Communities such as cities and counties are increasingly interested in understanding how nature-based solutions can help them reach their climate change mitigation and adaptation goals. However, many communities do not know what role their existing forests and trees already play in influencing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions because they don’t include them in their inventories.

This supplemental guidance to the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Inventories (GPC) provides detailed methods that communities can follow to estimate both GHG emissions from land-use change and other forest disturbances and carbon dioxide removals by forests and trees growing within their borders. It provides guidance on how to select appropriate data sources, perform calculations, ensure standardized reporting, and use the inventory information to set transparent climate action targets.

The GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Guidance explains how companies should account for and report GHG emissions and removals from land management, land use change, biogenic products, carbon dioxide removal technologies, and related activities in GHG inventories, building on the Corporate Standard and Scope 3 Standard.

The guidance is currently being developed through a global, inclusive multi-stakeholder development process which began in 2020. The Draft for Pilot Testing and Review is now available (see documents below). The Guidance will be finalized and published in 2024.

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There is considerable interest among companies in claiming that their products can help avoid greenhouse gas emissions compared to other products in the marketplace. While it’s true that the use of some products can help to avoid GHG emissions, accurately measuring a product’s impact—whether positive or negative—can be challenging.

This paper outlines a neutral framework for estimating and disclosing both positive and negative impacts of products and provides recommendations for companies to improve the credibility and consistency of their claims.