Introducing SBTi – FLAG

With the launch of science-based targets for the Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) sector, Shane O’Reilly and Julie Stokes from Sustainable Futures examine their scope and potential impact on the industry.

Globally, 22% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are derived from forestry, agriculture, and other land uses. These emissions are expected to increase rapidly as agricultural production is ramped up to meet the needs of rising global populations. This trend places increasing pressure on companies in land-intensive industries to take appropriate action in reducing their emissions footprints.

Recognising this, on September 28^th the Scienced-based Targets Initiative (SBTi) launched the world’s first standard for companies that operate in this space to set science-based targets that include land-related emissions and removals.

While many businesses are already committed to targets set through the SBTi, and are reporting publicly, there is a gap in the number that are disclosing their agriculture, forestry, and other land use (AFOLU) emissions or removals – largely due to the lack of standardised guidance on how to action this.

The SBTi FLAG project seeks to address this gap by introducing standardised methodologies and guidance that targets companies in forestry, food, and agriculture to set science-based targets (SBTs) that fully integrate land-related emissions and removals. According to SBTi, this new guidance will offer “a common, robust, science-based pathway to how much and how quickly a company needs to cut its land-related emissions to limit global warming to 1.5°C”. The standardised approach includes both a tool and guidance for implementation.