In line with the Paris Agreement and the UN SDG 13, the Lenzing Group set an ambitious science-based target for reducing CO2 emissions (scope 1, 2 and 3) by 50 percent per ton of product by 2030 compared to a 2017 baseline. Lenzing also aims to achieve net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 (scope 1 and 2).
This target has been scientifically verified and approved by the Science Based Target initiative, making Lenzing the first wood-based cellulosic fiber producer to have an approved science-based target. Since the target is science-based, Lenzing’s approach to combating climate change is considered to be in line with the Paris Agreement. Lenzing’s decarbonization strategy is therefore based on reducing its emissions, rather than offsetting them, i.e. compensating for CO2 emissions elsewhere.
Science Based Target initiative
The Paris Agreement was adopted by consensus at the 21st United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in 2015. The agreement’s aim is to combat climate change by keeping the increase in global temperatures compared to pre-industrial levels well below 2 degrees Celsius this century and to pursue efforts to limit the increase temperature even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its new Special Report in 2018 giving more clarity on the carbon reductions required to keep the increase below 1.5 degrees Celsius. According to this report, global carbon emissions need to reach net zero by 2050.
The Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute (WRI), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The initiative defines and promotes best practices in science-based target setting and independently assesses companies’ targets for consistency with the level of decarbonization required according to the latest science to keep global temperatures from increasing more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures.
