PAS 2060, its successor ISO 14068-1:2023, and SBTi all proclaim science-based climate strategies, yet they represent different approaches to determining emission reduction pathways.

While PAS 2060 and ISO 14068-1 are genuinely scientifically grounded frameworks, SBTi’s approach is questionable as it ignores the most important market driver – the carbon compensation mechanism – which directs financial resources from companies toward renewable, clean, and sustainable technologies and methodologies. Consequently, SBTi rather masks scientific substantiation than truly representing it.

ISO 14068-1:2023 is the internationalized and enhanced version of the PAS 2060 standard (BSI:2010, updated in 2014), which OurOffset also utilizes.

Timeline:

• PAS 2060
  • Developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI) and published in 2010.
  • It was the first standard to provide a clear requirement system for verifying “carbon neutrality”.
  • Updated in 2014, widely adopted by companies (e.g., energy, food, service industries).
• SBTi
  • Launched as a global initiative in 2015.
  • The first official Net-Zero Standard was published in 2021, specifically regulating corporate targets aligned with the 1.5°C pathway.
• ISO 14068-1:2023
  • Built on the foundations of PAS 2060 but not a simple adoption; it became a modernized international ISO standard.
  • Published in November 2023, and from 2025 it will globally replace PAS 2060. iso.org, ccdp-me.com

PAS 2060 – The Standard for Immediate Carbon Neutralization

The PAS 2060 is a standard created by the British Standards Institution (BSI) that serves for verifying carbon neutrality.
Its principle: Measure → Reduce → Offset.

Mandatory Elements:

1. Determination of baseline footprint (based on standardized LCA methodology).
2. Creation of a reduction plan – the organization must commit to a documented program for emission mitigation.
3. Application of offset for balancing the remaining carbon footprint – residual emissions must be neutralized annually with certified carbon credits.
4. Transparency – public “Declaration of Achievement” and “Qualifying Explanatory Statement”.

Immediacy

• Carbon neutrality is achievable in the first year, even if the reduction program has just started.
• This ensures that resources immediately flow into climate protection projects (renewables, energy efficiency, nature-based solutions).
• Thus, PAS 2060 does not delay but triggers immediate global impact.

ISO 14068-1:2023 Structured Methodology

• ISO 14068-1 (Climate change management — Transition to net zero — Part 1: Carbon neutrality) is an international standard published in November 2023 that provides a structured, verified methodology for achieving carbon neutrality: following a hierarchy of measurement, target setting, reduction, removal, and then reservation (offset). netzeronow.org
• It requires companies to develop long-term carbon neutrality roadmaps containing short and long-term goals, and a point in time from which only residual GHG emissions can be reported — only after this point can high-integrity carbon credits be applied. sbs.eco
• ISO 14068-1 is integrally built upon ISO 14064-1 (organizational GHG quantification) and ISO 14067 (product carbon footprint) standards, and supports scientifically substantiated targets.

ISO 14068-1:2023 – Successor to PAS 2060, an Even More Considered System

• • The new standard follows a three-step hierarchy:
    Reduce → Remove → Offset – first reduce emissions, then increase carbon dioxide sequestration, and only as a final step apply offsetting.
  • It demands a more detailed, transparent, and scientifically based reduction pathway: near-term and long-term targets, continuous improvement plan, public documentation, and independent auditing.
  • Offsets can only be applied after reduction, i.e., emission avoidance, and are subject to strict conditions such as reality, additionality, permanence, independent verification, vintage, avoidance of double counting. According to the standard, “any type of carbon credit (including avoidance credits, reduction credits, and removal credits) can be used to compensate the carbon footprint. www.gut-cert.de

The Scientific Nature of Offset

Offset is not an evasion, but emission reduction or carbon dioxide sequestration conducted elsewhere, which:

• Is based on the principle of Additionality: the project would not have been realized without credit revenue.
• Globally, CO₂ balancing works – it doesn’t matter whether we save a ton of CO₂ in London or Kenya, the effect is the same from a climate perspective.
• Scientific models (e.g., IPCC, IEA) also recognize the tools of “mitigation outside the value chain”, especially for rapid transition.

