FLAG Guidance is a set of guidelines established by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), allowing companies in land-intensive industries (Forest, Land, and Agriculture) to set near and long-term, science-based targets to reduce their GHG emissions.
FLAG Guidance applies to any companies over 500 employees in land-intensive industries that have set or plan to set Science-Based Targets. In short, FLAG enables these companies to design a more efficient strategy for reaching carbon reduction goals by separating out their land-based emissions and reductions as well as carbon removals in their measurement, target-setting and reporting processes.
Land-related emissions account for 22% of global emissions, but the land sector in general has the potential to deliver 30% of climate mitigation by 2050. Given the opportunity for the land sector to use nature-based solutions to remove and store carbon, FLAG will play a critical role in enabling companies to measure and improve their emissions, and strategize for removals most effectively.
REPORTGeospatial Methods for Corporate GHG Accounting of Deforestation and Land Occupation
Geospatial Methods for Corporate GHG Accounting of Deforestation and Land Occupation
Good practice guidance for land sector reporting of crop commodities under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals Guidance
Background & Project Overview
Companies track their GHG emissions using corporate GHG inventories and can use the GHG Protocol’s Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard for requirements and guidance regarding compiling GHG inventories across all sectors. The GHG Protocol’s draft Land Sector and Removals Guidance (LSRG) provides companies with high-level requirements and guidance on how to report scope 1 and scope 3 land use change–related metrics: GHG emissions from land use change—including, but not limited to, deforestation—and land occupation metrics. However, given the breadth of the audience it serves, the issues it covers and its need to stay data-agnostic, the LSRG offers companies considerable flexibility in selecting input data and methods.
As a result, companies sourcing the same commodities from the same supply chains may report very different GHG emissions and land occupation metrics and consequently arrive at different conclusions when tracking progress toward reducing emissions or when prioritizing supply chain interventions and related investments to mitigate GHG emissions from land use change.
To fill this gap, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Quantis, with the support of Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk and HowGood, are addressing the urgent need to improve comparability of scope 1 and scope 3 GHG inventories and provide a harmonized resource across agricultural commodities. To this effect, we have recently published both a guidebook and accompanying technical note. Together, we are operationalizing aligned, transparent, and science-based metrics that follow the LSRG to improve land use change emissions, starting with deforestation and land occupation in corporate accounting.
As a result, companies sourcing the same commodities from the same supply chains may report very different GHG emissions and land occupation metrics and consequently arrive at different conclusions when tracking progress toward reducing emissions or when prioritizing supply chain interventions and related investments to mitigate GHG emissions from land use change.
To fill this gap, World Resources Institute (WRI) and Quantis, with the support of Mérieux NutriSciences | Blonk and HowGood, are addressing the urgent need to improve comparability of scope 1 and scope 3 GHG inventories and provide a harmonized resource across agricultural commodities. To this effect, we have recently published both a guidebook and accompanying technical note. Together, we are operationalizing aligned, transparent, and science-based metrics that follow the LSRG to improve land use change emissions, starting with deforestation and land occupation in corporate accounting.
