SBTi Monitoring Report 2023
The SBTi Monitoring Report 2023 highlights key trends in companies and financial institutions setting science-based targets, along with the SBTi’s major updates and publications during the year.
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Corporate growth
The growth in the number of large companies (excluding SMEs and FIs) globally with validated targets continued to increase. 2021 to 2022 saw an increase in the total number of companies (excluding FIs and SMEs) with validated targets of 37% from 865 to 1,187, while there was a 57% increase by the end of 2023, with 1,866 in total.
Greatest growth from SMEs
Of the 2,267 companies with targets validated in 2023, 1,425 were classed as small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This total was greater than the cumulative total of SMEs 2020 - 2022, the first year in which we introduced an SME route for target validation. 219 of the 1,425 SMEs which set targets in 2023 set net-zero targets.
Financial institution validations gather pace
40 financial institutions set science-based targets in 2023, compared to 38 in 2022. This brought the total number of financial institutions with science-based targets to 86, an 83% growth in the number of FIs with science-based targets.
The SBTi is working to encourage greater uptake of science-based targets by financial institutions because of the exponential potential they have to drive down GHG emissions across entire sectors and economies. Financial institutions awaiting updates to the Financial Institution Near-Term criteria and the Financial Institution Net-Zero Standard are permitted to retain their commitments on the SBTi website while they wait.
Steady growth of net-zero targets
2022 was the first full year in which companies could have their targets validated against the SBTi’s Corporate Net-Zero Standard, which was introduced in October 2021. However it was in 2023 that we saw the number of companies setting net-zero targets take off, with 449 organizations setting net-zero targets, compared to 130 in 2022 (245% growth). Of that 449, 230, or 51%, were companies and the remaining 49% were SMEs. Financial institutions are not currently able to set net-zero targets, although a Financial Institutions Net-Zero Standard is in development.
20% of companies setting targets in 2023 set net-zero targets, and by the end of the year 14% of all companies with validated targets set to date had net-zero targets.