Agriculture: Targeting Net Zero Emissions

As with the energy sector, the pressure on the agricultural sector to accelerate the reduction of its environmental footprint and the decarbonisation of its value chain will increase.

In February 2022, we published an article highlighting the role of methane in the decarbonisation of companies and the public attention given to the reporting of emissions of this powerful greenhouse gas, particularly since COP26 in Glasgow in October 2021 and the signing of the Global Methane Pledge.

In this context, new tools will soon be available. These methodologies will facilitate the consideration of the role of the agricultural sector in the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and will allow actors along the value chain to prioritise decarbonisation actions.

1. In June 2022, SBTi* will publish its ‘Guide for Forest, Land and Agriculture’, which calls for a 35% reduction in emissions from the sector between 2020 and 2030 or 3.5% per year. The online consultation received 1,600 comments from 165 organisations, which is a huge number for such a technical document.

2. At the same time, the GHG Protocol** will make available to the public a beta version of the methodology under development to enable companies to account for greenhouse gas emissions, removals and sequestration related to land use, land use change, and bioenergy.

Do you belong to the agricultural or agri-food sector and want to prepare yourself for the profound changes that are taking place in the sector’s practices and remain competitive? Do you also want to position yourself and formalise your transition commitments and secure your projects financially? Do you need to consider alternatives, write a new path and plan the transition? The tools exist.

Notes

*SBTi: Science Based Target initiative is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and one of the commitments of the We Mean Business coalition. SBTi identifies and promotes best practices in science-based target setting, provides resources and guidance to reduce barriers to adoption, and independently evaluates and approves corporate targets.

** Launched in 1998, the GHG Protocol is a public-private initiative whose mission is to develop internationally accepted greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting standards and tools and to promote their adoption in order to achieve a low-emissions economy worldwide.