Dive Brief:
- The Greenhouse Gas Protocol unveiled its first corporate carbon accounting standard for land sector-related emissions and removals Friday, which the organization said “fills a major gap” for how companies track their emissions.
- The guidance aims to establish a global benchmark for companies to track, quantify and report emissions generated by agricultural land use, and monitor land-related carbon dioxide removals and technologies, according to a Jan. 30 press release.
- The standard-setting body said companies with “significant” land-sector activities across their operations or supply chain will have to follow the standard to conform with the GHG Protocol framework, which helps entities track progress towards their climate goals. The standard is set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2027, giving companies a little under a year to prepare.
Dive Insight:
The Land Sector and Removals Standard is designed for companies of any size and can be applied by producers, buyers or sellers of agricultural products at any point in the supply chain, according to the Friday release. An executive summary detailing the standard also provides guidance for companies to track progress toward climate targets and avoid double counting when charting such progress.
The standard was developed after extensive consultation with experts on the corporate, government and scientific level across a five-year period and was pilot tested by 96 companies and supporting partners, according to the release.
The GHG Protocol said the standard provides “robust safeguards” for companies that opt to account for their carbon removals and no credible method to report on and account for land-related emissions and removals has been established prior. This current standard does not apply to forestry, though the GHG Protocol said it may be included in future iterations.
Emissions related to agriculture, forestry and other land use comprised 22% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The agriculture sector ranked as the fourth-largest GHG emitting sector in the United States, trailing behind transportation, electric power and the industrial sector, per a recent analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
“One of the bigger 'blind spots' in corporate carbon accounting has been the land sector,” Dominic Waughray, executive vice president at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, said in the release. “This standard removes much of that uncertainty by providing a globally recognized benchmark for measuring agricultural impacts with the same rigor as energy use.”
Carbon accounting and reporting metrics introduced in the standard include land use emissions related to land conversion and deforestation; impacts of land use and leakage caused by land use dynamics across the globe; emissions and removals associated with current land management practices; carbon removals, inclusive of natural climate solutions and those relying on removal technologies; carbon capture and storage in geologic reservoirs; and emissions associated with the use of agricultural products. A number of these categories were previously underreported or omitted from companies’ GHG inventories.
The GHG Protocol made “no specific recommendations as to what constitutes a ‘significant’ exclusion threshold,” but noted that some programs built on the GHG Protocol have their own definitions. The standard noted that the Science Based Targets initiative requires companies to set a forest, land and agriculture emissions target if such emissions constitute more than 20% of the company’s total emissions.
Christopher Schwarz, associate director of implementation at carbon asset developer and climate consultancy South Pole, called the standard a “catalyst for transformation” and “one of the most important developments for corporate climate action in the land sector in years.”
“For too long, ambiguous guidance has slowed progress by leaving companies uncertain of how to account for and report land-based emissions and removals,” Schwartz said in emailed comments to ESG Dive. “By setting clear and verifiable rules, this new standard gives companies more confidence in the credibility of their disclosures, and therefore related claims as well.”
