delivery. Every company must have a transition plan covering the key actions to deliver its targets, their dependencies, and a high-level path to net zero. Category A companies disclose it when their targets are validated, or up to 15 months later where needed. SBTi validates that the plan exists and contains the required elements.

A recent base year, with assurance

V2.0 replaces the historical base year with a target base year built on the most recent comprehensive data. A company can still talk about progress against an earlier year if SBTi validates the equivalence. Category A companies need at least limited assurance of base year data and target-setting metrics, and must identify and quantify their emissions-intensive activities, reporting those that account for 5% of scope 3.

Separate scope 1 and scope 2 targets

Combined scope 1 and 2 targets go.

• Scope 1 targets cover 100% of direct emissions. Companies choose an absolute reduction, an intensity reduction against a sector pathway such as steel, cement or chemicals, or a new asset transition option for long-lived capital stock that does not follow a linear path. A long-term target is required only with the intensity or asset transition options.
• Scope 2 targets cover 100% of purchased electricity, heat, steam and cooling. Companies set an emissions target or an alignment target, now framed around low-carbon electricity, which includes nuclear and generation fitted with carbon capture and storage, not just renewables. The intensity option is gone. Category A companies whose electricity demand grows by more than 20% a year must set an emissions target.

Two points matter on gas-heavy grids. Scope 2 emissions targets are based on the location-based inventory only, and purchased instruments such as power purchase agreements and certificates are handled through the implementation hierarchy and its integrity criteria. Contracts qualify for plants up to 15 years old and, with limited exceptions, within the same deliverability region as the consumption. Existing contracts are grandfathered for their duration. Companies with significant electricity use must also disclose the share matched with low-carbon electricity on an hourly basis.

Scope 3: significance rather than fixed percentages

Scope 3 near-term targets are required for Category A companies. Fixed coverage percentages give way to a significance test: every category that represents 5% of categories 1 to 14 must be covered. Justified exclusions are allowed in categories 3, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 14 where the company has little practical influence, and each must be reported.

Companies choose between an overarching emissions reduction target, an overarching supplier or customer alignment target, and category or activity-specific targets, including new volume, product use and end-of-life methods. A tightly constrained exception exists for category 11, use of sold products, where no downstream option applies. The scope 3 intensity methods based on a 7% annual reduction are removed, and long-term scope 3 targets are optional.

Near-term targets are the core, and net zero becomes optional

Near-term targets run for five years. Scope 1 and 2 targets are required for every company, scope 3 for Category A. An overarching net-zero target is optional, as are most long-term targets. V2.0 consolidates and replaces both the Corporate Near-Term Criteria and earlier versions of the Net-Zero Standard, and because every target is set on a five-year basis, the mandatory five-year review is retired in favour of continuous evaluation.

An implementation hierarchy for meeting targets

V2.0 sets out how targets may be met, in order of priority:

1. Direct action in the company’s own operations and value chain.
2. Action within shared systems, such as grids, supply sheds and logistics networks, which may be supported by market instruments including energy attribute and commodity certificates under mass balance or book-and-claim models.
3. Sector-level action, only where the first two are constrained.

All actions and instruments must meet integrity criteria, including additionality for projects. Claims follow the outcome: reductions in the company’s own inventory support a company-level claim, while activity-pool and sector-level actions support a system contribution claim.

Best efforts, reported every year

Targets are pursued on a best-efforts basis, with transparency over assumptions and dependencies. Companies report annually on progress, actions and barriers, and go through an end-of-cycle assessment, with third-party assurance for Category A. A company that misses a target but uses every lever available and reports transparently can stay in the framework, but higher emissions in the target year mean a steeper target for the next cycle. Minimum progress criteria will be set in SBTi’s forthcoming Assurance Manual.

Carbon credits: ongoing emissions responsibility

SBTi’s earlier recommendation on beyond value chain mitigation becomes ongoing emissions responsibility, a voluntary recognition programme. Companies can take responsibility for anywhere from 1% to 100% of their remaining emissions, through reductions or removals elsewhere or other climate contributions. It complements cutting the company’s own emissions; it does not replace it. SBTi intends to make ongoing emissions responsibility mandatory from 2035, with a removals requirement for Category A companies from that year, and V2.0 adds detailed rules on the durability of removals used to neutralise residual emissions.

Fossil fuel companies are still out

V2.0 writes the restriction on fossil fuel companies into the scope of the standard and links it to a dedicated fossil fuel policy. SBTi’s pause on commitments and validations from the fossil fuel sector continues, so the new standard does not open a route for oil and gas producers. See can oil and gas companies set SBTi targets?

What is still to come

V2.0 is final, but parts of the toolkit around it are not:

• Further target-setting methods, expected for use in Q4 2026 after consultation.
• Implementation guidance on market instruments for scope 1 and on projects in activity pools and at sector level, expected by the end of 2026.
• Sector approaches updated for V2.0, in draft by early 2027 and final before the end of 2027. Until then, existing sector standards apply. See which SBTi sector guidance applies.
• The SBTi Assurance Manual and Claims Policy, which will set out validation, end-of-cycle assessment and what companies may say about their targets.
• Accounting alignment with the GHG Protocol, whose standards are under revision. SBTi plans provisional guidance in the meantime.

What to do now

1. If you are setting first targets this year, use Version 1.3.1 now. Waiting for V2.0 gains nothing.
2. If you hold 2030 targets, plan the 2030 to 2035 cycle under V2.0. Submissions under it start in 2028, and the transition plan and assured base year take time to build.
3. Work out your category. It decides whether transition plan disclosure, base year assurance and scope 3 targets are mandatory for you.
4. Look at scope 2 on a location-based basis. If your plan relies on certificates or contracts, test them against the new integrity, age and deliverability rules.
5. Re-screen scope 3 against the 5% significance test and note any exclusion you would need to justify.
6. Get base year data ready for assurance. Limited assurance is a requirement for Category A, and it is easier to design in than to retrofit.

How ESGweise helps

We build the greenhouse gas inventory, including the Scope 3 categories that decide the timetable, prepare it for assurance, and take companies through target setting, transition planning and validation under whichever version of the standard fits their cycle. See our carbon, ESG strategy and sustainability reporting services.

To work out which version applies to you and what V2.0 would ask of your business, talk to us.

Related guides

• SBTi near-term and net-zero targets for corporates
• Which SBTi sector guidance applies to you?
• Can oil and gas companies set SBTi targets?
• SBTi FINZ: the July 2027 window is gone, both routes stay open
• Decoding Scope 3 emissions