SBTi cost: validation fees by tier, in dollars and pounds

In brief

SBTi cost, in one minute

The SBTi itself writes the criteria; its subsidiary SBTi Services validates targets and sets the fees, in a document called the Target Validation Service Offerings.

Version 6.1 was released on 27 October 2025 and has applied since 5 January 2026.

The fee depends on three things: your organisation type (corporate, SME or financial institution), your annual turnover, which sets the tier, and the service you book.

V6.1 says “The tier and organization type are determined at registration, during which the latest financial statement is reviewed.”

Discounts

SBTi cost discounts: who qualifies

V6.1 says “Discounts are available based on annual turnover and country headquarters, as defined by the World Bank’s income classification table.”

A corporate headquartered in a low-income or lower-middle-income economy can request Discount Level 1 with turnover under €250 million, or Level 2 with turnover of €250 million to €999 million.

They must be requested at registration: “fee discounts will not be considered outside of the registration process.”

A company headquartered in the UK, a high-income economy, does not qualify.

What the fee buys

What the Science Based Targets initiative cost does not include

V6.1: “All corporate and FI target validation services include a technical review, validation call, and validation decision statement.”

SBTi Services lists what it does not do: choosing the target-setting method, or “assistance with emission factors and calculation of emissions across scopes.”

That work, the GHG Protocol inventory, Scope 3 screening and target modelling, is yours or an adviser’s, and the SBTi consultancy guide explains how to scope it.

No public SBTi document sets resubmission fees, cancellation or refund terms; the validation SOP says only that “Customers must pay all fees according to the contract’s terms.”

Changing service after booking costs more: “Amendments to service type will be charged the full standalone service fee.”

Optional extras are priced separately: the Readiness Assessment Service ($500 for an SME, $4,200 for a corporate), which is not pre-validation, and SBTi Certification ($1,500), a credential for an individual, not a company.

Under V2.0, from 2027, a Category A company also needs third-party assurance of its base-year inventory (criterion C7), which no SBTi fee covers.

Next

After the SBTi cost: the process it pays for

How a submission moves from registration to a decision, and how long each step takes, is on the SBTi validation guide.

Start from the SBTi hub for what the initiative is and which version applies.