A Dynamic, Survivorship Bias-Free View on Science-Based Targets: Research Opportunities Concerning Private and Listed Firms

The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) presents numerous research opportunities, though empirical-archival studies remain scarce due to data access limitations. This chapter introduces a comprehensive, survivorship bias-free dataset of firms committed to or having set Science-Based Targets (SBTs), constructed from monthly snapshots of the SBTi dashboard (2015–2024) via the Internet Archive (Wayback Machine). This dataset, matched with S&P Capital IQ, provides granular insights into the target-setting process, including commitment, submission, validation and removal stages, offering a unique research setting due to SBTi’s evolving transparency policies. Since February 2023, SBTi has adopted a ‘name-and-shame’ policy, flagging firms that withdraw or miss submission deadlines, in contrast to previous silent removals. This shift allows the examination of factors affecting firms’ adherence to or withdrawal from climate commitments, such as peer influences and leadership traits within industries. Additionally, the dataset addresses challenges in firm identification, leveraging a fuzzy-matching process to link SBTi firms with S&P Capital IQ data, resulting in an 83.3% successful match rate and 8,298 matched firms. This method counters attrition inherent in current SBTi data. The research potential enabled by this dataset spans questions on industry dynamics, firm-level determinants of climate commitment, economic drivers and consequences.