Offset ≠ Evasion

• When a company offsets, it is not inaction, but a form of outsourcing emission reduction:
  • the company pays the money,
  • reduction or sequestration is realized elsewhere, with different technology,
  • but globally, less CO₂ enters the atmosphere.
• This contributes to the climate goal just like internal reduction → it just doesn’t happen within the company’s boundaries.

Multiplier Effect

• The offset market generates new climate protection projects: renewables, forest conservation, energy-efficient technologies → these accelerate the global transition.
• If companies offset en masse, demand creates new supply → thus projects are created that otherwise would never materialize (this is the additionality principle).
• Therefore, offset has a positive spillover: money “ripples through” into the global energy system and nature conservation.

Important Note on the Relationship Between Offset and Internal Decarbonization

The hierarchical approach of ISO 14068-1:2023 (Reduce → Remove → Offset) does not represent a contradiction between internal decarbonization and offsetting, but rather creates synergy between them. Offset is not a substitute for internal reduction but its complement: the company first reduces its own emissions, then offsets the residual emissions.

This model provides a dual advantage: on one hand, direct decarbonization at the corporate level, on the other hand, through offset purchases, financing of global green projects (renewable energy, forest protection, energy efficiency). These projects improve the global energy mix and supply chains, which through feedback automatically reduces the future carbon footprint of other companies – including the original offsetting company.

Thus, offset creates not dependency, but a self-reinforcing positive cycle where internal decarbonization and global project financing mutually support each other.

What Happens at the Company Level?

• If a company commits to carbon neutrality:
  1. It must reduce (energy efficiency, material economy, circularity).
  2. It must purchase offsets → thus pumping money into global climate projects.
  3. These projects (e.g., renewable electricity in India, providing family planning opportunities in Africa, forest protection in Brazil) → reduce global emissions.
• If many companies do this, it also accelerates global supply-side transformation → and ultimately their own future carbon footprint automatically decreases, because the electricity mix, supply chains, and transportation become greener.

Compared to SBTi

• SBTi prohibits the accounting of offsets → therefore the company focuses only on its own emissions.
• This is good for internal decarbonization, but does not directly finance the global transition.
• SBTi rather postpones the issue of “residual offset” to a longer term (around 2050), and until then does not stimulate the carbon credit market.

Important: With offsetting, companies immediately finance the green transition, from which they indirectly benefit themselves (e.g., cleaner electricity mix → smaller own carbon footprint). This is a pragmatic tool for encouraging immediate action, not an evasion.

SBTi – The Delayed Offset Framework

The SBTi (Science Based Targets initiative) aims to align companies’ emission reduction targets with climate science.

Characteristics:

• Near-term targets (5–10 years): mandatory reduction, offset prohibition.
• Net-zero targets (2050): 90–95% of total emissions must be reduced, only the remaining 5–10% can be offset. Reuters
• Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM): optional recommendation to support offset projects, but does not count toward target achievement.

Criticisms:

1. Procrastination: actual “net-zero” is postponed to 2050 under SBTi, while we have already exceeded 1.5°C.
2. Offset opposition: does not recognize financing of immediate projects as official performance.
3. Masking as scientific: formally linked to the 1.5°C pathway, but this goal is already unrealistic, so the system creates a “convenient illusion” for companies.
4. Lack of market impact: weakens the offset market, thus slowing financing of the global transition.

PAS 2060 and its successor ISO 14068-1:2023 are real, scientifically substantiated frameworks that combine reduction and offset and provide immediate global climate impact.

SBTi strengthens internal decarbonization but meanwhile blocks the recognition of offsets, thereby giving time to companies while the planet’s time window is narrowing.

According to the current state of science, we cannot afford the net-zero illusion postponed to 2050 – the immediate action represented by PAS 2060 and ISO 14068-1:2023 is globally much more effective.

