Dr Luiz Amaral, CEO of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) is set to resign from his role at the end of this month following an internal row over the merits of Carbon offsets.
Amaral, who had been at the helm of the organisation since February 2022 said that he was departing for personal reasons. Susan Jenny Ehr, currently chief legal officer, will step in as interim CEO.
In his leaving speech to staff, Amaral stressed that the number of companies with validated targets has risen more than five-fold with another 3,200 formally committed to the process, he also highlighted significant growth potential in Asia.
But Amaral’s departure follows an internal row at the organisation after the board announced in April that it was considering to accept carbon offsets to mitigate Scope 3 emissions. This announcement as been met with a fierce backlash by some SBTi staff, who have called for Amaral’s resignation.
They warned that the inclusion of carbon offsets would allow major corporations to greenwash carbon footprints without really reducing their emissions.
Amaral responded to these concerns in April, stating that the group would continue to adhere to its standard operating procedure. However, he also stressed that not all Scope 3 emissions were created equal: “Some are more material, some less so. Companies have significant control over some emissions, less over others. Some emissions are upstream, others are downstream” hinting at the challenges of fully eliminating these emissions without the use of offsets.
SBTi revealed earlier this week that the number of Asian companies adopting Science based targets has grown by more than 100% last year. Globally, the standards have now been embraced by more than 5500 companies.
