SBTi just dropped the rulebook that'll reshape corporate climate action for the next decade. Their Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 doesn't just recommend durable carbon removals—it creates an explicit, scalable pathway for them. Here's what changed, and why it matters if you're planning net-zero strategy or building CDR infrastructure today.

Who Should Pay Attention

• Corporate climate teams facing 2030 targets with Scope 3 headaches
• CFOs and risk officers pricing carbon exposure into long-term planning
• CDR project developers needing demand certainty to secure financing
• Investors and PE firms evaluating climate infrastructure opportunities

If you're in any of these groups, CNZS V2 may have just changed your playbook.

A formal lane for “Ongoing Emissions Responsibility”

SBTi introduces an Ongoing Emissions Responsibility framework with two public labels:

Recognized starts at taking responsibility for ≥1% of ongoing Scopes 1–3 emissions. Accessible, voluntary, builds credibility.

Leadership requires applying a carbon price to 100% of ongoing emissions and delivering ex-post mitigation outcomes equivalent to 40% of those emissions—under independent verification with strict no-double-counting and no-netting rules.

From 2035, a mandatory minimum kicks in for Category A companies, delivered through quantified outcomes that include a defined share from long-lived removals.

In practice, this creates a structured lane for high-integrity Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM)—companies can go beyond their value-chain abatement pathways and finance verified mitigation outcomes, including durable removals, while earning recognition for doing so.

The framework operates in parallel tracks: voluntary recognition from 2026, mandatory requirements from 2035. Companies that build their systems early won't be scrambling later.

Net-zero neutralization specifies durability

At the net-zero target year and thereafter, companies must neutralize all residual emissions with removals. The draft adds an explicit split: 41% must come from long-lived storage (centuries to millennia), with the remainder from short- or long-lived.

It also clarifies roles: Scope 1 emissions are directly neutralized by the company. Scope 3 emissions require the company to ensure neutralization, with safeguards against double claims and guidance for Article 6 considerations.

This isn’t aspirational language. It’s a compliance floor.

The Durable CDR Ramp-Up: 2035-2050

For planning, SBTi provides illustrative shares of long-lived removals in the post-2035 responsibility pathway:

• 2035: 17%
• 2040: 26%
• 2045: 32%
• 2050: 41%

Translation: The market for biochar, mineralization, and DACCS needs to scale roughly 10x between now and 2035 just to meet baseline demand. That doesn't happen without sustained, predictable investment—which this framework leans heavily into.

Orejen Carbon believes that this is a clear cue to scale durable CDR progressively, with milestones that send strong demand signals to project developers and investors.

Scope 3 Goes From Impossible to Actionable

The draft tackles what's been SBTi's thorniest problem: Scope 3 responsibility. Now, companies can co-claim or co-finance with value-chain partners—with credible evidence and no double-counting. More importantly, they must ensure Scope 3 residuals are neutralized at net-zero and beyond.

This opens the door to collaborative procurement: multiple parties pooling resources for high-integrity removals without attribution chaos. That's not just administratively cleaner—it's how you build the demand signal that unlocks project financing.If you've been holding back because of Scope 3 ambiguity, Orejen Carbon believes this is your way forward.

Our Take: CDR Infrastructure Must Be Built Now

Durable CDR isn't a 2035 problem. It's a 2025 opportunity. And in all honesty, supply scarcity and execution scarcity are REAL - problems … and … opportunities.

The draft's recognition model and post-2035 pathway create exactly what the market has needed: a structured route for companies to finance ex-post, verified outcomes today and grow the share of long-lived removals over time. Our view: durable CDR complements deep value-chain abatement, it doesn't replace it. And robust accounting and independent verification aren't optional—they're the only way this works at scale.

Deep abatement comes first. Always. But durable CDR is indispensable to neutralize residual emissions and keep 1.5°C within reach. It's also one of the most straightforward, auditable levers for delivering measurable, additional climate outcomes when designed with robust dMMRV.

Work with Orejen Carbon

Orejen Carbon specializes in the infrastructure layer. We design, monitor, and verify biochar carbon removal (BCR) projects with custom digital MRV from day one—from residue mapping and reactor selection to credit issuance on established registries.Whether you're planning your first BCR project or scaling a portfolio, we make the carbon accounting seamless, credible, and defensible under the frameworks that matter.

→ Get in touch to discuss how the CNZS V2 framework applies to your strategy.‍

💡 Key takeaways

• The new SBTi Net Zero Standard draft creates a formal lane for “Ongoing Emissions Responsibility”, rewarding companies that put an internal carbon price on all emissions and purchase ex-post verified outcomes.
• At net-zero and beyond, companies must neutralize all residual emissions with removals, with an explicit and growing share required from long-lived storage solutions (41% at net-zero).
• The draft gives clearer guidance for Scope 3, including the option to share responsibility with value-chain partners and avoid double compensation when roles are transparently accounted for.
• A post-2035 trajectory sets increasing milestones for long-lived removals (17% in 2035 → 41% in 2050), sending a strong demand signal for durable CDR capacity to scale over the coming decades.
• Orejen Carbon sees durable CDR as a necessary complement to deep decarbonization, and supports policies that make CDR declarations timely, verifiable, and aligned with global net-zero goals.