SBTi FLAG Target Setting: Tools and Partners Compared

A food manufacturer buys wheat from Ukraine, palm oil from Indonesia and dairy from Ireland. Its SBTi target now needs a separate FLAG target, and the inventory behind it has to show which emissions come from clearing land, which come from fertiliser and livestock, and which carbon the farms remove. A spreadsheet can hold those numbers. The harder questions are who works them out, which target pathway fits, and who answers the SBTi when its reviewers come back with questions.

Two documents set the rules. The SBTi published FLAG Guidance Version 1.2 in March 2026, reflecting the publication of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS), which applies from 1 January 2027. This guide compares the free SBTi tool, six platforms and two consultancies on each step of the job. Terrascope is one of the platforms, and we applied the same sourcing rule to every option, ourselves included: public claims from each vendor's own website only.

The FLAG job at a glance

Which option matches your situation?

• First FLAG target, with a deadline: an option that covers all five steps, such as a platform with experts built in or a consultancy (see TSE Group and Princes below)
• Producer with plantations, farms or mills in your own Scope 1: a team that collects field and mill data, and a check of whether a commodity pathway fits better (TSE Group)
• Brand or retailer buying many commodities: a platform that splits FLAG emissions across thousands of purchased products, usually on the sector pathway (CarbonCloud, HowGood, Carbon Maps)
• Updating an existing target to Version 1.2: an inventory that shows land use change, land management, and removals and reversals as separate lines
• Below 20% but tracking FLAG anyway: a review of your method against SBTi FLAG criteria, as Mandai did with Terrascope in a week

Our guide Spreadsheet, consultancy, software or Terrascope? compares the four routes in more detail.

The FLAG target-setting job in five steps

1. Check eligibility. The SBTi requires FLAG targets from companies in four sectors: food production, food and beverage processing, food and staples retailing, and tobacco. Companies in any other sector need one if FLAG emissions exceed 20% of total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. A hotel group with large food purchases, for example, can cross that line while still seeing itself as a hospitality business.

2. Build the FLAG inventory. FLAG emissions must be separated from energy and industry emissions, then split into land use change, land management, and removals. Land use change covers emissions from converting land, such as clearing forest for crops, assessed over a 20-year lookback. Land management covers emissions from farming itself: fertiliser, livestock, rice paddies, farm waste. Most companies find this the longest step, because the split depends on where and how each commodity was grown.

3. Choose a pathway and model the target. The SBTi offers a sector pathway for companies that buy across many commodities and commodity-specific pathways for companies whose FLAG emissions sit in a few commodities. A food retailer usually fits the sector pathway. A palm oil producer, whose FLAG emissions sit mostly in its own plantations, may fit a commodity pathway.

4. Submit. FLAG targets go to the SBTi together with the company's energy and industry targets in one package, with supporting forms. Companies seeking validation also report FLAG emissions by commodity in the FLAG Annex.

5. Answer validation questions. SBTi Services, the SBTi's validation subsidiary, checks each submission against its criteria and comes back with clarification requests. Clear, quick answers keep the submission moving.

Quick comparison

The six FLAG platforms

1. Terrascope

Terrascope is a carbon accounting platform with experts built in. For land emissions, it calculates land use change "over the required 20-year lookback period" and land management emissions "from activities such as fertiliser application, farm activities, livestock rearing and more", with dedicated templates for land use change, land management, and removals and reversals. FLAG disaggregation is applied automatically to Scope 3 emission factors, and a dedicated Land Sector and Removals section holds the dashboard and land occupation data. Terrascope's specialists check eligibility, develop the targets, complete the SBTi forms and answer clarification requests. For Princes, the team categorised about 670 FLAG emission factors in two days, and Princes received SBTi validation in February 2025. The methodology is assured by Ernst & Young.

Best for: producers and brands that want the FLAG inventory and the SBTi submission handled by one team, on a platform they keep using after validation.

2. CarbonCloud

CarbonCloud works only with food. Send it your purchased-product list and, in its words, "Every item comes back with a country-specific footprint, FLAG split, per-gas breakdown and a technical report." It states that "The model is already built the way LSRS asks you to report", and its science team sets up any item the model has no close match for. It also makes a clear point about the SBTi's role: "SBTi validates targets, not tools."

Best for: food brands, retailers and wholesalers that need a FLAG split across thousands of purchased products.

3. HowGood

HowGood's platform draws on 90,000 agricultural emission factors to report FLAG emissions "at the purchased material, finished good, or corporate level". It produces the FLAG Annex Report, which it describes as "an SBTi requirement for companies seeking target validation", and lists "Support through the validation process". Its methodology is "certified by the Carbon Trust", and it works with consulting partners on ongoing reporting.

Best for: enterprise food companies with large ingredient portfolios that need commodity-level FLAG reporting for the Annex.

4. Carbon Maps

Carbon Maps splits FLAG from non-FLAG for every product, "with FLAG broken down into land use and land-use change, land management CO₂, and land management non-CO₂". Its carbon accounting is validated by Bureau Veritas against ISO 14040, 14044 and 14067, and its PACT methodology by TÜV Rheinland. Both validations cover its footprint methodology. Its FLAG page also explains that FLAG and fossil targets "are submitted together in one validation package".

Best for: brands, retailers and cooperatives already modelling product footprints from recipes and farm data.

