Traceability for GHG Inventory and Interventions 

Insights from a real-world agricultural value chain case study 

Food and agriculture value chains are a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and traceability is increasingly explored as a way to connect farm-level data, interventions, and downstream GHG inventories. However, practical and systemic constraints continue to shape what traceability approaches can deliver in practice. 

This case study from the Value Change Initiative’s Food & Agriculture Working Group V examines a large-scale agricultural program operating across Brazil and Argentina. It analyzes how current traceability approaches—particularly mass balance Chain of Custody models and blockchain-based systems—have been applied to link primary emissions data and intervention outcomes to downstream actors, and where limitations have emerged. 

Download the case study to explore: 

• Mass balance traceability systems — how environmental data and sustainability attributes are linked to commodity volumes, and where traceability breaks down when value chain participation is incomplete. 

• Blockchain-based certificates — how digital certificates are used to store and transfer verified carbon footprint data, and why additional assurance and validation layers are required. 

• Value chain integration challenges — structural and operational barriers that prevent farm-level emissions data from being carried through traders, processors, and manufacturers. 

• Alternative attribution approaches — how probabilistic mass balance and Supply Shed–level emission factors are proposed as interim options when full physical traceability is not achievable.