Supplier engagement checklist for SBTi validation

SBTi asks for more than a number on a page. If your near-term or net-zero target depends on Scope 3, you have to show that the suppliers behind those emissions are moving, with data someone outside your company can check.

This checklist covers what the criteria ask of a supplier engagement target, and what to have in place first.

Why does SBTi ask for supplier engagement?

Because a Scope 3 target has to cover most of your Scope 3 footprint, and for most companies the bulk of that footprint sits with suppliers. SBTi publishes the thresholds: a Scope 3 target is required where Scope 3 is at least 40% of total emissions across Scopes 1, 2 and 3, and near-term Scope 3 targets have to cover at least 67% of total Scope 3 emissions.

A supplier engagement target is one of the accepted ways to reach that 67%. Rather than committing to a reduction figure yourself, you commit to a share of your Scope 3 emissions being covered by suppliers who set their own science-based targets. Two details from the criteria shape the plan:

• The window is five years. SBTi caps a supplier engagement target at a maximum of five years from submission, shorter than the five to ten years allowed for other near-term targets.
• Coverage is measured in emissions, not supplier count. The share is calculated on the Scope 3 emissions those suppliers represent, so you need an emissions figure per supplier before you can size the target at all.

SBTi revises its criteria, so read the current version of the document before you submit.

The supplier engagement checklist

Five things to have in place, and the questions to test each one with.

1. Do you have an emissions figure per supplier?

• Can you produce a figure for each named supplier, not just a category or a spend band?
• Does every figure carry its source, so a third-party auditor can follow where it came from?
• Do you know where your coverage gaps are, instead of letting proxy data cover them over?

DitchCarbon provides verified emissions data for over 2 million organisations, so procurement, sustainability and finance teams can measure and act on supply chain and portfolio emissions from one source. Every figure carries its source and change history, and coverage gaps are shown rather than hidden.

2. Is your outreach sized by emissions rather than spend?

• Have you ranked suppliers by the emissions they represent, so you know which ones the 67% depends on?
• Have you told those suppliers what you are asking for, and by when?
• Does each supplier know how its own target fits your submission?

Which of your suppliers already hold a validated science-based target is public information. The DitchCarbon SBTi dataset is snapshotted weekly, and there is a free SBTi API you can run a supplier list against.

3. Have you named the reduction actions you are asking for?

• Are you asking for something specific, such as an energy contract change, a transport mode shift or a material substitution?
• Does the action move a number you can measure afterwards?
• Is the ask tailored by industry and geography, so a logistics supplier and a software supplier are not sent the same list?

DitchCarbon builds each request from what is already published about the supplier, so the supplier confirms and corrects a figure instead of filling in a blank form. Prepopulated requests get higher response rates than a cold survey.

4. Have you taken work off the supplier?

• Have you replaced the spreadsheet chase with a request the supplier answers once and reuses?
• Can a supplier reuse a CDP response or an EcoVadis scorecard it has already produced?
• Can the supplier see what you do with its answer?

5. Can you show movement between now and the target year?

• Can you track each supplier's target status over time, without waiting for perfect primary data?
• Do supplier-level changes roll up to your Scope 3 total and your target?
• Is the trail auditable, with change history an external reviewer can follow?

The DitchCarbon Portal calculator is verified to ISO 14064-3, limited assurance, by UL Solutions, renewed annually, and the emission factor methodology was independently assessed by Globus Thenken in August 2025. Both reports download from the trust centre, which is what stands behind an audit-ready number.

Extras worth adding

• Co-investment or financing access for suppliers that need capital to act
• A supplier-facing view, so the supplier sees its own figures and not only yours
• Procurement incentives tied to supplier emissions performance
• A verified calculation trail, so the engagement evidence holds when your auditor asks how a number was produced

Who decides whether your target is validated?

SBTi does. Validation is SBTi's determination against its own criteria, and no platform, dataset or consultant can promise the outcome. What you control is the evidence: an emissions figure per supplier, a documented method, and a record of what you asked and what changed. Get that right and the submission describes work you have already done.

Are you the supplier being asked?

If a customer has written to you about their SBTi target, the quickest route is to publish your figures once and reuse them. Claim your company profile to see what is already published about your emissions and correct it, then the next request draws on the same answer.

Where does DitchCarbon fit in a supplier engagement programme?

DitchCarbon is a specialist Scope 3 carbon accounting platform. For an engagement programme it does four things:

• An emissions figure per named supplier, matched by entity resolution against DUNS, LEI and ISIN identifiers
• Requests prepopulated from the supplier's existing profile, so the supplier confirms and corrects
• Progress tracked at supplier, category and group level against your target year
• A calculation trail your auditor can follow, with the ISO 14064-3 verification behind it

A recent deployment reached about 60% of a large supplier base within 2 weeks. See how teams run supplier engagement on verified data, or start with SBTi-aligned baselining if the baseline is the part that is not settled yet.