SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2: From Pledge to Proof

In our interview series, we talk to sustainability experts about the shift behind the headlines. This time, Franz Schindler unpacks what the SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 really means for sustainability, procurement, and legal teams, and what to do before it becomes mandatory.

Franz Schindler is a Senior Customer Success Manager and sustainability expert at Sunhat. He gained several years of industry experience as a Corporate Sustainability Specialist at Krones and as a Sustainability and Compliance Consultant at Nextwork. In those roles he worked hands-on with ESG ratings such as EcoVadis and CDP and with CSRD reporting. He knows the day-to-day challenges our customers face, and he enables them to turn complex sustainability requirements into structured, verifiable proof.

Old News, but a Live Decision

The SBTi Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 arrived on 11th June 2026, and most sustainability teams read the headlines and moved on. That is the expensive mistake. The news window closed weeks ago, but the decision it forces stays wide open, and it runs until 2028.

Here is the shift the "42% of the standard is new" coverage missed. A science-based target used to be a public promise backed by a plan. Under V2, it becomes a claim you prove every year, defend at board level, and eventually put through assurance. The bar moves from ambition to evidence. Handled well, that is an opportunity. The companies that can prove their progress will move faster, win more trust, and spend less time firefighting each disclosure. That plays directly to the proof gap: the distance between doing the sustainability work and being able to prove it on demand.

"Most teams filed the V2 news under 'read later.' The mistake is treating it as another reporting update. It changes what a target is. We are no longer talking about marketing promises but rather controlling topics built on solid data foundations. You now have to prove it every year, and eventually defend it under assurance." - Franz Schindler

Set Your Targets Now, or Wait for V2?

Most teams can act now instead of waiting. As of July 2026, the timeline is set. V2 takes effect on 31st January 2027, and validation opens in Q1 2027. Companies can submit under either Version 1.3.1 or Version 2.0 until 31st January 2028, after which V2 is mandatory. SBTi's near-term steer is clear: teams setting or renewing in 2026 should use Version 1.3.1 now and move to V2 in their next cycle. A renewal policy for existing target-holders is expected in Q4 2026.

"If you are setting or renewing in 2026, file under V1.3.1 now and move to V2 next cycle. Waiting buys you nothing. And which version you pick first matters less than people think, because the hard part, the data and the governance, is the same either way. That work is never wasted." - Franz Schindler

The Real Shift: From Ambition to Evidence

V2 turns a target from a one-time announcement into a continuous obligation. It adds annual reporting, an end-of-cycle assessment of progress, and an assurance model for the largest companies. It also replaces the public net-zero commitment with an internal approval step, which SBTi says reduces the legal and reputational risk of pledging before the plan exists.

"Here is what I see. A team sets a target, then discovers the proof for it is scattered across ERPs, spreadsheets, shared drives, and a consultant's model. Pulling that together once for validation is painful. Doing it every year, under assurance, is a different sport. That gap is where net-zero quietly becomes a data problem." - Franz Schindler

This is exactly where a Collaborative Proof Platform turns a burden into an advantage. When emissions data, supporting documents, and their sources sit in one Proof library, annual reporting and assurance become a repeatable process without rebuilding the trail each cycle. You already do the work. Sunhat helps you prove it.

What V2 Means for Scope 3 and Supplier Data

The value-chain rules change most, and that lands hardest on procurement. V2 replaces the old fixed-percentage Scope 3 coverage with a 5% materiality threshold. It adds "net-zero aligned" supplier and customer targets, and splits Scope 1 and Scope 2 into separate targets with more options for each.

"The 5% materiality rule sounds like relief until you realize you have to measure well enough to know which categories even cross 5%. And 'net-zero aligned' suppliers means you track your suppliers' target status, not just their emissions. That is a data-collection and verification job, not a spreadsheet estimate." - Franz Schindler

Governance, Transition Plans, and the CSRD Overlap

V2 moves net-zero into the boardroom. It makes governance, board accountability, transition planning, and disclosure mandatory rather than good practice. For companies inside CSRD scope, that mandatory transition plan is exactly what revised ESRS E1 asks you to disclose. A lot of this is shared effort, not new effort.

"The smart move is to stop treating SBTi, CDP, and CSRD as three projects. It is one emissions dataset feeding three outputs. Build the proof base once and it serves all of them. Build it three times and you get three chances to contradict yourself in public." - Franz Schindler

What to Do in the Next 18 Months

The window until early 2028 is preparation time, not waiting time. These steps hold whichever version you file under. Start with three foundations that every V2 requirement rests on:

1. Fix the measurement. Get a Scope 3 inventory good enough to identify which categories cross the 5% materiality line, since that now sets your target boundary.
2. Map the evidence. Locate where the proof for each claim lives today, and consolidate it so annual reporting and assurance are repeatable.
3. Assign the governance. Name the board-level owner and connect the net-zero transition plan to any existing CSRD work.

"If you do one thing this year, get your data collection workflows and especially evidence in one place so annual reporting is not a fire drill. The teams that treat V2 as a data and governance project now will report with confidence in 2027. The ones who wait will scramble. The difference is not ambition. It is proof." - Franz Schindler

Start proving: teams keep their proof base audit-ready across SBTi, CDP, and CSRD with the Collaborative Proof Platform, so every future disclosure gets easier, not harder.