Executive Summary: What the Land Sector & Removals Standard (LSRS) means for food and drink companies

The Land Sector & Removals Standard (LSRS) is the first comprehensive global framework defining how companies must measure, report and manage land-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and CO₂ removals. In this article, Verco Director Andrew Todd outlines the aims of the LSRS, the key implications for food and drink companies, and the timescales for upcoming changes.

The context of the LSRS

The LSRS addresses longstanding gaps in corporate accounting for land use change, land management, biogenic emissions and carbon removals. The Standard is the outcome of nearly five years of development. It builds on the 2022 draft, providing more stringent rules for companies to account for carbon removals and carbon leakage and reinforcing the requirements around clear spatial boundaries, and traceability.

The LSRS is likely to be a key resource for corporate climate target frameworks, especially the SBTi FLAG guidance, and effectively forms the accounting rulebook on which future target setting and assurance expectations will be built.

So far only the standard has been published with a subsequent guidance document expected in Q2 2026. The guidance should give companies more information on how to implement the LSRS. It should be noted that the LSRS does not include forestry within its scope. This is an area the GHG protocol has struggled to reach a consensus with another request for information expected later this year.

How does the LSRS affect food and drink companies?

Food and drink companies almost always have significant exposure to land sector emissions, and the LSRS specifies clear requirements for how these emissions must be quantified and reported, whether they emissions sit in Scope 1 or Scope 3. Here are some of the ways food and drink companies are likely to be impacted.

1. Companies must account for all land-related emissions across their value chain

The LSRS requires companies to quantify Scope 1 and Scope 3 emissions associated with agricultural commodities, livestock, feed, biogenic packaging, and land derived biofuels.

2. Traceability and spatial boundaries fundamentally reshape land sector reporting

Companies must define spatial boundaries for all land used in their inventory. Higher resolution boundaries are only permitted if physical traceability can be demonstrated. Whilst mass balance chain of custody approached (with some enhanced safeguards) is allowed, book and claim approaches remain excluded.

Importantly, the same spatial boundary must be used for both Land Use Change (LUC) and removals, driving significant data and traceability needs.

3. Much stricter rules for LUC emissions

Companies can apply different methods for LUC accounting depending on traceability and boundary resolution. LUC must be reported using a stock change approach, reflecting the carbon stock difference between pre-conversion and post-conversion land.

4. Land carbon leakage is a new requirement

If a company’s actions reduce food/feed production, leading to agricultural expansion elsewhere, leakage must be quantified using carbon opportunity cost factors.

5. Removals face strict requirements around traceability, data quality and permanence

Land based and geologic removals can only be reported if companies meet requirements for:

Annualised stock change accounting
Full physical traceability across the removal pathway
High quality, empirical data
Ongoing monitoring to demonstrate permanence
Reporting of reversals if monitoring fails or carbon is lost

These conditions substantially raise the bar for soil carbon, agroforestry and regenerative agriculture strategies.

6. Increased reporting complexity and transparency requirements

The LSRS introduces significantly more detailed reporting expectations, including:

Disaggregated reporting by emission type, scope and category
Clear disclosure of:
– Data sources (including supplier specific vs secondary data)
– Calculation methods used
– Traceability mechanisms applied
– Spatial boundaries selected for each category

This level of transparency represents a major uplift in reporting compared to how many companies prepare reports today.

Key dates and timescales linked to the LSRS

January 30, 2026 – LSRS Version 1.0 released.
Q2 2026 – GHG Protocol to publish LSRS implementation guidance with examples and detailed methods.
2026 – GHG Protocol to issue a request for information to support development of forestry guidance.
January 1, 2027 – LSRS becomes effective for companies reporting under the Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard.
SBTi FLAG update –Q1 2026, following consultation in November 2025, whilst the consultation was focused on deforestation commitments, it may be an opportunity to correct minor inconsistencies between FLAG and LSRS guidance.

Executive Summary: What the Land Sector & Removals Standard (LSRS) means for food and drink companies

The context of the LSRS

How does the LSRS affect food and drink companies?

Key dates and timescales linked to the LSRS

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