What is (SBTI)?
After the Paris Climate Summit, countries agreed on climate change and decided that this problem could be overcome with the awareness raised by companies. Science-Based Targets guide how and when companies should reduce their emissions in order to prevent climate change. It also draws a road map for them to carry out their activities with a lower carbon footprint. By leading companies in science-based goal setting, SBTi enables them to benefit from the benefits of the transition to a net zero economy, increase their competitiveness and combat climate change more resiliently, and thus, companies participate in the global transformation.
The initiative helps businesses set and meet science-based goals by offering a variety of resources, workshops and guidance. By independently evaluating and approving goals, SBTi also supports businesses in removing obstacles to achieving their goals. The overall goal of the initiative is to ensure that science-based targets become standard business practices so that companies around the world take significant steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Scientific Based Target (SBT) setting process consists of 5 stages: application, target setting, verification, announcement and follow-up.
1
Application: Intention is stated. By creating a commitment letter, commitment
to reducing emissions is demonstrated.
Goal Setting: The goal is developed. An emission reduction target with a focus
on science is determined in accordance with the SBTi criteria.
3.
Verification: The target is presented to SBTi. Emission reduction
targets are evaluated and verified by SBTi.
Announcement: The target is announced. Communication is ensured by communicating emission reduction
targets to stakeholders.
5.
Follow-up: Progress is reported. Corporate emissions, which are disclosed transparently,
are regularly monitored.
The Scientific Based Goals Initiative provides a road map for corporate transformation, helping companies benefit from many advantages such as compliance with regulations, gaining competitive advantage, increasing brand reputation, and seizing innovation opportunities. Companies that implement their sustainability strategies rationally have the opportunity to easily adapt to renewed regulations by taking the necessary steps to prepare for the future in the light of current developments. In addition, strategies developed against climate-related risks are important to achieve corporate sustainability goals. Because companies develop all their activities with a focus on environmental performance, providing a competitive advantage. As a result of the great.
contribution to environmental awareness made by companies that produce without harming the nature thanks to increased environmental performance, consumers prefer companies that participate in the fight against the climate crisis. In order to be one of the preferred companies, it is possible to capture many improvement, development and innovation opportunities by reviewing all corporate processes in detail while reducing corporate emissions within the framework of net zero.
Although the science-based target approach to reducing emissions is a new practice, there are some studies that show that using this approach is beneficial in terms of commercial profitability. While businesses save costs, they increase energy efficiency and improve their profits. One of the most important issues here is that companies should think beyond short-term solutions because science-based goals include a long-term sustainability vision. The goal setting process will help increase the company's reputation among key stakeholders such as investors, customers, employees, non-governmental organizations. Not only that, businesses that take steps ahead of climate-related regulations in the future will be better equipped to influence politicians and respond to evolving legislation. It was stated by Zomer, McAllone and Pigasso that more than 1000 companies participated in SBTi as of October 2020, and it can be clearly stated that this value is increasing day by day. It is also stated that 40% of these companies have targets approved by SBTi to reach 1.5 °C.
Emission reduction methods are diverse and relate to business model innovation, supplier involvement, supply policy and choices, customer involvement, product and service design, operational policies and investment strategy. Among these levers, product and service design significantly impacts emissions across the entire value chain, both upstream and downstream. Therefore, the design process plays a crucial role in defining the range of greenhouse gas intensity reductions achieved by other mitigation measures. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced by making material flows more efficient, preserving the benefits and value of materials and products for as long as possible, and making most of the decisions that will create this impact during product design. A circular economy is one that is restorative by design and aims to keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times. Their actions regarding product design have been recognized as essential to tackling climate challenges across all sectors.
As a result, corporate climate action is critical in supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. The design of their products and services is among the strategies identified as critical for companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in line with science-based targets. Although this is theoretically accepted, there is still a lack of empirical evidence on how firms innovate their product and service strategies to deal with climate risks and which design levers support firms to achieve their greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals. Providing evidence of what design strategies are used and supporting companies to achieve defined emissions reduction targets contributes to literature and practice. Understanding what practices have been adopted by other manufacturing firms is relevant to designers and strategic decision makers in businesses planning to set carbon emissions reduction targets in the future. However, the focus is mostly on improving efficiency in the sourcing process and during product use, with less focus on the entire lifecycle. Although most of the strategies suggested in the circular strategies browser have been mentioned in the analyzed reports, none of them have been extensively implemented among manufacturing firms. Additionally, there are remaining opportunities to reduce emissions associated with the use of new resources by extending existing use cycles through the recirculation of products and parts, and manufacturing firms can still benefit from this strategy. Combining multiple strategies is another opportunity that has not been widely adopted, and companies can benefit from the greenhouse gas emission reductions provided by combining multiple strategies.
