How to Build a Net Zero Baseline in 90 Days: A Practical Plan for Indian Companies

Of all the ways a Net Zero commitment can quietly go off the rails, the most common is also the most preventable: an unreliable baseline. Companies announce ambitious 2030 and 2045 targets, then discover eighteen months in that the FY22 or FY24 baseline they reported was not actually defensible. Targets reset. Credibility takes a hit. We saw the same pattern in our BRSR 90-day roadmap. Only here the stakes are higher because Net Zero baselines live forever.

Here is a practical 90-day plan to get the baseline right the first time.

Before day one: get three things in writing

1. Which entity is in scope: standalone, consolidated, operational control, or financial control. Pick one boundary and document why.

2. Which baseline year: FY22, FY23, or FY24. Pick the most representative recent year, not the lowest-emissions year. Lowballing the baseline is the most common SBTi rejection reason.

3. Who owns it. One executive sponsor, one project lead, one cross-functional working group.

Days 1 to 20: scope and methodology

The goal is a documented methodology before you collect a single data point.

• Lock the consolidation approach. The GHG Protocol is the global standard. Use it.

• Document Scope 1, 2, and 3 boundaries. For Scope 2, decide market-based or location-based or both. Most Indian companies need both for SBTi and BRSR.

• Pre-screen Scope 3 categories using the 15-category GHG Protocol Scope 3 framework. Run a relevance test. Most companies have four to seven material categories, not all 15.

• Choose emission factors: CEA grid factor for purchased electricity in India, IPCC AR6 GWPs for non-CO2 gases, DEFRA for international transport, and sector-specific factors for fuels and process emissions.

• Pick your assurance partner now. Their methodology preferences will shape your data collection. Finding out after the fact is expensive.

Days 21 to 55: data collection

The phase that always overruns. Plan for two weeks of slack.

• Scope 1: fuel logs (diesel, LPG, furnace oil, coal), refrigerant top-ups, on-site process emissions, company-owned vehicle fuel consumption. Source data from finance and EHS, never just one. See our step-by-step carbon footprint guide for the granular template.

• Scope 2: utility bills with kWh detail, captive power generation, contracted renewables, and any unbundled I-RECs. Reconcile against the audited financial expense line. These two numbers must agree.

• Scope 3 category 1 (purchased goods and services): start with spend-based using your top 80 percent of suppliers by value, then upgrade the top five to supplier-specific data over the next cycle.

• Scope 3 category 4 (upstream transport): get tonne-km data from your top logistics providers. They have it. They will hand it over if you ask.

• Scope 3 categories 6 and 7 (business travel and commuting): travel agency reports plus a one-time employee commute survey. Annualise.

• Scope 3 category 11 (use of sold products): only material for product manufacturers. Engineering teams have the data, finance does not.

• Scope 3 category 15 (investments): financed emissions, only material for banks and asset managers. Use PCAF.

Days 56 to 75: calculation and internal review

• Build a single master spreadsheet with one row per source, one column per emission factor, and one column per result tonne CO2e. No hidden tabs.

• Pressure-test the result against industry benchmarks: cement, steel, FMCG, pharma. Numbers that look 30 percent off industry are usually wrong.

• Run a mock assurance review. Every datapoint needs source evidence, methodology note, and a calculation trail.

• Reconcile against your audited financial statements. Revenue intensity per tonne CO2e must compute cleanly.

Days 76 to 90: documentation and sign-off

• Produce a baseline statement: scope, methodology, emission factors, exclusions and reasons, uncertainty estimates, and conclusion.

• Walk the executive sponsor and the board through it before publication.

• Lock the baseline. Document a recalculation policy: when material structural changes happen (M and A, divestiture, methodology updates), you recalculate; otherwise you do not.

• Use the baseline to set your SBTi-aligned targets, usually 42 percent absolute reduction by 2030 against a 2022 baseline for the 1.5 degree aligned pathway.

The five mistakes that will haunt you

1. Picking the lowest-emissions year as the baseline. SBTi will reject it.

2. Skipping Scope 3 because it is hard. Investors and auditors increasingly will not accept this.

3. Using DEFRA factors for purchased electricity in India when the CEA factor is the correct one.

4. Not documenting the methodology before collecting data. Guarantees you will redo work.

5. Treating the baseline as a sustainability project rather than a financial-grade reporting exercise.

A Net Zero target without a defensible baseline is a press release. With one, it is a strategy.

Where Csquare fits

We build assurance-ready Net Zero baselines for Indian companies (Scope 1, 2, and 3) in compressed timelines, with full documentation and methodology trail. If you are planning a Net Zero announcement in the next 12 months, talk to us before the announcement, not after.