5. Normative

Normative's platform "automatically calculates FLAG emissions against your total footprint", which answers the eligibility question early. Its GHG Protocol-certified Climate Strategy Advisors guide food and beverage companies "from initial screening to validated targets, including building the activity-level data needed to support a clean submission". Normative and Greenly announced in September 2026 that they are joining forces.

Best for: mid-sized to large European companies that want software and a named adviser under one contract.

6. Watershed

Watershed offers "Forest, Land, and Agriculture (FLAG) methods developed by in-house experts" alongside its wider emission factor database, and its food customers can draw on HowGood agricultural data through a strategic alliance. Its June 2026 article on the LSRS says that "Watershed can help you prepare". Its public pages focus on FLAG measurement and LSRS preparation.

Best for: large enterprises already using Watershed for their wider footprint that want FLAG measured in the same system.

FLAG consultancies

Anthesis runs FLAG programmes that include screening "to determine whether FLAG is relevant to your organisation". It uses its own FLAG Inventory Tool "to separately calculate fossil GHG emissions, biogenic GHG emissions and biogenic GHG removals", and has run supplier data programmes for large food retailers.

Quantis says it "helped shape the new SBTi FLAG guidance and develop the methodology". It helped Rémy Cointreau "set, submit and validate" its targets, including FLAG emission and removal targets. Rémy Cointreau is "one of the first two companies to receive approval and have its FLAG targets listed". Quantis uses its eQosphere platform to manage emission factors during that work.

Best for: companies that want an advisory-led programme, or that already run their carbon accounting in-house and need FLAG expertise on top.

Case example: TSE Group

Result: FLAG and non-FLAG emissions separated across five business units, with every emission factor, data source and calculation traceable by TSE's own team.

Business outcome: TSE replaced a consultant-built baseline with an inventory it owns, "replacing manual reporting with an automated, auditable system for long-term data ownership". Terrascope's specialists also prepared TSE's team for technical discussions with the SBTi secretariat.

TSE Group is one of Indonesia's leading palm oil companies, running the full chain from plantation to processing across five subsidiaries, eight plantations and about 60,000 hectares of planted area in Papua and North Maluku.

• The problem: TSE's baseline had been produced through a consultant-led process that was fit for initial target setting but not built for the transparency and repeatability TSE now needed. Its inventory required FLAG accounting for land use change, palm oil mill effluent, fertiliser and farm waste.
• What Terrascope did: measured the FY2023 inventory across Scopes 1, 2 and 3 and separated FLAG from non-FLAG emissions. Data came in through Indonesian-language templates with automated validation across the plantations and mills. Terrascope's specialists advised on land-sector accounting, including the treatment of biogenic emissions.
• What it found: Scope 1 made up the vast majority of the inventory, driven mainly by land use change and process emissions. Scope 3 covered 12 categories, and Scope 2 was minimal.
• Quality check: "Full methodology ownership, with every emission factor, data source, and calculation traceable and auditable by TSE's team."

Read the TSE Group case study

Princes: from deadline to validation

Result: SBTi-validated targets in February 2025, including a 72% cut in Scope 3 FLAG emissions by 2050.

Business outcome: Princes met its November 2024 SBTi deadline, which kept its commitment from lapsing. The validated targets strengthened its credibility with retail customers who prioritise supplier sustainability credentials.

Princes Group, the UK food group, makes canned and packaged food across sites in the UK, Europe and Mauritius.

• The problem: Princes had four months to complete six SBTi submission forms covering near-term, net zero and FLAG targets. Its lean sustainability team had to separate FLAG from non-FLAG emissions without detailed ingredient-level data.
• What Terrascope did: split the inventory into FLAG sub-categories for land management and land use change, developed aligned near-term, net zero and FLAG targets, completed the SBTi forms and answered clarification requests after submission.
• Quality check: Terrascope categorised about 670 FLAG-related emission factors in two days. Princes submitted in October 2024 and received SBTi validation in February 2025.

“From measurement all the way through to target submissions, Terrascope made it easy for Princes to secure our SBTi-validated FLAG targets in only a matter of months.”
David McDiarmid, Corporate Relations Director, Princes Group

Read the Princes SBTi FLAG case study

At Kagome, the Japanese tomato products company, FLAG emissions made up 31.34% of the Scope 1 to 3 total. Kagome set reduction targets in line with SBTi FLAG guidance and updated its science-based target validation. Read the Kagome case study

Set your FLAG target with Terrascope

Terrascope pairs the platform with climate and carbon experts who work with your team from FLAG eligibility to SBTi validation questions.

• Land Emissions and Removals: FLAG measurement, SBTi submission support and Land Sector and Removals Standard reporting
• Corporate Carbon Footprint: Scope 1, 2 and 3 in one inventory, with FLAG separated automatically
• Supplier Engagement: collect farm and supplier data to replace average emission factors
• ROI calculator: estimate the return for your own company

Further reading

• Does the Land Sector and Removals Standard apply to your company?
• LSRG: the new rulebook for land emissions
• Best agri-food carbon accounting platforms compared
• How land-intensive companies measure and cut their emissions: 4 examples
• How food and beverage companies calculate and cut their emissions: 5 examples

FAQs

Sources: SBTi Forest, Land and Agriculture page (sciencebasedtargets.org); vendor websites for CarbonCloud, HowGood, Carbon Maps, Normative, Watershed, Anthesis and Quantis; Terrascope case studies for TSE Group, Princes, Mandai and Kagome (terrascope.com/casestudies). All accessed 19 October 2026. GHG Protocol, Land Sector and Removals Standard v1.1.