SBTi released new guidance on the Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM), currently a recommendation – not a requirement – under their Net Zero Standard. Under SBTi’s definition and guidance, BVCM activities are not accounted for in a Scope 1-3 inventory and can include both carbon avoidance, reduction, and removal activities, including investments in and purchases of carbon credits.
SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard identifies four components: near-term reduction targets for a company’s Scopes 1-3 value chain, long-term reduction targets, the neutralization of residual emissions, and Beyond the Value Chain Mitigation, which refers to a range of activities outside of a company’s value chain that SBTi advises “should” be undertaken now. and increase even more thereafter to stay below the 1.5C threshold globally. Beyond enabling companies to meet their GHG reduction targets, climate finance also needs to support a range of complementary activities including preserving nature, restoring ecosystems, and scaling up different forms of carbon removals. Many companies have already gotten started, and SBTi’s BVCM is among the set of recent emerging guidelines to inform company decision making.
BVCM is not the only guidance advising companies on how to integrate carbon reductions outside of their boundaries into their climate strategies. Last year, the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI) published its Claims Code of Practice that allows companies to indicate that they are both credibly reducing emissions while purchasing high-quality carbon credits. (VCMI is also launching a Scope 3 “Flexibility Claim” that will allow companies to buy an amount of carbon credits equal to the gap between their current and future Scope 3 emissions reduction target). Oxford recently revised their Principles for Net Zero Aligned Carbon Offsetting, which outlines principles companies can follow when purchasing carbon credits as part of their net-zero strategy, only after prioritizing direct emissions reductions in a given year.
Does this replace direct, rapid emissions reductions? Absolutely not. But BVCM is crucial.
