Scottish Government

Guidance on tools for footprinting Scottish farms

Agricultural activities have a considerable impact on the climate - and have been included in national level emissions reductions targets. In many sectors, corporate GHG inventories are central to emissions management; however the methods and accounting requirements for agricultural systems are very complex and so have been largely ignored by mainstream GHG accounting & reporting initiatives (e.g. Defra reporting guidelines).

The Scottish Government realised this and asked Best Foot Forward, in partnership with agricultural consultants Laurence Gould Partnership, to review agricultural GHG accounting tools and suggest ways in which to promote farm-level footprinting across all Scottish agricultural sectors.

The research - which included field trials and a systematic review of 16 tools - recommended that the Scottish Government support the harmonisation of accounting approach through the creation of an industry stakeholder group. This would complement international efforts being led by the World Resources Institute to develop an agricultural version of the GHG Protocol.