Final Thought

The advantages of SBTi by far do not outweigh the damages caused by delaying offsets. The pace of global warming is accelerating, and several key processes have reached or approached critical tipping points:

• Slowdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) – already showing signs of instability, its collapse would cause dramatic climate change in Europe and worldwide.
• Permafrost and methane leaks – rapid warming of polar regions threatens the release of enormous amounts of methane, which is 80 times more potent greenhouse gas than CO₂.
• Polar ice melting – retreat of Arctic and Greenland ice cover accelerates sea level rise and reduces Earth’s reflectivity (albedo effect).
• Savannization of the Amazon rainforest – due to continuous deforestation and drought, the collapse of the “oxygen-producing” and carbon-absorbing system is approaching.
• Ocean acidification and deoxygenation – causes dramatic destruction of marine ecosystems, fish stocks, and coral reefs.
• Global water crisis – melting glaciers and changing precipitation patterns endanger drinking water supply for billions of people.

Immediate Climate Protection Obligations:

1. Radical reduction of methane emissions in energy sector, waste management, and agriculture.
2. Immediate deforestation stop and global forest protection, plus large-scale reforestation.
3. Accelerating transition to renewable energy, eliminating fossil fuel subsidies.
4. Introduction of carbon pricing and its global extension so that every ton of emissions has a price.
5. Support for nature-based solutions (mangroves, wetlands, soil conservation) that sequester large amounts of CO₂ in the short term.
6. Carbon neutrality commitments with immediate offset – companies should not wait until 2050, but now generate resources for climate protection projects.
7. Support for technological innovations: industrial CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage), green hydrogen, circular economy development.

The time window is rapidly closing that would still allow effective action. Science clearly shows: emission reduction and offset must be applied simultaneously, immediately. The “delayed net-zero” model offered by SBTi – no matter how scientifically worded – increases the risk of delay, while the systems of ISO 14068-1 and PAS 2060 ensure immediate impact.

Advantages of ISO 14068-1:

1. DFGE Institute (2024): ISO 14068-1 “responds to the growing number of corporate greenhouse gas neutrality demands, highlighting the need for a consistent framework that minimizes ambiguity” Carbon offsets and credits – Wikipedia Source: https://dfge.de/the-new-iso-standard-14068-1-carbon-neutrality/
2. ECA Business Energy (2024): ISO 14068-1:2023 “places greater emphasis on Scope 3 accountability and reductions/removals over offsets in demonstrating organizational carbon neutrality” ISO 14068-1:2023 – Climate change management — Part 1: Carbon neutrality Source: https://ecabusinessenergy.com/services/iso-14068-1/
3. Climate Impact Partners: “The ISO carbon neutrality standard focuses on quantifying, reducing, and offsetting the carbon footprint, prioritizing direct and indirect greenhouse gas emission reductions and enhanced removals over offsetting” ISO 14068-1 – Carbon Neutrality Verification | BSI Source: https://www.climateimpact.com/business-solutions/climate-claims/iso-carbon-neutrality/

SBTi Criticisms:

1. Carbon Market Watch (2024): “This decision defies both good governance and science. If not withdrawn, it deprives SBTi of its ‘science-based’ nature and represents a setback for global voluntary climate initiatives” Helping You Prepare for the New BS ISO 14068 Standard | Crown Oil Sustainability Source: https://carbonmarketwatch.org/2024/04/10/science-based-targets-initiative-sbti-board-of-trustees-decision-on-offsetting-undermines-science-and-endangers-the-climate/
2. Earth.Org (2025): “Companies are quietly retreating from SBTi commitments, raising the fundamental question: is the net-zero model still fit for purpose?” ISO Carbon Neutrality | Climate Impact Partners Source: https://earth.org/the-sbti-is-no-longer-fit-for-purpose/
3. Carbone4 Advisory: “The physical dead end of offsetting has led to broad consensus among carbon certification bodies to exclude any substitutability between carbon credits and corporate carbon footprint” Understanding ISO 14068: A Sustainable Future with Carbon Neutrality Source: https://www.carbone4.com/en/article-sbti-greenwashing-english
4. NewClimate Institute: SBTi “became embroiled in intense debate about the potential role of offsetting corporate climate targets, amid allegations of undue influence and incompatibility” ISO 14068-1:2023 Source: https://newclimate.org/news/sbtis-plans-for-its-net-zero-standard-revision-may-offer-a-promising-way-past-the-disruptive
These sources support the material’s claims about the scientific foundation of ISO 14068-1 and the problematic approach of SBTi.

Author: Rampasek László A.

Download: PAS 2060, ISO 14068-1:2023 and SBTi — White Paper