← Back to Teaching Sustainability
Mike Smith
September 4, 2026
Welcome to Teaching Sustainability, the 20-week series from Aclymate created to help small and mid-sized business leaders understand what sustainability means, why it matters, and what to do next. Each week, we cover one practical topic, from carbon accounting and reporting to certifications and climate action, in clear, simple language designed to help you build a more resilient, credible, and competitive business.
Last chapter, we looked at certifications and recognition programs, and how third-party verification can make sustainability commitments more credible. But certification isn't the only way to demonstrate that you're serious about climate action.
The next step is setting a target.
A target turns an emissions inventory into a plan. Instead of simply knowing how much carbon your business produces today, you establish how much you intend to reduce, by when, and what actions will get you there.
That's where science-based targets and reduction goals come in.
A science-based target is an emissions reduction goal that is aligned with what climate science indicates is necessary to limit global warming.
The important distinction is that a science-based target isn't simply a number a company chooses because it sounds ambitious.
For example, saying "we'll reduce emissions by 30% by 2030" is a reduction goal. It becomes science-based when the target is developed using a methodology that considers the emissions reductions needed across the economy to align with a defined climate goal.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is the organization most closely associated with this approach. SBTi provides guidance and frameworks that companies can use to set targets consistent with climate science.
For businesses, this creates an important shift in thinking. The question isn't just "What reduction target can we achieve?" It's also "What level of reduction is consistent with the climate transition we need?"
An emissions inventory tells you what happened. A target establishes what needs to happen next.
Without a target, companies can spend years measuring emissions without making meaningful progress. With a target, emissions data becomes a management tool.
A credible target can help your business:
The target itself isn't the climate strategy. It is the destination. Your reduction plan is how you get there.
Not every target deserves to be called science-based, and not every climate commitment is equally useful.
A credible reduction goal should answer several basic questions.
What is the baseline?
You need to know what year or period you're measuring reductions against. Without a baseline, a claim such as "we reduced our emissions by 20%" doesn't tell anyone what the reduction is relative to.
What emissions are included?
Be clear about whether your target covers Scope 1, Scope 2, and relevant Scope 3 emissions. A company shouldn't create an impressive-sounding target by excluding major sources of emissions that are material to its business.
How much will emissions decrease?
"Reduce emissions significantly" isn't a measurable target. A credible goal specifies the intended reduction.
By when?
Targets need a timeframe. A 20% reduction by 2027 is fundamentally different from a 20% reduction by 2040.
What will you do to get there?
A target without a reduction strategy is just an aspiration. Companies should identify the operational changes, investments, and policies that will drive the reduction.
How will you measure progress?
The same emissions accounting process used to establish the baseline should continue so the company can consistently track performance.
One of the most important distinctions when setting climate goals is the difference between an absolute emissions target and an emissions intensity target.
An absolute target aims to reduce the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the business.
For example:
Reduce total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions 40% by 2030 from a 2025 baseline.
An intensity target measures emissions relative to another business metric, such as revenue, production volume, employees, or square footage.
For example:
Reduce emissions per $1 million of revenue by 40% by 2030.
Intensity metrics can be useful, particularly for growing businesses. A company could increase production while becoming more efficient per unit produced.
But there's an important distinction: becoming more efficient doesn't necessarily mean total emissions are falling.
If emissions per dollar of revenue decrease by 20% while revenue doubles, total emissions could still increase.
That's why businesses need to understand what their target actually measures before communicating progress publicly.
One of the most common mistakes businesses make is announcing a reduction goal before they have reliable emissions data.
It's tempting to start with a bold statement:
"We're going to become carbon neutral by 2030."
But if you haven't calculated your current footprint, you don't yet know what that commitment requires.
Measurement should come first.
Your emissions inventory establishes the baseline. The baseline helps identify your largest sources of emissions. Those sources inform your reduction strategy. And the reduction strategy helps determine what target is realistic and meaningful.
This doesn't mean you need perfect data before taking action.
