Asia leads the world as the region with the highest number of companies with validated climate science-based targets for reducing carbon emissions, after 2023 witnessed significant growth in the number of companies setting such targets, according to a recent report.

Last year, 741 companies headquartered in Asia set a science-based target, bringing the total for the region to 1,228, finds the report released by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a global standard-setting body for corporate climate targets. This number represents a 140% year-on-year increase over 2022, making the region home to 27% of all companies globally with such targets since the SBTi was launched in 2015.

Globally, the total number of companies with science-based targets, the report finds, increased by 102% during 2023, fuelled in part by the strong growth of Asian companies.

As well, there was a global 83% increase in the number of financial institutions with science-based targets by the end of 2023 compared with the end of 2022, the SBTi report notes, with significant growth coming from small and medium-sized enterprises.

Japan in 2023 became the country with the most companies having set targets, 768 – overtaking the previous world leader, the UK, with 693 companies and the US, 465. Last year, Japan had the highest number of companies setting targets worldwide, 453, representing a 124% year-on-year growth.

Globally, India’s growth curve, compared with the previous year, was the steepest, with the number of companies with SBTi-validated targets jumping from 15 to 93, allowing it to post an impressive 520% growth.

As many companies in India are part of the value chains of conglomerates headquartered elsewhere, growth in India, the report argues, can have a powerful effect on the Scope 3 emissions of companies globally.

In China, the number of companies setting science-based targets in 2023 numbered 141, up 104% from 2022.

“It is encouraging to see science-based target setting growing fast in the major exporting countries of the world,” says Luiz Amaral, SBTi’s CEO. “It shows the growing need for instruments and standards to enable corporate decarbonization on a mass scale. The deepening foothold of the SBTi in global markets demonstrates a growing understanding by companies of what is required of them to meet the aims of the Paris agreement.”