The SBTi launches three draft financial sector resources for public consultation

15th Jun 2023

The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), the standard-setter and validation body for ambitious corporate climate action, has released three new draft resources for the financial sector for public consultation.

The open, transparent and multi-stakeholder public consultation will last 60 days between June 15 and August 14, 2023. Anyone interested in contributing their views is invited to complete the survey to provide their feedback on these draft resources, and to attend our webinar to find out more.

The draft resources are:

CONSULTATION DRAFT: SBTi Financial Institutions Net-Zero (FINZ) Standard Conceptual Framework and Initial Criteria for Financial Institutions

This consultation draft provides the conceptual framework and initial criteria to be incorporated into a FINZ Standard to enable financial institutions to establish credible near- and long-term net-zero targets across their portfolios and operations.

This is the first building block of the framework as the SBTi builds towards the development of a FINZ Standard.

This draft guidance updates the SBTi’s existing near-term framework to align financial institutions’ near-term emissions reduction targets with 1.5°C pathways. It marks an increase in ambition, as previous near-term guidance was aligned with well-below 2°C pathways. In addition, clarifications have been made to improve interpretation and application. A description of the changes is available in Appendix G of the guidance document. The second document linked covers the same criteria and recommendations in the full guidance document but as an excerpt to allow for a streamlined review process and ease of reference.

This is a consultation draft of the second version of this document.

CONSULTATION DRAFT: SBTi Fossil Fuel Finance Position Paper

To achieve climate stabilization, financial institutions must not support the expansion of new or existing fossil fuel production capacity. As such, the SBTi Fossil Fuel Finance Position Paper presents both near- and long-term criteria to address financial institutions’ activities with fossil fuel companies.

The SBTi is hosted a webinar on 6 July 2023 to talk through these drafts and the SBTi's work to develop new resources to enable financial institutions to align with climate science. This webinar offered an overview of the development process of the new and updated resources, address key questions and present next steps. A Q&A session took place at the end of the webinar.

To have your say on the future direction of these documents, complete our survey (see full PDF version) before August 14, 2023. To stay informed, sign up to our finance newsletter and follow the SBTi on LinkedIn and Twitter.

*Updated on August 7, 2023*

The SBTi has published deep-dive recordings for each of the draft resources available for public consultation:

You can also find recordings of both Q&A sessions to more thoroughly explain the draft resources for public consultation below: