My company is in a land-intensive sector - how should I report emissions?

If your business touches agriculture or land in some way, you may have heard that a new GHG Protocol standard is now available. This article explains what the LSRS is, who it applies to and how to work out whether it applies to you.

Emissions from land are different from emissions from burning fuel or using electricity. They include things like clearing land, managing soil and livestock, and the carbon stored or released by crops and vegetation. The GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard do not fully cover these. The LSRS fills that gap.

Even if you are not a farmer or land owner, the LSRS may still apply to you. Land impacts often sit in Scope 3, so a company that owns no land can still be in scope if it buys, processes or sells large volumes of agricultural products.

🔑 Golden Rule: The LSRS adds to the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard. If your land activities are significant, or you report CO2 removals, you follow both. If you decide your land activities are not significant, you must disclose that and justify it.

What is the LSRS?

The LSRS is a GHG Protocol standard for accounting for land-based emissions, CO2 removals and related metrics in a company’s annual, entity-level inventory. It was approved on 1 October 2025, published on 30 January 2026 and takes effect on 1 January 2027. It supersedes the earlier GHG Protocol Agricultural Guidance.

Version 1.0 covers agriculture and CO2 removal technologies. It does not cover forestry or non-productive land.

Under the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard, land-based emissions are not fully addressed. The LSRS adds land accounting categories, a stricter Scope 3 boundary and extra reporting rules for companies with significant land activities. It does not replace the Corporate and Scope 3 Standards. You still follow both, and the LSRS builds on top of them. The table under “What changes compared with the Corporate Standard?” shows each category and whether it is required or optional.

Where might I see land sector emissions?

Scope 1: Emissions from land you own, lease or manage, including land under operational control where you are a lessee under an operating lease. They typically come from converting land to a new use (such as clearing natural forest for plantation), managing land and soil, and production activities on that land such as livestock and fertiliser use.
Scope 3: Emissions from your value chain, including the life cycle emissions of producing agricultural products you buy (animal feed, fertiliser, pesticides, herbicides, and food loss and waste before purchase), the land impacts of purchased bioenergy (Category 3), and raw materials you sell into agricultural value chains (downstream).
Biogenic product CO2: CO2 released from biomass-based products and fuels, for example when biomass or biofuel is burned for energy. It can arise in Scope 1, 2 or 3. Under the LSRS you report it separately from your main inventory totals, not added to them. See: How do you measure biogenic CO2?

Who needs to follow LSRS?

Requirement 1 of the LSRS says a company reporting a GHG Protocol-conformant inventory shall follow the LSRS if either of these applies:

It has significant land sector activities in its operations or value chain.
It reports, or has previously reported, CO2 removals.

If you don’t follow the LSRS, you must disclose and justify why your land activities are not significant.

Types of companies that may be in scope

Type of company	Why it may be relevant
Agricultural producers and land managers	Own, lease or manage agricultural land. Land use change, land management emissions and land use (hectares) are in scope. Under operational control, a lessee under an operating lease includes the land in Scope 1.
Food, beverage, consumer goods and retail companies	Buy, process or sell significant volumes of agricultural products. Life cycle emissions of producing those products fall in Scope 3.
Food service companies	Buy agricultural products at scale, so the same Scope 3 minimum boundary applies.
Bioenergy and biomaterial companies	Use crops as fuel or feedstock, or buy bioenergy. Land impacts of purchased bioenergy go in Scope 3 Category 3, not Scope 2.
Suppliers to agricultural producers	Sell raw materials or inputs into agricultural value chains. These are downstream Scope 3 considerations.
Companies claiming removals	Report CO2 removals, for example soil carbon or biomass carbon. Removals are only reported if the LSRS requirements are met.
CO2 removal technology and geologic storage companies	Covered by a smaller set of LSRS chapters.

How do I know if my land activities are “significant”?

The LSRS gives no definition or threshold for “significant”. You need to set and document your own criteria.

