Forest Carbon Accounting Technical Working Group 

As announced in July 2024, the Land Sector and Removals Advisory Committee approved a proposal to resolve the issue of forest carbon accounting under GHG Protocol’s Independent Standards Board.  

To support the resolution of this issue, the Independent Standards Board (ISB) approved the membership of Technical Working Group (TWG) on the topic of forest carbon accounting. The list of selected TWG members is available on the GHG Protocol governance webpage. Given the different perspectives on this issue, the GHG Protocol Secretariat has also contracted with EY to support facilitation of the Forest Carbon Accounting TWG meetings. Updates and information from the Forest Carbon Accounting TWG meetings will be made publicly available through the governance document repository.   

The Forest Carbon Accounting Technical Working Group is tasked with developing a proposal or set of options, for the Independent Standards Board’s consideration, that answers the question of how to account for CO2 emissions and removals from changes in carbon stocks on forest land and for forest product consumers within the corporate GHG inventory.  For more details on the background, objectives and scope of the Forest Carbon Accounting TWG please see the Forest Carbon Accounting Requirements Development Plan.  

“This Technical Working Group is pivotal to the successful completion of the Land Sector and Removals Standard and Guidance. The GHG Protocol Secretariat is grateful to this international group for forest carbon experts volunteering their time to help GHG Protocol reach a resolution on this critical forest carbon accounting issue,” said Matt Ramlow, Land Sector and Removals Lead.  

Standard and Guidance Publication Timeline 

Since our last public communication, the Land Sector and Removals Advisory Committee did not achieve consensus on the issue of agricultural leakage quantification. According to the Land Sector and Removals project overview document, in cases where the Advisory Committee is unable to reach consensus recommendations, the Secretariat retains the authority to make a final decision. The Secretariat Co-Hosts have determined the best course of action is for the Independent Standards Board to resolve the issue of agricultural leakage quantification (in addition to the issue of forest carbon accounting).  

In consideration of the additional time the ISB needs to resolve these two issues, GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Standard and Guidance will be published in Q4 2025. We recognize that companies rely on GHG Protocol standards and guidance for emissions disclosure and target setting and that having up-to-date standards is of the upmost importance to achieving ambitious climate goals. We take this responsibility seriously and GHG Protocol is committed to moving as swiftly as is possible.