What is the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS)?

‍The Land Sector and Removals Standard (LSRS) is the world's first standardised accounting framework for measuring greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and carbon removals across agricultural supply chains.Published by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) on January 30, 2026 – with implementation guidance (LSRG) following on June 30, 2026 – the LSRS formally takes effect on January 1, 2027. LSRS replaces single-number carbon footprint reporting with a disaggregated inventory covering land use change (LUC) emissions, land management emissions, biogenic CO₂, and land occupation.

‍Why does LSRS matter?

‍For food and agriculture businesses, this is a significant shift. Under previous standards, companies could report one aggregated Scope 3 emissions figure for their supply chain. Under LSRS, that's no longer compliant – businesses must break down emissions by category, disclose the traceability and spatial boundaries behind their data, and be ready to evidence their methodology in a full GHG Report. Compliance also has knock-on implications for Science Based Targets (SBTi), which requires target submissions from 2027 onward to align with LSRS guidelines.The transition timeline is tight but manageable if businesses start now: LSRS-compliant data collection should begin in 2026 and 2027, with the first fully compliant GHG report due in 2028, based on 2027 reporting-year data.

‍How we're helping

‍This guide breaks down exactly what the LSRS requires – including the new emissions categories, traceability tiers, and disclosure obligations – and outlines how Foodsteps is upgrading its platform, emission factor database, and supplier data tools to make LSRS compliance straightforward for our clients, whatever your current level of reporting maturity.