LSRG

General methodological outline

Our model is built on a single-volume structure that distinguishes between three mutually exclusive accounting categories: fossil emissions, land emissions, and removals. These categories are never aggregated, following the Land Sector and Removals Guidance of the GHG Protocol. Land emissions are always included—there is no functionality to disable land emissions.

Removals are defined as negative emissions from the same land categories and only apply to bioCO₂ or CO₂. These removals are consistently represented as negative values.

Both fossil and biogenic forms of CO₂ and CH₄ are treated as distinct greenhouse gases due to their differing global warming potentials.

The same factor certainty used for fossil emissions applies to all accounting categories. 

The model supports the reporting of emissions splits for both market-based and location-based electricity accounting, as well as for radiative forcing. However, this level of granularity is only applied to fossil emissions, where data allows. For land emissions and removals, no such split is applied; instead, a default single value is used in all cases.

Definitions and accounting scope

Land use

• Land use arise from ongoing management of land-based carbon pools, including: biomass, dead organic matter, and soils.

• Management practices—such as harvesting, planting, irrigation, fertilization, and tillage—affect these carbon stocks over time. In addition to biogenic CO₂, land management can produce a wide range of GHGs from agricultural and biogenic product systems, including: CH₄ and N₂O from livestock (e.g., enteric fermentation, manure), CH₄ and N₂O from biomass burning, rice paddies, and flooded lands, CO₂ (non-biogenic) and N₂O from agricultural soils and synthetic inputs, CH₄, N₂O, HFCs, and PFCs from on-site fuel combustion, refrigerants, waste/wastewater treatment, and energy use.

Land use change

• Land use change refers to carbon stock losses resulting from the conversion of one land category to another, such as transitioning from forest to cropland or grassland. These changes typically alter long-term carbon storage and are tracked based on specific land conversion activities.

Land Undefined

• This category covers land-related emissions or removals that:

  • Are clearly land-based but cannot be specifically attributed to land use or land use change

  • Are not explicitly classifiable under current LSRG definitions due to dataset limitations

• Common examples include:

  • Biogenic emissions during processing stages (e.g., from Agribalyse supply chain data)

  • Biofuel combustion emissions where upstream land use context is unclear

This third land category is essential due to gaps in existing datasets. As data coverage improves and LSRG guidance evolves, our structure will be updated to reflect more granular classifications. For the SBTi these may be included in energy/industry targets, but must not be double-counted with FLAG targets. For example, fertilizer production is always included in FLAG pathways, while machinery and transport emissions may be present only in commodity pathways.

Condition	Assigned Category	Explanation
Unclear if land-related	Fossil Emissions	Used when emissions are not clearly land-based (e.g., machinery or infrastructure use in agriculture).
Land use or land use change	Land Use / Land Use Change	Applied when datasets clearly specify the land activity type.
Land-related but land type unknown	Land Undefined	Emissions known to be land-based but lacking specificity (e.g., processing stage data).
Land-related but not land use or land use change	Land Undefined	Used when activity is land-based but doesn't fall under land use/change categories (e.g., biofuel combustion).

To make it understandable and user-friendly, land emissions and removals are aggregated in the inventory as follows in Breakdown by Greenhouse Gas and Breakdown by Life Cycle Stage:

• Emissions – Fossil: No aggregation; reported as-is

• Emissions – Land: Aggregates all the following:

  • Emissions – Land Use

  • Emissions – Land Use Change

  • Emissions – Land Undefined

• Removals – Land: Aggregates all the following:

  • Removals – Land Use

  • Removals – Land Use Change

  • Removals – Land Undefined

Emissions and removals breakdowns in an inventory line.

Mapping to LSRG and SBTi

This structured mapping ensures consistency with both GHG Protocol and SBTi guidance, while managing the inherent uncertainties in real-world emission data.

Mapping the land categories and GHG in C+A+D to the LSRG categories:

Land category in C+A+D	GHG in C+A+D	LSRG mapping
Fossil emissions	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, SF₆, NF₃, HFCs, PFCs, CO₂e*	Non-land emissions
Emissions - Land use	bioCO₂	Land management net CO₂ emissions
Emissions - Land use	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Land management non-CO₂ emissions
Removals - Land use	bioCO₂	Land management net removals
Emissions - Land use change	bioCO₂, N₂O, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Land use change emissions
Removals - Land use change	bioCO₂	Land use change removals (not explicitly mentioned in LSRG)
Emissions - Land undefined	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, bioCO₂, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Not clearly defined (most likely product net emissions)
Removals - Land undefined	CO₂, bioCO₂, CO₂e*	Not clearly defined (most likely product net removals)

Mapping the land categories and GHG in C+A+D to the FLAG categories:

Land category in C+A+D	GHG in C+A+D	FLAG mapping
Fossil emissions	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, SF₆, NF₃, HFCs, PFCs, CO₂e*	Non-FLAG
Emissions - Land undefined	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, bioCO₂, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Non-FLAG
Emissions - Land use	CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Land management (non-LUC) non-CO2 emissions
Emissions - Land use	bioCO₂	Land management (non-LUC) emissions
Emissions - Land use change	bioCO₂, N₂O, bioCH₄, CO₂e*	Land use change (LUC) emissions
Removals - Land use	bioCO₂	Carbon removals and storage (also land removals)
Removals - Land use change	bioCO₂	Carbon removals and storage (also land removals)
Removals - Land undefined	CO₂, bioCO₂, CO₂e*	Not included

Migration of existing datasets to the LSRG framework

With the implementation of our new system architecture, we have updated the datasets within the emission factor (EF) library to enhance alignment with land sector guidance and improve transparency.

• Inclusion of Biogenic CO₂ Previously considered out-of-scope, biogenic CO₂ is now explicitly included in the model. These emissions are categorized under "Emissions – Land Undefined", particularly in cases where the land type cannot be confidently determined. This ensures consistency with LSRG principles while capturing relevant biogenic activity.

• Improved Land vs. Fossil Emission Splits For datasets with detailed land-sector data—specifically WRAP and Ecoinvent 3.10—we conducted a comprehensive update. These datasets previously reported total emissions, without separating fossil and land-based emissions. With the update:

  • Land emissions are now correctly separated from fossil emissions.

  • You may observe a reduction in reported fossil emissions, as land-based components are now correctly reclassified.

• Dataset Version Upgrades

  • Ecoinvent was updated from version 3.10 to 3.10.1, which may result in minor changes to some emission factors due to refinements in the original dataset.

  • The WRAP database (previously sourced via Climatiq) was replaced with the complete set based on the original WRAP files. This update may introduce slight variations in emission factors due to revised mapping, or the removal of initially included factors no longer present in the source.