7 Things You Need to Know About Reporting Land Emissions With Imperfect Data

Executive Summary The GHG Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals (LSR) standard requires companies with agricultural commodities, forest products, or natural fibres to report land emissions separately from energy and industry emissions starting with 2027 inventories . Companies can start reporting today by disaggregating emission factors they already use, without waiting for any supplier farm-level data. Investing in bottom-up, farm-level calculation s typically produces lower numbers than global averages, reflects real decarbonisation efforts, and builds the data foundation to claim carbon removals worth up to one-third of targeted reductions in land emissions. Land-related emissions account for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas output, yet until recently they’ve been bundled invisibly into corporate Scope 3 inventories. The GHG Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals (LSR) standard , published in January 2026 and effective for 2027 inventories, changes that. Companies with agricultural commodities, forest products, or natural fibres in their value chains must now separate land emissions from energy and industry emissions and report them as distinct line items. In a recent Terrascope webinar, sustainability expert Xinlu Liu walked through a practical framework for getting started when your data is still evolving. She covered disaggregating average emission factors, building bottom-up calculations from primary farm data, and illustrated both with real worked examples, including what it looks like when land use change turns out to be 80% of a commodity’s footprint. Here are seven key takeaways.