The LSR Standard at a glance

From 1 January 2027, any company reporting under the GHG Protocol must account for land emissions and CO₂ removals under the Land Sector and Removals (LSR) Standard if land is a significant part of its footprint. You don't need to own land for that to be true. 

  Key information about the LSR Standard 
When Effective 1 January 2027
Who Companies that report in conformance with the GHG Protocol and whose land sector activities are a "significant" share of their Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, plus any company that reports CO₂ removals
No land needed Buying, processing or selling significant amounts of food, fibre, feed or bioenergy is enough. That brings food and beverage companies, consumer brands, retailers and their suppliers potentially in scope
Opting out You can treat your land sector activities as insignificant, but you must disclose and justify that position, and it has to hold up to assurance
Link to SBTi The LSR Standard sets the accounting. SBTi FLAG sets the targets. Every FLAG target needs an LSR-aligned base year

Three routes to requiring an LSR footprint:

  • Land you own or manage: significant areas of farmland or other productive land.
  • Agricultural products you buy, process or sell: significant amounts of food, fibre, feed or bioenergy, with or without land of your own.
  • CO₂ removals you report: removals, or CO₂ capture with geologic storage, in the current year or any previous one.

Check where your company stands

The tool below takes five minutes. It asks about your reporting, your operations and value chain, your removals, and your SBTi position, then tells you whether the LSR Standard applies to your inventory and whether a FLAG target comes with it.



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Do you need an SBTi FLAG target?

Many companies with FLAG targets do not themselves farm land: their FLAG emissions sit in Scope 3, in the crops, ingredients, fibre and paper-based packaging they buy.

Work through your assessment in this order:

Step Question What it means
1 Are you in a designated FLAG sector? These are forest and paper products, food production (agricultural or animal sources), food and beverage processing, food and staples retailing, and tobacco If yes, a FLAG target is required, unless an exemption in step 3 applies
2 If you are outside those sectors, are your FLAG-related emissions 20% or more of your gross Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions? If yes, a FLAG target is required. Below 20%, SBTi only recommends one
3 Does an exemption apply? Only two exist: a designated-sector company whose land-related emissions are under 5% of its total, or a small or medium-sized enterprise under the SBTi definition If yes, no separate FLAG target is required. Your land-related emissions still sit inside your energy and industry target
4 Since when do the SBTi FLAG requirements apply? Since 30 April 2023, for any company setting targets for the first time, updating them or adding a net-zero target. Companies whose targets predate that add a FLAG target at their five-year review at the latest

A FLAG target also comes with two other requirements: a separate energy and industry target, and a public no-deforestation commitment with a target date no later than 31 December 2030. 

Confirm it with SBTi

If the answer is close or contested, settle it in writing before you choose a method or partner.

  1. Check which sector your company selected when it submitted its SBTi commitment.
  2. Estimate the land-related share of your total emissions, including purchased agricultural inputs and paper-based packaging. 
  3. Email the SBTi contact who handled your commitment, or info@sciencebasedtargets.org.

FLAG in practice

Frequently asked questions

Who does the LSR Standard apply to?

Any company reporting a corporate GHG inventory in conformance with the GHG Protocol that has significant land sector activities in its operations or value chain, and any company that reports CO₂ removals or CO₂ capture with geologic storage in the current year or reported them in a previous year. The intended audience includes companies that own or control significant areas of land, companies that purchase, consume, process or sell significant amounts of food, fibre, feed, bioenergy or other agricultural products, companies supplying significant amounts of products to agricultural producers, and companies managing land to increase carbon stored in biomass or soil.

What counts as a significant land sector activity?

The GHG Protocol sets no numeric threshold and makes no recommendation as to what constitutes a significant exclusion threshold, so the judgement rests with the reporting company. Some programmes set their own figures; SBTi's 20% is the example the Standard itself gives. A company that treats its land sector activities as insignificant is required to disclose and justify that position, and the justification needs to hold up to assurance.

Do I need an SBTi FLAG target if the LSR Standard applies to me?

These are separate tests. A FLAG target is required for companies in the designated sectors (forest and paper products, food production from agriculture, food production from animal sources, food and beverage processing, food and staples retailing, tobacco) and for companies in any other sector whose FLAG-related emissions are 20% or more of gross Scope 1, 2 and 3. Only two exemptions exist: a designated-sector company whose land-related emissions are under 5% of its total, and a small or medium-sized enterprise under the SBTi definition. So for designated sectors the line that matters is 5%, not 20%. Companies outside the designated sectors and under 20% are recommended to set one anyway.

Do I need a FLAG target if we don't own or farm land?

Land ownership plays no part in the test. The designated-sector test follows what a company does, and for designated sectors FLAG Scope 3 explicitly includes the land-based emissions in purchased food products, including highly transformed ones. Most companies with FLAG targets hold no farmland. Their FLAG emissions come from the crops, ingredients, fibre and paper-based packaging they buy.

We make or supply products for other companies. Does FLAG still apply?

Usually, yes. The guidance has no carve-out for contract manufacturers, co-packers, private-label producers or suppliers to a brand owner. If you buy and own the agricultural inputs that go into your products, their land-related emissions sit in your Scope 3, even when your customer counts the same emissions in its own inventory. That is how value chain accounting works.

The one case with substance is a tolling arrangement, where the customer supplies and owns the inputs. Those emissions then sit in the customer's inventory rather than yours, your land-related share may fall under 5%, and the exemption may apply. That comes through the numbers, not because you have left your sector. If your company sits outside the designated sectors altogether, the 20% test applies instead.

Have the FLAG rules changed in 2026?

Not on who must set a FLAG target. Version 1.2 of the FLAG Guidance (March 2026) changed the deadline for companies that already hold targets and the wording of the no-deforestation commitment. SBTi states that the definition of companies required to set FLAG targets did not change. The Corporate Net-Zero Standard V2 (June 2026) did not replace FLAG either: in July 2026 SBTi told FLAG companies to keep setting targets under the current guidance while it revises the FLAG Standard.

What happens if we don't set a FLAG target?

Your land emissions don't leave your targets. SBTi requires all land-based Scope 3 emissions to be included in science-based targets whether or not a company sets a separate FLAG target, so they move into the energy and industry target, which follows a steeper path. A 1.5°C-aligned energy and industry target asks for a 4.2% cut a year in the near term and 90% by 2050, against 3.03% a year and 72% by 2050 on the FLAG sector pathway. Removals from land management, such as regenerative agriculture or soil carbon, can only count towards a FLAG target. And where FLAG is required, a submission without one is likely to be returned at validation, which can push a company past its commitment deadline.

Other companies were validated without a FLAG target. Can we be too?

SBTi assesses each submission against the criteria in force at the time, on that company's own sector and data. A company can clear validation without a FLAG target if it shows land-related emissions under 5%, sits outside the designated sectors and under 20%, or carries few agricultural inputs of its own. Another company's outcome is not a precedent for yours. What SBTi looks at is your sector and your land-related share.

Does the LSR Standard cover forestry?

Version 1 covers agriculture and CO₂ removal technologies. Forestry and non-productive land uses sit outside it for now. Version 1 does cover biomass carbon stock changes on productive agricultural land including agroforestry and silvopasture, conversion of natural forest to plantation forest, and land management production emissions from activities on forest land.