The presentation Measuring GHG Mitigation in Agricultural Value Chains is by Meryl Richards, science officer at CCAFS Low Emissions Development. Presented at the WBCSD Climate Smart Agriculture workshop at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT on 27 March 2018.

1. Impactful and
Measurable Progress
on CSA
in Corporate Value
Chains
Workshop
27-28 March 2018Smarter Metrics Workshop | Burlington 1
MEASURING GHG MITIGATION IN
AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS
Meryl Richards- Science Officer,
CCAFS Low Emissions
Development Flagship
meryl.richards@uvm.edu
Day 2 | 28 March 2018 08:45

2. 2
AGRICULTURE CONTRIBUTES ~12% OF TOTAL GLOBAL GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
Graphic: CDP 2015; data from Smith et al. 2014

3. 3
FOOD SYSTEMS CONTRIBUTE
19-29%
Vermeulen et al. 2012

4. WBCSD STATEMENT OF AMBITION TO 2030
4
• Reduce GHG emissions by at least 30% of
annual agricultural CO2e emissions against
2010 levels (aligned with a global 1.6
GtCO2e yr-1 reduction by 2030)
• Includes direct agricultural emissions (and
carbon sequestration on agricultural land)
and emissions in the non-agricultural
segments of food supply chains
• A substantial portion of these reductions
will also be achieved through reducing
loss and waste

5. 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1970 1990 2010 2030 2050 2070 2090 2110
Emissionsfromagriculture(GtCO2e/yr)
Agriculture will need
to limit its emissions
to about
6-8 Gigatonnes
CO2 equivalents per
year by 2030
This requires
mitigation of
1 Gigatonne per
year
based on our
current trajectory.
Baseline
2°C scenario
Wollenberg et al. 2016
GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL GHG MITIGATION GOAL (CH4, N2O)

6. MCDONALDS
6
Reduce GHG emissions related to McDonald’s restaurants and
offices 36% by 2030 from a 2015 base year. Additionally, 31%
reduction in emissions intensity (per metric ton of food and
packaging) across its supply chain by 2030 from 2015 levels.
PEPSICO
SCIENCE-BASED TARGETS

7. EMISSION SOURCES RELEVANT TO CSA
7
Current status:
• All WBCSD member
companies report
Scope 1&2
emissions
• Scope 3 reporting
could benefit from
greater
completeness and
transparency
(Vermeulen & Frid-Nelson 2017)
GHG Protocol

8. HOW DO COMPANIES CURRENTLY MONITOR MITIGATION
IN AGRICULTURAL VALUE CHAINS?
8
• Participation in Carbon Disclosure Project
(CDP)
• Ask top suppliers to participate in CDP
• Capture data on farm-level inputs and
growing practices in order to calculate
associated emissions improvements
• Identify best practices for farmers to adopt
and monitor progress over time
• Self-assessment by farmers
3
5
4
3. Does your company measure Scope 3
emissions in your agricultural supply chains?
Yes
No
No, but we are in the process of developing this

9. HOW DO COMPANIES CURRENTLY MONITOR MITIGATION
IN AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY CHAINS?
9
• Flexible data capture approach using existing monitoring systems or
new tools (Cool Farm Tool, Field to Market Initiative Fieldprint
calculator)
• Participate in Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform, Cool
Farm Alliance, and Field to Market Initiative
• Track our percentage of verified sustainably sourced raw materials
• Source certified products (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil,
Bonsucro)

10. METRICS FOR MONITORING MITIGATION IN
AGRICULTURAL SUPPLY CHAINS
10
1. Activity indicators:
• Participation in agricultural sustainability initiatives
2. Outcome indicators
• Sustainability certification of raw materials
• Adoption of practices by farmers
3. Impact indicators
• Greenhouse gas accounting/inventories

11. METRICS FOR MONITORING MITIGATION
11
• Total emissions (CO2e)
• Avoided losses or sequestration of C
(or CO2)
• Total emissions and carbon
sequestration (CO2e) per unit of
production (emissions intensity)
• Emissions per unit of value added
(SDG indicator 9.4.1)
(Vermeulen & Frid-Nelson 2017)
Compared to a
historical baseline
(2010)

12. IPCC GUIDELINES FOR GHG INVENTORIES
12
IPCC 2006 Guidelines
www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl
Energy
Industrial processes
Agriculture, forestry, and other land use
Waste
Emissions = activity data x emission factor

