Business Declares Kx: The New Rules of Net Zero - Beyond the Backlash
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Event Description
You'd be forgiven for thinking net zero and associated standards have been consigned to history. They haven't - in fact they've just been rewritten. In the space of a few months, the SBTi has published an overhaul of its Corporate Net-Zero Standard, and ISO has put a new international Net Zero standard (ISO 14060) out for public consultation, whilst GRI's 2025 climate change standards widen the lense from climate to just transition aspects. Together they mark a shift in corporate climate standards, moving the goalposts from setting ambition to proving implementation.
Join us for this Knowledge xChange to find out what's actually new, why standards matter, and how far a company's responsibility extends: from what happens inside the factory walls, through to the supply chain and on to whether businesses should be pushing for policy change.
On the day
13:15 - Welcome & framing, hosted by Sam Baker
13:20 - Emily Faint, Net Zero Policy Manager at BSI and Policy & Engagement Lead for Our 2050 World, unpacks what's new in the standards landscape: from ISO's new international benchmark to how ISO and SBTi now fit together, and what "good" looks like beyond emissions alone
13:35 - Dr Katharina Bryan, Director of Policy and Research at the Global Reporting Initiative, brings a reporting and transparency lens: how these standards fit into disclosure frameworks and how reporting expectations are changing
13:50 - Open Q&A. Challenges welcome!
14:00 - Close
Why this matters now
Standards drive emissions down! That's the big one. Over and beyond that, companies with science-based targets report real business impact: competitiveness, investor confidence and long-term growth; and every £1 spent on net zero is estimated to deliver £2.20–£4.10 in benefits.
But the standards themselves have had to evolve too, responding to real criticisms: that one-size-fits-all targets don't work, that Scope 3 was too hard, and that offsetting needed much clearer rules. This session is your fast, practical download on what's changed, what it means for your business, and where the line sits between what standards ask of you internally and what they expect you to push for externally.
About Emily Faint
Emily is Senior Policy Manager for Net Zero at the British Standards Institution (BSI), and Policy & Engagement Lead for the Our 2050 World collaboration, where she manages the partnership between ISO, the UN Race to Zero campaign and the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub. She was a lead facilitator of the ISO Net Zero Guidelines International Workshop Agreement (IWA) process, and a contributing author to the UNFCCC Climate Champions' Pivot Point report. She previously worked at the UK Government Department for BEIS as Senior Policy Advisor on the UK's Net Zero Strategy and Carbon Budgets.
About Dr Katharina Bryan
Katharina is Director of Policy and Research at the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the organisation behind the world's most used sustainability reporting standard. She is responsible for GRI’s research, thought leadership and global policy strategy to ensure that policy incentivises resilience, competitiveness and delivers better outcomes for people and planet. Katharina brings more than 20 years of experience at the intersection of international organisations, governments, and global business. Until August 2025 she was Head of International Sustainability Reporting Policy at Amazon. She founded Resilience² and supports organisations in navigating the shifting sands of sustainability policy and build strategic resilience.
About Sam Baker
Sam is a director of Business Declares, campaigning for system-level change to address the climate, ecological and social polycrisis. He is currently leading a project on corporate accountability for collective issues: get in touch if you want to hear more.
Business Declares supports this agenda directly: we were previously Race to Net Zero partners, and ask all our members to develop a climate target, a transition plan and report against them.