Carbon Sequestration: Targets and Accounting

Although the concept of carbon offsetting is now being criticized or rejected by a growing number of standards and leading organizations, companies are still expected to demonstrate their ability to chart a course toward contributing to carbon sequestration, at a level of ambition consistent with the goal of global carbon neutrality.

While methodologies for setting gross emissions reduction targets—such as those of the SBTi—exist for many economic sectors, there is not yet a methodological consensus on how a company should develop a “science-based” carbon sequestration pathway.

Recent publications, such as the latest SBTi guidelines on net-zero^[1] and on the FLAG^[2] (Forestry, Land, and Agriculture), as well as the draft document from the GHG Protocol, *Land Sector and Removals Guidance*^[3] contribute to the methodological framework for implementing these carbon sequestration pathways. This series of articles aims to clarify the challenges, scope, and limitations of existing methods for carbon sequestration pathways by comparing them with the principles of the Net Zero Initiative (NZI).

A first article providing an overview of global emissions and removals from the land sector highlights issues related to the scope of accounting, on the one hand, and removal potential, on the other. The challenges of setting sequestration targets (SBTi standard) are analyzed in a second article in light of the NZI framework. The distribution of sequestration efforts among the various economic actors is addressed in a third article, based on a detailed analysis of the SBTi FLAG framework and the GHG Protocol’s draft document.

Article 1: Carbon Sinks: What Are They, and What Is Their Global Potential?

Article 2: What are the challenges involved in companies setting carbon sequestration targets?

Article 3: What are the challenges involved in the allocation and accounting of carbon sequestration by companies?