SBTi opens Power Sector Net Zero standard draft for consultation

The Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) is asking for feedback on the draft of its Power Sector Net Zero Standard, which aims to guide and harmonise decarbonisation across the electricity industry.

The draft, which was developed alongside the SBTi’s updated Corporate Net Zero Standard, is directed at companies with power generation, electricity transmission and distribution, electricity storage, trade and retail activities.

It includes detailed rules for applicability based on activities and emission sources in scope, power generation targets based on emissions and low-carbon power generation, with additional requirements for unabated fossil fuel capacity phase out, as well as specific metrics and targets for other value chain activities, including electricity losses for transmission and distribution,  storage activities, and low-carbon electricity purchased for trade and retail.

The consultation is open until November 3, 2025, and participants can share their feedback here.

‘Urgent and strategic’ decarbonisation

The power sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global energy-related emissions, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). It is also increasingly exposed to climate risks such as rising temperatures, wildfires and floods – which threaten both infrastructure and generation capacity.

This – combined with the sector's crucial role as an enabler of decarbonisation across all other industries – makes “rapid decarbonisation both urgent and strategic”, the SBTi argues. 

The Power Sector Net Zero Standard also aims to help the industry cope with transition risks such as increasing carbon prices, policy risks and stranded assets.

Power sector emissions peak

While global emissions were still rising (slightly) in the first half of 2025, power sector emissions may have already peaked, thanks to the rise of renewables. Global power sector emissions fell by 0.8% or 60.27 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2024. This is the largest decline across all sectors for that period. 

The decrease was driven almost entirely by China and India, where power emissions were 1.7% lower and 0.8% lower than in the first half of 2024, respectively, according to emissions data platform Climate TRACE.