SBTi recently published a blog on how it sees the role of carbon credits in the upcoming Net-zero corporate standard. It is worth a read.
To summarise, the standard doesn’t propose the use of carbon credits as a substitute for decarbonising operations, supply chain activities, or products. It outlines three use cases where high-quality carbon credits may be used to supplement value chain decarbonisation efforts.
Use case 1 Use carbon credits from removal activities like carbon capture and storage to counterbalance for the impact of residual emissions (last 10% of the baseline)
Use case 2 Contribution to mitigate activities outside of a company’s value chain / GHG inventory to take additional responsibilities
Use case 3 Removal of carbon (like CCS) to take accountability for underperformance against targets. This doesn’t imply that the target is met / reached. Companies are still expected to reduce against its target within the given time frame.