The only reference point the Standard cites is the SBTi FLAG rule, which applies where land-related (FLAG) emissions are 20% or more of total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. This is an SBTi rule, not an LSRS requirement. You can use it as a reference, but it is not a pass or fail test under the LSRS.

Other criteria you could consider:

Share of total emissions from agricultural inputs
Spend or volume of agricultural products purchased
Area of land owned, leased or managed

The Practical Test

Answer these questions about your operations and value chain. A “yes” to any of them means you should assess whether the LSRS applies.

Do you own, lease or manage agricultural land?
Do you buy agricultural products (including grain, crops, livestock or dairy) in significant volumes?
Do you use crops for non-food purposes, such as biofuel or bio-based feedstock?
Do you buy bioenergy?
Do you sell raw materials or inputs into agricultural value chains?
Do you report, or have you previously reported, CO2 removals such as soil carbon?

If you answered no to all of them, document that screening and your reasoning. Requirement 1 asks you to justify a conclusion that land activities are not significant.

What changes compared with the Corporate Standard?

The LSRS requires reporting that the Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard do not fully address.

Category	Corporate and Scope 3 Standards	LSRS
Land emissions (land use change, land management net biogenic CO2, land management production, biogenic product)	⚪Not fully addressed	🔴Required
Land use (hectares)	⚪Not addressed	🔴Required
Land carbon leakage	⚪Not addressed	🔴Required, if relevant
Biogenic product CO2 (e.g. CO2 emissions from biofuels, biomaterials, etc)	🔴Required for direct emissions (Corporate) or direct and indirect (Scope 3), reported separately	🔴Required for Scopes 1, 2 and 3, reported separately from the physical inventory
Technology-based CO2 removal product CO2	⚪Not addressed	🔴Required, if relevant
Reversals	⚪Not addressed	🔴Required, if relevant
Removals	🔵Optional, reported separately	🔵Optional, reported only if requirements are met
Product carbon storage	⚪Not addressed	🔵Optional
Total emissions	⚪Not addressed	🔵Optional, required if aggregating or netting

Key rules to know

Scope 3 minimum boundary

If you buy agricultural products, you must include the life cycle emissions of producing them. This covers animal feed, fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides, plus food loss and waste before purchase.

Land emissions & Scope 2

If the electricity, steam, heating or cooling you buy is generated from biomass or biofuels, the land impacts of growing that feedstock (land use change, land management, land use and any leakage) go in Scope 3 Category 3, not Scope 2.

The exception is biogenic product emissions released when that biomass is burned to generate your purchased energy. These are reported in Scope 2.

Time boundaries

Land use change emissions are amortised over an assessment period of 20 years or longer.
Leakage is annualised, with 20 years recommended.
Most other categories are annual.

✅You can still be in scope for LSRS if...

You own no land. The LSRS Guidance notes that for many companies the land impacts sit in Scope 3. This is the most common blind spot.
You have leased or contracted farms. Whether land sits in Scope 1 or Scope 3 depends on your consolidation approach and the type of lease.

❌Current exclusions...

Mining, quarrying and civil construction activities. LSRS v1.0 covers agricultural land and removal technologies, not non-productive land or mining disturbance. These sectors are generally less likely to be affected, but could be if they hold agricultural land (for example, leased grazing land), buy biofuels or claim removals.
Financial institutions with agricultural lending. Financed emissions (Scope 3 Category 15) may involve land-sector exposure. PCAF remains the primary method for financed emissions. Check the LSRS Guidance before assuming how the two interact.
Forestry. Not covered in version 1.0.

AASB S2 Considerations

AASB S2 requires entities to measure Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions in accordance with the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard. The LSRS is a GHG Protocol standard that supplements it, so land-intensive companies should consider how it affects their inventory methodology and the disclosures that support their S2 reporting. Scope 3 inclusions and exclusions need to be documented either way. Currently, AASB S2 specifically specifies XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

How Trace can help

Trace can help you test materiality, set your boundary and measure land-based emissions. Contact support@our-trace.com to get started.