Small and mid-sized businesses often have to begin with estimates, spend-based calculations, utility records, supplier information, and other available data. The important thing is to establish a consistent methodology and improve data quality over time.
A target should be grounded in what you actually know about your emissions, not what sounds good in a press release.
Net zero is one of the most widely used and widely misunderstood climate terms.
A company saying it intends to reach net zero is making a much bigger commitment than simply promising to purchase offsets.
A credible net-zero strategy generally requires deep reductions in the company's own emissions first. Any remaining emissions that cannot reasonably be eliminated are addressed through high-quality removals or other approaches consistent with the relevant net-zero framework.
That's why companies should be cautious about jumping directly from "we measured our emissions" to "we're net zero."
There is a significant difference between:
These concepts are related, but they are not interchangeable.
Understanding the difference protects your business from making claims that are broader than what your actual climate program supports.
Offsets can play a role in a broader climate strategy, but they shouldn't replace direct emissions reductions.
Imagine a company produces 1,000 metric tons of CO₂e annually. It could purchase credits equivalent to 1,000 tons and describe the emissions as compensated.
But that doesn't mean the company's operations have changed.
A stronger approach is to identify the biggest sources of emissions and reduce them directly. That might mean improving building efficiency, switching to renewable electricity, changing transportation practices, reducing business travel, working with suppliers, or redesigning purchasing decisions.
Offsets or carbon removal can then address emissions that remain after meaningful reduction efforts.
This distinction is increasingly important because customers and regulators are paying closer attention to environmental claims. Saying "we offset our emissions" is different from saying "we reduced our operational emissions by 40%."
Your communications should reflect that difference.
Once a company establishes a target, there is often pressure to announce it.
But before putting a target on your website, packaging, social media, or marketing materials, make sure you can support the claim.
A credible public target should have documentation behind it.
At minimum, you should be able to explain:
This is particularly important with terms such as "science-based," "net zero," "carbon neutral," and "zero emissions."
These terms can carry specific expectations and, depending on where and how they are used, regulatory or legal implications.
The safest approach is simple: make the claim no broader than the evidence behind it.
For small and mid-sized businesses, target setting doesn't need to start with a complicated climate strategy document.
Start with your inventory and work through a few practical steps.
1. Establish your baseline.
Choose a representative year and calculate your Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, along with relevant Scope 3 emissions where data and methodology allow.
2. Identify your biggest sources.
Look at where most of your emissions come from. Your largest sources should receive the most attention.
3. Identify realistic reduction opportunities.
Consider changes to electricity, buildings, transportation, business travel, purchasing, waste, suppliers, and other material sources.
4. Set a measurable target.
Specify the percentage reduction, baseline year, target year, and emissions covered.
5. Build a reduction roadmap.
Break the long-term target into shorter-term milestones. A 2030 target is much easier to manage when you know what needs to happen in 2027, 2028, and 2029.
6. Track progress annually.
Recalculate your emissions and compare actual performance against your target pathway.
7. Update your strategy when circumstances change.
Business growth, acquisitions, new facilities, changes in suppliers, and other major changes can affect your emissions profile. Your climate strategy should be able to evolve with the business.
Aclymate helps businesses turn emissions data into practical reduction plans. The platform organizes your emissions across relevant scopes and categories, helping you identify where reductions can have the greatest impact.
Aclymate One adds a Carbon Bookkeeper to help manage your emissions data, identify reduction opportunities, and keep your climate goals on track. This gives small and mid sized businesses ongoing carbon accounting support without needing a dedicated sustainability team.
A credible climate target is more than a percentage and a deadline.
It starts with a reliable emissions baseline, covers the right sources, defines a measurable reduction, and connects that goal to specific actions. Science-based targets take this one step further by aligning corporate reductions with the level of action climate science indicates is necessary.
Most importantly, don't let the pressure to make a public sustainability claim get ahead of the work.
Measure first. Understand your biggest sources. Set a meaningful target. Build a reduction plan. Track your progress. Then communicate what you've actually accomplished.
The strongest sustainability claims aren't the ones that sound the most ambitious. They're the ones a company can prove.
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