Land-Use Emissions: The Overlooked Giant
Approximately 22 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions originate from food systems, with a significant portion driven by land use and land-use change (FAO, Emissions Due to Agriculture: Global, Regional and Country Trends 2000-2020, 2022). Deforestation, agricultural activities, and land conversion constitute one of the largest emission sources after the energy sector.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) addressed this reality with its Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) guidance, published in 2022. The FLAG guidance requires companies with significant land-use emissions to set dedicated targets separate from standard energy and industrial targets (SBTi FLAG Guidance, September 2022).
What Does the FLAG Guidance Cover?
Core Principle
SBTi recognizes that land-use emissions follow different dynamics than energy and industrial emissions. Soil, forests, and agricultural systems function as both emission sources and carbon sinks. Consequently, FLAG targets are set independently from standard sector targets and follow a separate pathway.
Who Needs FLAG Targets?
According to the SBTi Corporate Manual, the threshold for setting FLAG targets is clear: if more than 20 percent of a company's Scope 3 emissions originate from FLAG-related sources, the company must set FLAG targets (SBTi Corporate Manual, v2.1, 2023).
This threshold primarily affects companies in the following sectors:
- Food and beverage production: Agricultural raw material supply chains
- Agriculture and livestock: Direct land-use emissions
- Forest products and paper: Forestry activities and land conversion
- Food retail: Agricultural emissions within supply chains
- Biofuels and biomass: Emissions from feedstock production
- Tobacco: Agricultural production and curing processes
FLAG Emission Categories
Emission sources that must be reported under the FLAG guidance:
- Land-use change (LUC): Conversion of forests to agricultural land, drainage of wetlands
- Agricultural production emissions: Enteric fermentation, fertilizer use, rice cultivation, soil management
- Land management: Forest management practices, soil carbon changes
- Carbon removals: Afforestation, soil carbon sequestration (limited credit within the target framework)
The FLAG Pathway
FLAG targets use a different reduction curve than SBTi's standard energy and industrial pathways. The FLAG pathway:
- In the near term (by 2030), targets significant reductions in agricultural emissions and halting deforestation
- In the long term (by 2050), aims to reduce net emission levels in the land sector
- Unlike the near-zero targets used for energy and industrial emissions, the land sector targets a reduced net emission level, since achieving zero emissions is technically infeasible in agriculture
The Deforestation Commitment
All companies setting FLAG targets are expected to commit to eliminating deforestation in their supply chains by 2025 at the latest. This commitment is an integral part of the FLAG target and non-negotiable (SBTi FLAG Guidance, Section 4.3, 2022).
The deforestation commitment:
- Covers direct operations and the entire supply chain
- Includes all forest loss, not just illegal deforestation
- Does not accept a "zero net deforestation" approach — the target is zero gross deforestation
Implications for Turkish Agricultural Companies
Affected Sectors
Turkey's agriculture and food sector is a significant component of the economy. Turkish companies potentially affected under the FLAG guidance include:
- Large food producers: May have high FLAG emissions through agricultural supply chains
- Agro-industrial companies: Flour, oil, sugar, and dairy processing sectors
- Livestock companies: Emissions from enteric fermentation and feed production
- Export-oriented agriculture: Land management in products such as hazelnuts, apricots, and figs
Practical Challenges
Key challenges for Turkish agricultural companies in setting FLAG targets:
Data availability. Calculating land-use emissions is far more complex than facility-level energy emissions. Data on soil carbon changes, fertilizer application rates, and land conversion history are needed.
Supply chain complexity. Large food companies source raw materials from thousands of smallholder farmers. Collecting emissions data across this fragmented supply chain is a significant operational challenge.
Methodological uncertainties. The calculation methodologies used for land-use emissions (IPCC Tier 1, 2, 3) can produce different results. The appropriate methodology depends on data availability and company capacity.
Opportunities
Despite the challenges, FLAG targets also present opportunities for Turkish agricultural companies:
- Regenerative agriculture: Practices that improve soil health can deliver both emission reductions and productivity gains
- Supplier engagement: Collaborating with farmers on emission reduction strengthens supply chain resilience
- International market access: Companies with FLAG targets can more easily reach international buyers demanding sustainable products
Taking Action
Steps required by the FLAG guidance:
- FLAG emissions screening: Calculate what proportion of your Scope 3 emissions are FLAG-related
- 20 percent threshold check: If you exceed the threshold, FLAG target-setting is mandatory
- Data infrastructure: Evaluate sources such as supplier surveys and satellite data for collecting land-use emission data
- Deforestation commitment: Map deforestation risks across your supply chain
- Target development: Develop targets aligned with the FLAG pathway and submit to SBTi for validation
Key Takeaway: FLAG targets are mandatory for land-sector companies that have committed to or already have validated SBTi targets. If you exceed the 20 percent threshold, you need a separate FLAG target alongside your standard energy and industrial targets.
See how enterprise teams track progress toward science-based targets.