13. GHG PROTOCOL AND AGRICULTURAL GUIDANCE
13

14. METHODOLOGIES FOR VOLUNTARY AND REGULATORY
MARKETS
14
• Gold Standard
• Smallholder Dairy Methodology
• New Scope 3 guidelines
• New soil carbon methodology
• Verified Carbon Standard
• Sustainable land management
• Soil carbon
• Nitrogen fertilizer rate reduction
• Grassland management
• REDD+
• Clean Development Mechanism
• Water management in rice
• Manure management
• Improved digestibility of livestock feed
• Silvopastoral systems
• Plan Vivo Foundation
• SHAMBA

15. GREENHOUSE GAS CALCULATORS FOR AGRICULTURE AND
LAND USE
15
• Cool Farm Tool
• Ex-ante carbon balance tool
• FieldPrint calculator (USA
operations)
• CCAFS Mitigation Options Tool
• SHAMBA
• Life cycle analysis tools and
databases
• E.g. World Food LCA Database
(Colomb et al. 2012, 2013)

16. Quick tab views
Live results
6 TabsDrop-down data
entry
Progress tracker

17. THE DATA CHALLENGE
17
• Primary data
• Reflects conditions within value
chain
• Farm management information
• Secondary data
• Amount of raw material sourced
• LCA factors
• International statistics
PRIMARY DATA BETTER REFLECTS MITIGATION AND HELPS
MEASURE PROGRESS, BUT IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO
OBTAIN

18. INNOVATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGIES
18
In-field wireless water sensors for
rice cultivation
Kawamaki et al. 2016

19. INNOVATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGIES
19
Remote or proximal
sensing of soil carbon
stocks using
spectroscopy
Rossel et al. 2016

20. INNOVATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODOLOGIES
20
Precision agriculture,
digital farming

21. KEY MESSAGES
21
• Tracking progress on the CSA outcome on mitigation requires
measuring emissions against a baseline
• Suggested metrics: absolute emissions and emission intensity
(incorporates productivity)
• Capturing mitigation actions requires primary data from suppliers
• Aim for “good enough” data and improve over time
• Benefit of collaboration: sharing “best practice” and innovative
solutions for data collection

22. REFERENCES
22
• Greenhouse Gas Protocol. 2011. Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. World Resources Institute and World Business Council on
Sustainable Development. www.ghgprotocol.org/standards/scope-3-standard
• Greenhouse Gas Protocol. 2014. GHG Protocol Agricultural Guidance. World Resources Institute and World Business Council on Sustainable Development.
www.ghgprotocol.org/agriculture-guidance
• Kawakami Y, Furuta T, Nakagawa H, Kitamura T, Kurosawa K, Kogami K, Tajino N, Tanaka M.S. 2016. Rice Cultivation Support System Equipped with Water-level Sensor
System. IFAC-PapersOnLine 49, 143–148. doi.org/10.1016/j.ifacol.2016.10.027
• Viscarra Rossel RA, Behrens, T, Ben-Dor E, Brown DJ, Demattê JAM, Shepherd KD, Shi Z, Stenberg B, Stevens A, Adamchuk V, Aïchi H, Barthès BG, Bartholomeus HM,
Bayer AD, Bernoux M, Böttcher K, Brodský L, Du CW, Chappell A, Fouad Y, Genot V, Gomez C, Grunwald S, Gubler A, Guerrero C, Hedley CB, Knadel M, Morrás HJM,
Nocita M, Ramirez-Lopez L, Roudier P, Campos EMR, Sanborn P, Sellitto VM, Sudduth KA, Rawlins BG, Walter C, Winowiecki LA, Hong SY, Ji W. 2016. A global spectral
library to characterize the world’s soil. Earth-Science Rev. 155, 198–230. doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2016.01.012
• Smith P, Bustamante M, Ahammad H, Clark H, Dong H, Elsdiffig EA, Haberl H, Harper R, House J, Jafari M, Masera O, Mbow C, Rabindranath NH, Rice CW, Rolbedo Abad
C, Romanovskaya A, Sperling F, Tubiello F. 2014. Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU). In: Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution
of Working Group III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Edenhofer, O., R.Pichs-Madruga, Y. Sokona, E. Farahani, S.
Kadner, K. Seyboth, A. Adler, I. Baum, S. Brunner, P. Eickemeier, B. Kriemann, J. Savolainen, S. Schlömer, C. von Stechow, T. Zwickel and J.C. Minx (eds.)]. Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA. www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg3/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter11.pdf
• Vermeulen SJ, Campbell BM, Ingram JSII. 2012. Climate Change and Food Systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 37, 195–222. doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-020411-
130608
• Vermeulen SJ, Frid-Nielsen SS. 2017. Measuring Progress Towards the WBCSD Statement of Ambition on Climate-Smart Agriculture: Improving Businesses’ Ability to
Trace, Measure and Monitor CSA. CCAFS Working Paper no. 199. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
(CCAFS). http://hdl.handle.net/10568/80652
• Wollenberg E, Richards M, Smith P, Havlík P, obersteiner M, Tubiello FN, Herold M, Gerber P, Carter S, Reisinger A, van Vuuren DP, Dickie A, Neufeldt H, Sander BO,
Wassman R, Sommer R, Amonette JE, Falcucci A, Herrero M, Opio C, Roman-Cuesta RM, Stehfest E, Westhoek H, Ortiz-Monasterio I, Sapkota T, Rufino MC, Thornton
PK, Verchot L, West PC, Soussana J-F, Baedeker T, Sadler M, Vermeulen S, Campbell BM. 2016. Reducing emissions from agriculture to meet the 2 °C target. Glob.
Chang. Biol. 22. doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13340

