The GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals (LSR) Standard takes effect on 1 January 2027. It sets the rules for how companies account for emissions and CO₂ removals from land.
Owning or managing farmland is one route into it. Buying, processing or selling significant amounts of food, fibre, feed or bioenergy is another, and that route catches food and beverage companies, CPG brands, retailers and their suppliers who hold no land at all. Reporting CO₂ removals in any year is a third.
The question we hear most often is: does this actually apply to us? Requirement 1 answers it, and it comes down to two judgements. Whether you report in conformance with the GHG Protocol, and whether your land sector activities are significant to your inventory. Companies that decide those activities are insignificant carry an obligation of their own: they have to disclose that position and justify it.
FLAG sits alongside this. The LSR Standard governs accounting. SBTi FLAG governs target setting. The LSR Standard applies to companies reporting a GHG inventory in conformance with the GHG Protocol. FLAG applies to companies holding or seeking SBTi-validated targets. A FLAG target requires base year emissions calculated in line with the LSR Standard, so every company with a FLAG target is doing LSR accounting. Plenty of companies sit inside the LSR Standard and outside FLAG.
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.
If the LSR Standard applies to you and you want the full picture, start with The Land Sector and Removals Standard: a new rulebook for land emissions. It covers the four land emission subcategories, the traceability ladder, the 20-year land use change window, removals and safeguards, and what changes in a Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory.
If your team already worked with the September 2022 draft guidance, go to The Land Sector and Removals Standard: what changed from the 2022 draft. It tracks the requirements that moved between the draft and the final Standard, and what needs recalculating.