Under the first version of SBTi’s net-zero standard, carbon removals only mattered at the end: neutralise your residual emissions once you reach net zero. Version 2.0 turns SBTi carbon removals into an annual obligation. From 2035, larger companies have to support carbon removals every year, and the volume grows for fifteen years.
For a sustainability or procurement lead, that turns removals from a 2050 topic into a budget line that starts within the current planning horizon. It also turns them into a supply question, because the removals that count as long-lived are scarce today.
The short answer. If your company is Category A under SBTi V2, you must support carbon removals from 2035: 1% of your ongoing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in 2035, rising every year to 100% at your net-zero year. A growing part of that has to be long-lived, carbon stored for centuries to millennia. The removals have to be verified, retired in your name and reported separately from your emissions.
Who has to buy removals: Category A companies
SBTi V2 splits companies into two categories. You are Category A if any of these apply:
Net turnover of at least EUR 450 million, or at least 1,000 employees, in any country.
In a high-income country such as the Netherlands: scope 1 and 2 emissions of at least 10,000 tCO2e.
In a high-income country: two of three size criteria, namely a balance sheet of at least EUR 25 million, turnover of at least EUR 50 million and at least 250 employees.
The removal requirement (C45) is mandatory for Category A and optional for Category B. The neutralisation of residual emissions at the net-zero year (C46) applies to every company that sets a net-zero target. If you are unsure which category you fall in, our guide to SBTi Category A or B explains how the test is applied, including to subsidiaries of larger groups, and our overview of the SBTi Net-Zero Standard V2 covers the rest of the standard.
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The rule: 1% in 2035, rising linearly to 100%
The standard is specific. Companies “shall cover 1% of ongoing scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3 emissions in 2035, rising linearly to 100% by the company’s net-zero target year, and no later than 2050” (C45.1). Ongoing emissions are the emissions you still report in that year, not your base year.
Two details matter for planning. The percentage applies to all three scopes, even if your voluntary carbon credit purchases only cover scope 1 and 2. And the speed of the ramp depends on your net-zero year: the earlier your net-zero target, the steeper the climb.
Year | Net zero in 2050: share of ongoing emissions | Of which long-lived (minimum) | Net zero in 2045: share of ongoing emissions | Of which long-lived (minimum) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2035 | 1% | 10% | 1% | 10% |
2038 | 21% | 28% | 31% | 37% |
2040 | 34% | 40% | 51% | 55% |
2045 | 67% | 70% | 100% | 100% |
2050 | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
The long-lived column is the minimum share of the covered emissions from long-lived gases that has to be matched by long-lived removals (C45.4). For most companies, almost all emissions are long-lived gases, so in practice it is a share of the removals you buy.
The long-lived share, and why methane is different
SBTi distinguishes two kinds of removals by how long they store carbon. A long-lived removal is “capable of retaining carbon for centuries to millennia”; a short-lived removal stores carbon for “decades to centuries”. The standard deliberately does not attach a number of years. Some summaries cite a 1,000-year threshold, which is not in the text.
The long-lived requirement is tied to the gases you emit. Long-lived greenhouse gases are CO2, nitrous oxide and some halogenated compounds. The standard asks you to quantify which share of your covered emissions comes from these gases (C45.3), and only that share triggers the long-lived requirement. Emissions of short-lived gases, mainly methane, can be covered with short-lived removals, long-lived removals or a mix (C45.5). At the net-zero year the same logic applies: long-lived residual emissions need long-lived removals, the rest may use either (C46.2).
For an office-based services company this distinction changes little, because almost all its emissions are CO2. For a dairy processor, a food company or a waste business with large methane emissions in its footprint, it changes the cost of compliance considerably.
In practice, long-lived removals today come from approaches such as direct air capture with geological storage, enhanced rock weathering, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, and some biochar, depending on how durability is demonstrated. Reforestation, agroforestry and soil carbon are typical short-lived removals.
Why the removal volume peaks in the 2040s
This is the consequence most plans miss. The removal share rises faster than emissions fall, so the required volume in tonnes climbs through the 2040s and only drops back in the final years before net zero.
Take the illustrative company from our guide on how many carbon credits a company needs: 3,500 tCO2e across scope 1 to 3, net zero in 2050, residual emissions of 10%. Its required removals are 23 t in 2035, around 565 t in 2040 and about 690 t in 2044, before falling to 350 t in 2050. The peak is almost twice the volume needed at net zero, and around 440 t of it has to be long-lived.
