In an open letter published yesterday, Patch CEO Brennan Spellacy urges the influential Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) to finalize its guidance to companies about the usage of carbon credits for Scope 3 emissions by the end of 2024.
Patch is one of the leading climate action platforms working with over 500 companies on effectively utilizing carbon credits as part of their broader emissions strategies.
The letter follows the recent confrontation within and without the SBTi on whether carbon credits, which have been under intense media and public scrutiny, should be used to compensate for indirect company emissions from their value chain, refered to as Scope 3 emissions.
Several months ago the organization’s CEO and board of trustees announced a decision to start allowing businesses to offset their supply chain emissions via carbon credits – something that SBTi had previously rejected.
The ensuing protest of employees and some external stakeholders led to a clarification from the executive team in April, that SBTi is reviewing their use and in a research phase when it comes to using carbon credits for Scope 3.
In early July SBTi CEO Luiz Amaral stepped down, likely due to the strong internal opposition.
What’s inside the Patch open letter to SBTi?
The letter’s specific target of criticism is the Q4 2025 deadline the SBTi has set for coming up with a final revised corporate net-zero standard. According to the CEO of Patch this is far too long: “The planet cannot wait. We are deeply concerned about the negative climate impact of waiting another 18 months for decisive guidance on the use of high-integrity carbon credits for Scope 3 abatement.”
Highlighting the importance of the SBTi, the letter challenges the notion that a new round of research and exploration into the role of carbon credits is needed. It points out that a significant number of organizations have already created standards for governing the use of carbon credits. These include The Oxford Offsetting Principles, The ICVCM’s Core Carbon Principles, and the VCMI Claims Code of Practice.
The letter also points out that the G7 and the U.S. government have indicated they are in favor of further developing the voluntary carbon market and are looking towards a quick resolution to the bottleneck formed by the dispute around Scope 3.
In a comment published in Reuters Spellacy adds: “For me, coming from the startup world, which has always prided itself on fast growth, innovation and problem solving at speed, this has been a stark change of pace. And after several years of watching this play out from the inside, as CEO and co-founder of carbon credit platform Patch, I’m convinced that the approach of slow, measured perfection is no longer serving the climate community.”
