Market participants can expect the initiative’s proposals to offer guidance on setting targets for emissions reduction and decarbonisation.
By Paul A. Davies, Michael D. Green, and James Bee
On 12 January 2021, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) published its “SBTi Climate Action in 2022” proposals (the 2022 Proposals), highlighting the areas that the organisation is seeking to work on and develop throughout 2022. The SBTi is a partnership between the CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and the World Wide Fund for Nature, which seeks to mobilise the private sector to reduce its carbon footprint by defining, promoting, and verifying best practices in corporate emissions reduction strategies in line with the goal of the Paris Agreement to limit global temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial times.
The SBTi continued to grow rapidly throughout 2021, with more and more companies setting SBTi-aligned or verified targets and stakeholders increasingly expecting corporate climate commitments and targets to be aligned with SBTi. As a result, the 2022 Proposals, by identifying the key areas which SBTi is seeking to develop this year, may considerably impact a large number of companies looking to set climate targets.
Despite the ongoing effects of the pandemic, the Spanish government has established a route toward decarbonizing and digitalizing the economy and toward promoting circular-economy initiatives.
On 24 July 2020, the UK Treasury Committee (the Committee) relaunched its inquiry into decarbonisation of the UK economy and green finance.
On 14 July 2020, the UK government published the draft Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme Order 2020 (the Order), establishing a framework for the potential UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS). Subsequently, on 21 July 2020, the government published a consultation on the operation of a potential new carbon emissions tax.
On World Environment Day, June 5, 2019, the UK Treasury Committee (the Committee) launched an inquiry into the decarbonization of the UK economy and green finance. The inquiry will scrutinize the role of HM Treasury (HMT), regulators, and financial services firms in supporting the UK government’s climate change commitments, and examine the potential for decarbonizing the UK economy.