Land Sector and Removals: Preparing for the GHG Protocol Standard

What the standard covers

The GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals (LSR) Standard sets out methods for companies to quantify, report and track land-related greenhouse-gas emissions and CO₂ removals. Its scope includes land management and land-use change, removals stored in land or geological carbon pools, and emissions from biogenic products and products derived from technological CO₂ removals across the value chain.

The current version is LSR Standard v1.1. The GHG Protocol describes the changes from v1.0 as minor and non-substantive, and says users should refer to v1.1.

Why the 2026 guidance matters

Published on 30 June 2026, the companion LSR Guidance explains how to apply the standard through worked examples, equations and calculation guidance. The GHG Protocol also provides a sample inventory reporting template and a reporting requirements checklist. These materials can help teams move from a high-level inventory boundary to the data and methods they will need to document.

A related Forest Carbon Accounting request for information is open for stakeholder input until 1 February 2027. While that work is underway, the GHG Protocol advises companies that disclose forest-carbon impacts to be transparent about their methodology.

What companies can prepare now

• Identify whether operations, sourcing or products involve land management, land-use change, biogenic materials or CO₂ removal activities.
• Map the relevant organizational and value-chain boundaries, locations and data owners.
• Record calculation methods, assumptions, data gaps and traceability limitations so they can be reviewed consistently.
• Read the standard together with its guidance, then compare current inventory processes with the reporting template and checklist.
• For forest-carbon disclosures, document the methodology used and monitor the ongoing request for information.

These are practical preparation steps, not a substitute for checking the standard’s detailed requirements against a company’s circumstances.

How to read this development

The LSR Standard is a corporate GHG accounting framework, not a product approval and not a stand-alone EU legal obligation. Companies should read it alongside the legal disclosure requirements and reporting frameworks that apply to them. Its effective date gives organizations a preparation horizon; it does not mean every company has the same land-sector reporting duties.