When we talk about climate action in business, we often start with emissions:

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Scope 1, Scope 2, Scope 3. Targets. Reductions. Net zero.

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While a focus on emission reductions strategies remains key when considering corporate climate action, for organisations operating across land-intensive sectors—particularly retail, food and beverage, textiles, and forestry—land-based carbon stocks and associated removals are becoming a key pillar of robust climate reporting, especially when considering  meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.  

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The most significant portion (usually over 70%¹) of an organisation's climate impact frequently does not reside within its own operational boundaries. It is embedded within all indirect emissions that occur within its value chain. This includes both upstream and downstream emissions: in agricultural systems, in land-use decisions, and in the practices of the suppliers, landowners, and producers that constitute the extended value chain.

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Through our collaboration with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), we’ve been exploring how carbon removals accounting within dynamic value chain systems can act as a powerful tool for organisations on their net zero journey.  As part of our Climate Action Roadmap series, three articles focusing on the recently released GHG Protocol’s Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS v1) have been published. Key concepts have been highlighted within these articles to tangibly bring to life how LSRS-aligned carbon removals accounting can be practically implemented.

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The LSR Standard

The LSRS establishes clear requirements for defining accounting boundaries, identifying carbon pools (including above-ground biomass, below-ground biomass, dead organic matter, litter, and soil organic carbon), and applying robust measurement and monitoring methodologies to track changes in carbon stocks over time. Critically, it addresses not only how carbon is stored, but how it may be lost. The standard implements a storage monitoring framework that tracks carbon stock values through time to ensure that the permanence principle is met.  

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These accounting requirements highlight that carbon stocks are not static: a forest that sequesters carbon over decades can lose significant stored carbon as a result of harvesting, land conversion, wildfire, or other disturbance events. For organisations reporting carbon removals within a value chain context, this creates a monitoring obligation that extends well beyond the point of an initial baseline measurement.

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The standard also acknowledges whilst accuracy and conservativeness are crucial, measuring carbon stocks across large complex supply chains needs to be feasible. Not every organisation can carry out intensive field measurements of all carbon pools across all their supplier farms.  

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The LSRS acknowledges this by promoting a practical balance between accuracy and feasibility. It supports the use of primary data such as soil samples and field measurements alongside high quality secondary data where suitable. This typically involves conducting a thorough desk-based review of context-specific scientific literature, identifying the relevant carbon pools to be measured, and then developing a measurement plan for field verification.  

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Value Chain Governance

Carbon accounting is not confined to what happens within your own organisation, it extends across your entire network of suppliers, partners, and sourcing regions.

The extension of carbon removals accounting into value chains brings with it technical and governance challenges. And, as such, this requires a new level of collaboration and transparency across value chains which encompasses co-developing monitoring frameworks, sharing land management information and critically, engaging with supply chain partners to meet these reporting and accounting requirements.  

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Reporting and Strategy

One of the most significant long‑term impacts of the LSRS is its potential to change how organisations approach value chain design and supplier engagement.  

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By developing strong carbon removal accounting frameworks, organisations can better understand carbon loss risks within their value chain, which can support management practice decisions. These decisions, with the support of value chain partners, can in turn deliver meaningful climate benefits.  

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At One Carbon World, we support organisations along this journey. Our collaboration with the British Retail Consortium is focused precisely on making this reporting achievable: translating complex accounting methods into practical, actionable guidance that organisations can implement within their own supply chains. Because ultimately, the goal is both better reporting and better outcomes.

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We invite you to read the articles on LSRG accounting rules and driving carbon action in retail that have been released, and reach out to the One Carbon World team at hello@onecarbonworld.com if you require support connecting value chain complexity with practical, measurable climate action.

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