23. REFERENCES: VOLUNTARY AND COMPLIANCE MARKET STANDARDS
23
• Gold standard
• Increasing soil carbon through improved tillage:
www.goldstandard.org/blog-item/agriculture-gold-
standard-tillage-methodology-approved
• Smallholder dairy: www.goldstandard.org/blog-item/dairy-
methodology
• Verified Carbon Standard
http://verra.org/methodologies/
• VM0009 Methodology for Avoided Ecosystem Conversion
• VM0017 Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Land Management
• VM0021 Soil Carbon Quantification Methodology
• VM0022 Quantifying N2O Emissions Reductions in Agricultural Crops
through Nitrogen Fertilizer Rate Reduction
• VM0026 Methodology for Sustainable Grassland Management
• VM0032 Methodology for the Adoption of Sustainable Grasslands
through Adjustment of Fire and Grazing
• VMD0003 Estimation of carbon stocks in the litter pool
• VM0007 REDD+ Methodology Framework (REDD-MF)
• Methodologies for avoided ecosystem conversion, avoided
conversion of peat swamp, improved forest management
• Clean Development Mechanism
https://cdm.unfccc.int/methodologies/index.html
Large-scale methodologies
• ACM0010 GHG emission reductions from manure management
systems
Small-scale methodologies
• AMS-III.A. Offsetting of synthetic nitrogen fertilizers by inoculant
application in legumes-grass rotations on acidic soils on existing
cropland
• AMS-II.F. Energy efficiency and fuel switching measures for agricultural
facilities and activities
• AMS-II.P. Energy efficient pump-set for agriculture use
• AMS-III.D. Methane recovery in animal manure management
• AMS-III.R. Methane recovery in agricultural activities at
household/small farm level systems
• AMS-III.AU. Methane emission reduction by adjusted water
management practice in rice cultivation
• AMS-III.BE. Avoidance of methane and nitrous oxide emissions from
sugarcane pre-harvest open burning through mulching
• AMS-III.BK Strategic feed supplementation in smallholder dairy sector
to increase productivity
• Afforestation and reforestation methodologies

24. REFERENCES: GREENHOUSE GAS CALCULATORS FOR AGRICULTURE
AND LAND USE
24
• Cool Farm Tool https://coolfarmtool.org/
• Ex-ante carbon balance tool www.fao.org/tc/exact/ex-act-
home/en/
• FieldPrint calculator https://fieldtomarket.org/our-
program/fieldprint-platform/
• SHAMBA http://hdl.handle.net/10568/67025
• CCAFS Mitigation Options Tool
http://hdl.handle.net/10568/67027
• Life cycle analysis tools and databases
• World Food LCA Database https://quantis-
intl.com/tools/databases/wfldb-food/
• World Apparel and Footwear LCA Database
https://quantis-intl.com/tools/databases/waldb-
apparel-footwear/
Guides to more agricultural GHG calculation tools
• Colomb, V., Touchemoulin, O., Bockel, L., Chotte, J.-L.,
Martin, S., Tinlot, M., Bernoux, M., 2013. Selection of
appropriate calculators for landscape-scale greenhouse
gas assessment for agriculture and forestry. Environ. Res.
Lett. 8, 15029. doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/8/1/015029
• Colomb, V., Bernoux, M., Bockel, L., Chotte, J.-L., Martin,
S., Martin-Phipps, C., Mousset, J., Tinlot, M.,
Touchemoulin, O., 2012. Review of GHG calculators in
agriculture and forestry sectors. Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome.
www.fao.org/tc/exact/review-of-ghg-tools-in-
agriculture/en/