The Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol released the Land Sector and Removals Standard on 1/30/2026, which provides greenhouse gas accounting requirements for companies with land-based emissions. It will go into effect 1/1/2027, giving reporting companies time to align with the standard. The GHG Protocol will also release an accompanying guidance document in the second quarter of 2026 to help companies with the implementation of the standard.

Changes for Food and Agriculture Companies

The following highlights relevant GHG accounting changes and updates for food and agriculture companies when compared to the GHG Protocol draft of the Land Sector and Removals Guidance.

Traceability

  • Proximate and adjacent non‑productive lands may be included in scope 3 accounting, but the implementation of this category has not been settled. This will allow companies to account for carbon sequestration in areas such as woodlots or riparian buffers adjacent to productive lands in their value chain.
  • Mass‑balance with safeguards is an option to demonstrate physical traceability to a sourcing region for reporting emissions and removals. Mass balance is a practical tool for dairy cooperatives but may be difficult to implement for row crops such as corn, soy, and wheat.

Land Use Change

  • Land‑use‑change (LUC) discounting and statistical LUC (sLUC) approaches were standardized to make LUC-related emissions easier to compare across peers and over time.
  • A jurisdictional dLUC calculation approach was added as a methodology for scope 3 commodities with traceability to the jurisdiction or sourcing region level. This gives companies additional reporting options that are beneficial when purchasing commodities from regions with lower levels of land use change.

Land Use and Leakage

  • Land occupation is now the only land use metric reporting requirement. This figure helps companies understand their total land use footprint and land use efficiency.
  • Reporting negative impacts outside the value chain under land‑carbon‑leakage is required for high-risk commodities (e.g., displaced food production due to ethanol production). This encourages companies to consider indirect consequences of their actions, not just direct emissions reductions.

Removals

  • Carbon removal requirements around traceability, data quality, and allocation were revised, including safeguards for scope 3 removals with sourcing region traceability. This finalized the open question from the draft Land Sector and Removals Guidance on traceability for carbon sequestration in agriculture supply chains.
  • Options were added to help companies ensure permanence including a reserve approach also known as a “buffer pool”. This provides an insurance mechanism in the case of disturbances and natural disasters.

Accounting for Credits

  • An option was added for companies to report two inventories, a physical GHG inventory not including issued or retired credits, and an inventory adjusted for credits issued from direct operations and/or value chain. This improves transparency and allows companies to demonstrate GHG reductions when voluntary or regulatory GHG credits are sold outside of the value chain.

Looking Forward

Pinion sustainability advisors recommend that companies identify any data or reporting gaps related to land‑based GHG emissions and develop a plan to address them before the standard takes full effect in 2027.

If you’re unsure of where these requirements will have the greatest impact on your inventory, a gap analysis can help clarify which scopes and categories will be affected.

Reach out to a Pinion advisor today for any clarifications or questions about the new standard.