The seventh edition of the VCI Food & Agriculture Working Group is now open to new members, ahead of its launch in Q4 2026.

For the past six editions, the VCI Food & Agriculture Working Group has brought together leading companies and experts to tackle some of the sector’s most complex Scope 3 accounting challenges. Together, participants have developed practical approaches to topics including allocation, supply sheds, recalculation, substitution, removals, traceability and chain of custody, contributing to VCI guidance used to support credible value chain action.

The VII Food & Agriculture working group will build on this foundation, bringing together returning and new members to tackle the next set of challenges emerging as Scope 3 standards and corporate practices evolve.

Members will work alongside Scope 3 experts from leading food and agriculture organizations, standards bodies and NGOs to learn from peers, test emerging requirements against real-world use cases, and co-develop practical, sector-specific solutions.

 With the food and agriculture sector responsible for around one quarter of total global CO₂e emissions, and a majority of these emissions coming from Scope 3, collaboration across value chains is critical to driving change at the scale required.

The VCI’s work closely follows the development of the Scope 3 standards landscape, including updates to the GHG Protocol LSRS, AMI Standard, the SBTi Corporate Net Zero Standard, and other relevant standards. Through the working group, members explore the implementation of these standards in practice, identify areas of alignment and divergence, and develop practical approaches to unresolved accounting and reporting challenges.

Building on six editions of Food & Agriculture collaboration

Over six editions, the Food & Agriculture Working Group has created a space for companies to bring real-world Scope 3 challenges to the table and work collectively towards practical solutions.

This work has helped develop and refine VCI guidance across key areas of Scope 3 accounting and value chain interventions, including:

– Allocation: Developing approaches for allocating intervention outcomes across complex value chains.

– Supply sheds: Exploring how supply sheds can enable value chain action where full physical traceability is not possible.

– Removals: Exploring how removals can be accounted for within value chain interventions.

– Traceability and chain of custody: Developing approaches to connect mitigation outcomes with companies across complex supply chains.

Each edition has built on the work that came before it, responding to new standards, emerging practices and implementation challenges faced by participating companies.

Working Group VII will continue this progression, focusing on the questions companies need to solve next.

What will Working Group VII focus on?

Following the Q4 2026 kickoff, the working group will convene for four additional sessions throughout 2027.

VCI will work with members to identify and prioritize the challenges that matter most to participating organizations during the first session.

Potential topics include:

Standards implementation and harmonization​: Explore practical implementation challenges under the LSRS and opportunities to harmonize requirements and accounting approaches across FLAG and LSRS.

Removals: Dive into operationalizing permanence requirements and implementing allocation methodologies​ across intercropping, crop rotation, and mixed farming systems, and engaging with the GHG Protocol, CRCF, and SBTi to clarify emerging requirements.

Cross-ledger allocation​: Compare allocation approaches across physical inventory accounting, Market-Based Instruments inventories, and impact reporting systems.

Stratified emission factors​: Examine the accounting implications of using stratified emission factors for corporate GHG reporting, including the treatment of baselines, regional differentiation, and the interaction between inventory and market-based accounting approaches.​

Livestock accounting​: Address livestock-specific challenges, including activity pools, sourcing regions, and how to account for animal movement across regions and production stages.​

Why join the working group?

Stay ahead of evolving Scope 3 requirements

Explore how emerging standards and guidance apply to your organization and learn how industry peers are approaching implementation.

Tackle your most pressing Scope 3 challenges

Bring real-world accounting, reporting and implementation challenges to the group and work alongside peers and experts to explore practical solutions.

Tackle your most pressing Scope 3 challenges

Bring real-world accounting, reporting and implementation challenges to the group and work alongside peers and experts to explore practical solutions.

Build on established approaches, rather than starting from scratch

Access the knowledge and practical approaches developed through six previous working groups and help evolve them as standards and market practices change.

Influence standards and future policy​

Contribute recommendations based on real-life cases to shape standards and policies. ​

Explore the guidance developed through previous working groups

The work of previous Food & Agriculture Working Groups has contributed to VCI guidance designed to help companies put credible Scope 3 action into practice.

Explore the guidance, methodologies and practical solutions developed through this work:

Be part of the next chapter

Build on six editions of industry collaboration and join leading food and agriculture organizations to tackle emerging Scope 3 challenges and shape practical solutions for the sector.

Interested in joining Food & Agriculture Working Group VII? Get in touch with our team.