Greenhouse Gas Accounting & Net Zero Targets
Bridging Standards, Accelerating Actions
The landscape of corporate climate action is undergoing a major transformation, driven by increasing stakeholder scrutiny and the urgent need for verifiable impact. Key frameworks such as the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol and the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) are introducing significant updates between 2025 and 2028, and for good cause. These revisions will demand greater rigour, transparency, and enhanced traceability across all emission scopes, fundamentally reshaping how companies account for their climate footprint. This will enable more granular verifiable, and impactful decarbonisation efforts across each organisation and the entire value chain.
Harmonisation of the GHG Protocol and SBTi
These more rigorous standards aim to combat greenwashing and build stakeholder trust among investors, consumers, and regulators. This ultimately helps drive actual measurable decarbonization across all aspects of our global value chain. The GHG Protocol and SBTi are actively harmonising their methodologies for GHG emission metrics and decarbonisation targets, while also integrating emerging mandatory climate disclosure regulations globally, such as CSRD and ISSB. Understanding these changes is crucial not only for compliance but also for maintaining competitive advantage, attracting capital, and effectively managing climate risks. These new, more prescriptive changes are specifically designed to drive practical and impactful decarbonisation efforts. The following tiles describe the key changes to scopes 1, 2, and 3.
Changes to residual emissions (removal strategies)
By the net-zero target year specified in the proposed SBTi V2.0, companies are required to neutralise their residual emissions as follows: 41% of these emissions must be removed and stored in long-lived reservoirs that can retain carbon for centuries to millennia. The remaining 59% must be removed and stored either in short-lived reservoirs, through additional removals in long-lived reservoirs, or a combination of both. This approach replaces optional offsets with mandatory, science-based removal targets. Furthermore, large and medium-sized companies are already expected to implement interim removal measures by 2035. These updates align with Swiss regulations that require removals to be implemented by 20504 , with the expectation that companies begin to develop a roadmap and steady increase of removal credits5.
Sources
1 GHG Protocol, Upcoming Scope 2 Public Consultation: Overview of Revisions.
2 GHG Protocol, GHG Protocol Corporate Suite of Standards and Guidance Update Process.
3 SBTi, SBTi launches draft Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 for consultation.
4 Swiss Federal Council, Ordinance on Climate Disclosures (Verordnung über die Berichterstattung über Klimabelange)
5 Swiss Federal Council, Climate Protection Ordinance (Klimaschutz-Verordnung, KIV)
