Designing a Balanced Decarbonization Strategy

A white paper from SustainCERT and General Mills on combining claimable value chain interventions with landscape-level investments for maximum climate impact.

Why download this publication?

Companies with significant Scope 3 agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions face complex challenges in aligning with Science-Based Targets and emerging guidance. This white paper provides insights from a joint pilot between General Mills and SustainCERT, applying SustainCERT’s Value Chain Intervention (VCI) Checklist to assess five regenerative agriculture and ecosystem-focused interventions across key supply sheds.

It delivers technically rigorous yet practical guidance to help organizations:

• Understand how interventions align with the GHG Protocol Land Sector and Removals Guidance (LSRG), the SBTi FLAG guidance, and SustainCERT’s Verification Requirements.
• Learn why only one intervention fully met the criteria for credible co-claiming, and what trade-offs hindered others.
• Explore the role of Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) in recognizing contributions when interventions cannot be claimed directly.
• Navigate the challenges of primary data collection, monitoring, and farmer participation in agricultural supply chains.
• Identify pathways for balanced strategies that combine claimable value chain projects with landscape-level approaches to achieve broader ecosystem and social benefits.

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Gain practical insights from real-world application of emerging guidance, and explore how companies can balance credibility, scalability, and impact in their decarbonization strategies.