The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol has introduced the Land Sector and Removals (LSR) Standard, creating the first globally harmonised framework to measure greenhouse gas emissions and carbon removals across agriculture, forestry, and land use. The new standard is being seen as a major step toward improving transparency, comparability, and credibility in how environmental impacts from farming systems are assessed worldwide.
Until now, agricultural emissions accounting has been fragmented, with countries, companies, and projects using different methodologies to calculate emissions from crops, livestock, soils, and land-use change. This lack of consistency has made it difficult to compare data, set credible climate targets, or track progress toward net-zero commitments. The LSR Standard addresses this gap by offering a unified, science-based approach applicable across regions and production systems.
The standard provides detailed guidance on measuring emissions from key agricultural sources such as enteric fermentation in livestock, manure management, fertiliser use, rice cultivation, and land-use change. Importantly, it also establishes robust rules for accounting for carbon removals, including soil carbon sequestration, agroforestry, and biomass growth. By integrating both emissions and removals, the framework reflects the full climate impact of land-based activities.
A key feature of the LSR Standard is its alignment with existing GHG Protocol corporate and value-chain standards. This allows agribusinesses, food companies, and financial institutions to integrate farm-level and land-use data directly into their corporate climate disclosures. As a result, companies sourcing from agriculture can better assess Scope 3 emissions, identify hotspots, and design more effective mitigation strategies.
For policymakers and development agencies, the standard offers a consistent benchmark to support national climate reporting, sustainable agriculture programmes, and results-based climate finance. For farmers and producer organisations, it creates a clearer pathway to demonstrate climate performance, potentially improving access to carbon markets and sustainability-linked incentives.
Overall, the launch of the Land Sector and Removals Standard marks a turning point for climate accountability in agriculture. By bringing clarity and consistency to emissions and removals measurement, it lays the foundation for more credible climate action across global farming and land-use systems—at a time when agriculture’s role in both climate risk and climate solutions is under growing scrutiny.
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