The GHG Protocol is the international framework that dictates the rules for corporate carbon accounting. In September 2022, it published a draft version of a carbon accounting framework specific to land use and management. What changes does this new framework introduce? Which companies does it concern?
The GHG Protocol and Organisational Carbon Accounting
Initiated by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), the GHG protocol allows companies to establish their carbon footprint.
The term "balance sheet" is used by analogy to the accounting balance sheet, which summarises a company's financial situation.
The carbon footprint therefore aims to inventory a company's GHG emissions across its entire value chain.
When establishing a carbon footprint, the first step is to define its reporting scope.
This scope is not limited to emissions for which the company is responsible due to its economic activity. It also extends to emissions on which the company depends.
The GHG allows activities to be broken down into 3 Scopes, which define the company's value chain.
In September 2022, it published a preliminary version of a carbon accounting standard, specific to land use and management: the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals.
The calculation of SBTi – FLAG objectives is based on the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals.
SBTI FLAG: what are the consequences for businesses?
The changes made by the new repository
Before the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals
Companies only accounted for their emissions from:
from stocks of fossil fuels (e.g. oil, gas, coal etc.); ;
of changes in land use (e.g. deforestation, etc.).
The diagram below summarises the emissions taken into account in reporting prior to the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals.
Regarding biogenic carbon, only emissions linked to land-use change were taken into account.
Biogenic carbon refers to carbon originating from living organisms or biological processes, but not from fossilised materials or fossil sources.
With the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals
Businesses must now also take into account emissions related to land use in their carbon footprint.
Land use indeed leads to a variation in the biogenic carbon stock due to carbon release, but also through additional carbon sequestration in soils.
It is this variation that the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals allows to be accounted for.
The diagram below summarises the carbon flows now accounted for in the GHG Protocol – Land Sector and Removals.
Sources
Greenhouse Gas Protocol Land Sector and Removals Guidance (Draft for Pilot Testing and Review, September 2022). Accessible here: https://ghgprotocol.org/land-sector-and-removals-guidance
From compensation to contribution, Sweep. Accessible here: https://www2.sweep.net/comment-faire-des-credits-carbone-un-avantage-competitif-pour-votre-strategie-climatique
How to highlight and communicate on climate action carried out within the framework of the Low-Carbon Label?, I4CE – Institute for climate economics, November 2021. Accessible here: https://www.i4ce.org/publication/action-climatique-label-bas-carbone-climat/
Insetting and Scope 3 Climate Action: Applying and Accounting for Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) in Land Sector Value Chains, WBSCD, September 2022. Accessible here: https://www.wbcsd.org/contentwbc/download/14797/210459/1
Baptiste Soenen, Morgane Henaff, Hélène Lagrange, Edouard Lanckriet, Anne Schneider, Remy Duval, Jean-Louis Streibig, 2021. Méthode Label Bas-Carbone Grandes Cultures (version 1.0). Accessible here: https://www.ecologie.gouv.fr/label-bas-carbone
