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Companies get green light to use offsets for supply chain emissions

A leading judge of business environment action strategies stated it will enable business to use carbon credits to offset their supply chain pollution despite concerns it might see emissions rise.

Late Tuesday, the non-profit Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi), viewed as the gold standard arbiter of business strategies, said it would permit the so-called Scope 3 emissions to be balanced out based on as yet undefined guardrails and thresholds.

SBTi had formerly not enabled offsets in case it dissuaded boards from really cutting emissions, but numerous have actually struggled to align their plans with the world's climate goal in the middle of weak government action, still nascent technical repairs and high costs.

By permitting companies to use offsets, it is hoped they will be able to secure market and financier support for more enthusiastic action, helping in reducing their cost of capital and driving more money into climate-friendly jobs.

Gradually, as the policy and technical hurdles dissipate, the hope is the offsets are not required, or can a minimum of be decreased.

Thinking about the scope and the complexity of this subject, the SBTi will seek advice from and strive to reach the necessary cooperation contracts with other pertinent efforts as well as a wider set of stakeholders on the revision of the scope 3 framework, including the responsible usage of ecological attribute certificates in target setting, a declaration from the SBTi board of trustees stated.

The choice is in line with a relocation by the Voluntary Carbon Markets Initiative to broaden the use of premium carbon credits, yet a source with direct knowledge of the matter said the decision could lead to no emissions reductions by 2035.

(source: Reuters)