The planning question for a removal strategy is therefore what you need in the mid-2040s, and where it will come from.
What counts as an eligible removal
The removals you support must deliver “verified mitigation outcomes measured in tCO2e within the same reporting period as the covered emissions” and meet the integrity criteria of the standard (C45.2, C42). In practice that means:
Verified ex-post. Tonnes are measured after they happen, with conservative methods, defined boundaries, monitoring and treatment of leakage. Ex-ante or forward credits do not count until they are delivered and verified.
Additional. The activity is not legally required, not financially viable without your support and not already fully funded.
Protected against reversal. Where carbon can be released again, as with forests and soils, there are risk assessments and safeguards such as buffer pools.
Independently assured by an accredited third party, and recorded once in a transparent registry.
Retired in your name when you claim it, and not claimed by anyone else at the same time (C43.4).
Reported separately. Removals are never netted from your inventory or counted towards your reduction targets (C43.1).
For neutralisation at the net-zero year, there is one more reporting duty: you must report whether the removal credits are authorised by the host country with corresponding adjustments (C46.6). SBTi recommends, without requiring it, that you use removals that are not also counted towards a country’s climate target (R46.1).
The “same reporting period” wording has a practical consequence. Our reading is that a removal tonne counts for the year in which it is delivered and verified, not the year you sign the contract. If you buy forward through an offtake, the delivery schedule should match the years you need to cover.
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What it will cost
Prices vary widely by type, and long-lived removals are where the money goes. As dated reference points: MSCI put short-lived removals at around USD 15 per tonne and long-lived removals at a minimum average of around USD 130 per tonne in July 2026. Puro.earth’s biochar price index stood at EUR 135.35 per tonne in August 2026. Direct air capture is priced well above that. Our overview of carbon removal credit prices gives dated reference prices per removal type.
For the illustrative company, the long-lived part alone means several hundred tonnes per year in the mid-2040s at a price per tonne an order of magnitude above avoidance credits. That budget line belongs in the financial plan years before it falls due.
How to buy removals in time
Removal procurement is a supply problem before it is a price problem. Three decisions shape it.
Decide your long-lived volume first. It is the scarcest and most expensive part. Work out the long-lived share per year from 2035 and treat that as the number to secure.
Use offtakes for the long-lived part. Most durable removal projects sell their output years before delivery, through carbon offtake agreements that fix price and volume. A contract signed in 2027 or 2028 for deliveries from 2035 gives you a price and a supplier while competition for supply is still limited. Our offtake buyer’s guide covers the contract terms, and our guide to running a carbon removal tender covers the procurement steps.
Build a short-lived portfolio earlier. Nature-based removals from reforestation and agroforestry can cover the part of the requirement that does not need to be long-lived. Starting before 2035 lets you test suppliers, monitoring and reporting while the volumes are still small.
Tip from Bernard de Wit, Co-founder of Regreener: “The companies that will struggle in 2040 are the ones that wait for the requirement to apply before they look for supply. Durable removal projects choose their buyers now, and they prefer buyers who commit to volume over several years. Budget can be found in a year; a supplier with capacity cannot.”
Due diligence matters more for removals than for avoidance credits, because the claim is physical: carbon taken out of the atmosphere and kept out. Every removal project Regreener offers goes through our 100+ datapoint quality framework, which assesses permanence, over-crediting and measurement accuracy as part of carbon impact, and checks separately how monitoring data is collected and reported over time.
Before 2035: the voluntary recognition levels
Until 2035, buying carbon credits is voluntary under SBTi V2. The standard rewards it through the Ongoing Emissions Responsibility recognition programme, with three levels based on coverage over the five most recent years:
Engaged: at least 1% of total ongoing scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, through verified mitigation outcomes or a contribution budget (SBTi recommends at least USD 20 per tonne covered).
Advanced: 100% of scope 1 and 2 plus scope 3 until total coverage reaches at least 10%, through verified mitigation outcomes or a budget of USD 20 per tonne covered.
Leadership: 100% of total scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, with a budget of USD 80 per tonne covered.
Participation is optional and avoidance credits can count towards it. For a Category A company, it is also a way to build the supplier relationships and reporting routines it will need from 2035.
Check your own requirement
The numbers in this article follow directly from the standard, but your own depend on your emissions, net-zero year and gas mix. Regreener’s free SBTi V2 calculator shows your category, and lets you check your SBTi removal requirement per year from 2035, with the long-lived share and an indicative cost.
If you want to turn that into a procurement plan, including which part to secure through an offtake, talk to a Climate Strategist.
