SBTi Net-Zero Standard 2.0: What Companies Need to Know About Scope 3 Emissions
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) has released its Corporate Net-Zero Standard Version 2.0, marking one of the most significant updates to corporate climate target-setting in recent years.
While previous conversations around net-zero often focused on setting ambitious goals, the latest standard places greater emphasis on implementation, accountability, and measurable progress. For many organizations, that shift brings renewed attention to Scope 3 emissions: indirect emissions generated throughout a company’s value chain that often represent the largest share of its overall carbon footprint.
For transportation-intensive businesses, this is particularly important. Freight movement, carrier networks, supplier relationships, and logistics operations frequently make up a substantial portion of Scope 3 emissions. As a result, transportation data is becoming increasingly important not only for sustainability reporting, but also for risk management, procurement decisions, and long-term business planning.
The updated standard reflects a broader trend that Greenabl highlighted earlier this year: sustainability expectations are increasingly centered on data quality, transparency, and defensible methodologies rather than aspirational commitments alone. As companies prepare for evolving disclosure requirements and stakeholder expectations, understanding the implications of SBTi Version 2.0 may help organizations build more credible and actionable decarbonization strategies.
From Target Setting to Implementation
SBTi describes Version 2.0 as an evolution of its corporate climate framework, designed to help companies embed science-based targets into operations, value chains, and capital allocation. The organization states that the new standard moves beyond a “one-size-fits-all approach” and introduces target-setting options that reflect different business contexts while maintaining scientific rigor.
This matters because many companies have already made public climate commitments. The harder part is proving progress.
SBTi CEO David Kennedy said the updated standard is designed to help companies manage transition risk and strengthen resilience, adding that businesses need a framework that connects climate science with practical actions they can take across different operating environments.
For transportation and logistics teams, that means emissions reduction can no longer sit only within sustainability reporting. It needs to be connected to procurement, carrier selection, routing decisions, fuel strategy, supplier engagement, and ongoing performance measurement.
Why Scope 3 Emissions Are in Focus
Scope 3 emissions often represent the largest share of a company’s carbon footprint, particularly for organizations with complex supply chains. Teams are increasingly central to climate targets because logistics data is now informing ESG reporting, financial risk assessments, and board-level conversations.
The latest SBTi update strengthens that point. Version 2.0 includes additional target-setting options across Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, along with mandatory governance, board accountability, transition planning, disclosure, and continued assurance.
In practical terms, companies will need more than annual estimates. They will need credible, traceable emissions data that can support both reporting and operational decisions.
Companies Need to Focus On Data Quality and Planning
The first priority is data quality.
Regulators, investors, and customers are asking fewer questions about whether emissions are being measured and more questions about how those numbers are calculated, verified, and maintained over time.
For Scope 3 transportation emissions, companies should be asking:
- Are emissions estimates activity-based?
- Can data be traced back to shipments, lanes, modes, and carriers?
- Are methodologies consistent across reporting periods?
- Can the data support audits, customer requests, and internal decision-making?
- Is the emissions performance being reviewed alongside cost, service, and capacity?
The second priority is implementation planning. SBTi’s new standard places stronger emphasis on reporting progress, continuous improvement, and using all available levers to work toward targets.
That means companies should be able to show not only what their targets are, but how they plan to achieve them.
Transportation Teams Are Now Strategic Partners
One of the most important shifts in the new standard is the connection between climate targets and core business processes.
ESG Dive notes that the updated standard introduces an implementation hierarchy, requiring companies to prioritize activity-level emissions reductions before pursuing more indirect actions.
For transportation, that puts real operational choices under the spotlight. Companies may need to evaluate where emissions can be reduced through network design, modal shifts, equipment selection, carrier collaboration, alternative fuels, routing optimization, and better utilization.
This does not mean every company needs to solve Scope 3 immediately. But it does mean transportation emissions data must become more reliable, more actionable, and more connected to decision-making.
What This Means for 2026 into 2027
Version 2.0 of the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard will be available for companies to use for target-setting beginning in 2027. Companies with commitments or renewals due in 2026 or 2027 are recommended to continue using Version 1.3 and move to Version 2.0 in their next target cycle.
Even with that timeline, companies should not wait to prepare.
The direction is clear: climate targets are becoming more closely tied to governance, assurance, transition planning, and measurable progress. For Scope 3 transportation emissions, that means companies need stronger visibility into the emissions impact of their logistics networks now.
Credibility Depends on Data
The latest SBTi standard reinforces what Greenabl has already been seeing across transportation and logistics: credibility depends on data.
Companies that can measure transportation emissions consistently, trace results back to operational activity, and use that information to guide decisions will be better positioned as climate standards evolve.
Greenabl helps shippers and carriers move from uncertainty to action through credible transportation emissions data, GLEC-aligned methodology, real-time analytics, and collaborative decarbonization tools.
As Scope 3 expectations continue to mature, the priority is not perfection. The priority is building a transportation emissions strategy that is measurable, defensible, and ready for what comes next.
