Greenhouse Gas Protocol

Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), a partnership of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and World Resources Institute (WRI), develops and publishes comprehensive standards to account for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from private and public sector operations, value chains, and mitigation actions. Companies, governments, and financial institutions worldwide follow GHG Protocol guidance and standards to measure their GHG emissions.

For companies operating in the agricultural or forestry sectors, eliminating deforestation and conversion from supply chains is often the single most important thing they can do to address land sector emissions and meet their climate targets. To help companies simultaneously address climate targets and no-deforestation and no-conversion goals, the AFi worked with GHG Protocol to develop guidance related to land use change emissions accounting in its Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS). As a result of this collaboration, the LSRS uses the Accountability Framework definitions of deforestation and conversion. It also provides aligned guidance related to sub-category land use change (such as conversion from a natural forest to plantation forest) and assessment of land use change at the level of the production unit, rather than sub-farm plots.

As such, companies can set commitments and targets in line with the Accountability Framework and SBTi FLAG, and account for those emissions using the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard. In addition, the AFi collaborated with GHG Protocol and SBTi FLAG to develop joint guidance detailing the linkages between land sector emissions and the Accountability Framework. This streamlined approach enables companies to confidently take key steps towards reducing their land use emissions and reaching their climate and ethical supply chain goals. 

Additional information can be found here:  

• Land Sector and Removals Standard, Version 1.0 | GHG Protocol
• Aligning Corporate Targets, Accounting and Disclosures on Land Use Change Emissions and Deforestation-free Supply Chains | GHG Protocol
• Deforestation- and conversion-free supply chains and land use change emissions: A guide to aligning corporate targets, accounting, and disclosure | AFi, GHG Protocol, and SBTi-FLAG
• Land sector greenhouse gas emissions | AFi webpage