# Does my company need an SBTi FLAG target?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/does-my-company-need-sbti-flag-target

You need an SBTi FLAG target if your company is in a sector the SBTi designates as FLAG, such as agricultural production, food processing, or forest and paper products, or if land-related emissions are 20% or more of your total emissions across scopes. Either trigger also requires a no-deforestation commitment.

## The two triggers

1. Sector: the SBTi lists FLAG-designated sectors, including forest and paper products, agricultural production, animal-source food production, food and beverage processing, food and staples retailing, and tobacco. A tea estate, spice processor or timber mill usually falls in one of these.
2. Share: if you are not in a designated sector, add up your FLAG emissions. If they are 20% or more of total Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, a FLAG target is required.

## What counts as FLAG emissions

- Land use change, such as clearing forest or grassland for farms, in your operations or supply chain.
- Land management: fertiliser nitrous oxide, rice methane, enteric methane from cattle, manure, and on-farm machinery.
- Removals and storage, such as trees on your land, reported separately and not netted off.
- For a buyer of farm goods, most of this sits in Scope 3 Category 1, in the crops and fibre you purchase.

## What a FLAG target adds

A FLAG target is set separately from your energy and industry target, using the SBTi FLAG pathway. It comes with a public commitment to no deforestation across your operations and supply chain. Your non-FLAG target still covers fuel, electricity and other emissions.

## Smaller companies

Check how the SME route treats FLAG companies on the SBTi site before you apply; the SME route has its own rules and has changed over time. If you cannot apply as an SME, the full corporate route applies.

## Example: cotton yarn exporter, not a designated sector

- Total emissions, all scopes: 10,000 t CO2e
- FLAG emissions in purchased raw cotton (fertiliser, field operations, land use change): 2,500 t CO2e
- Share: 2,500 / 10,000 = 25%
- 25% is above the 20% threshold, so a FLAG target is required alongside the energy and industry target

Figures are illustrative. The FLAG share depends on the cotton emission factor you use; state its source.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible measures operational Scope 1 and 2 from your invoices and bills and keeps Scope 3 supplier evidence, which gives you the totals for the 20% test. The target itself is set and validated through the SBTi.

- [SBTi SME route eligibility](https://senseible.earth/answers/sbti-sme-route-eligibility)
- [Land use change in Scope 3](https://senseible.earth/answers/land-use-change-emissions-in-scope-3)
- [When a Scope 3 target is required](https://senseible.earth/answers/when-is-a-scope-3-target-required-sbti)

Sources: [SBTi Forest, Land and Agriculture (FLAG) Guidance](https://sciencebasedtargets.org), [GHG Protocol Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Standard](https://ghgprotocol.org/corporate-value-chain-scope-3-standard)

Last reviewed 2026-10-17. SBTi is revising its standards; check the current FLAG Guidance version and the SME route's treatment of FLAG before applying.