The Land Footprint Reduction target addresses land use and is focused only on agricultural land. Companies setting this target will reduce the total agricultural land footprint associated with their direct operations and upstream value chains.

This target will require you to reduce the overall agricultural land footprint associated with your (direct operations and upstream) activities. “Agricultural land” here refers to the total amount of land, measured in hectares per year, required to produce or source your products. This does not necessarily include all lands you own or control. The target is only applicable to companies above a certain size and in certain sectors, as defined in the guidance.

You calculate your reduction target using one of two approaches, either as an absolute reduction (i.e., for your total production) or an intensity reduction (i.e., per mass unit of production). You calculate the target as a small and constant annual reduction to your baseline (of 0.35% in absolute terms or 1% per mass unit of production). The methods include guidance on how to choose the most appropriate approach for your case.

The Land Footprint Reduction target is unique among all five current SBTN targets in that it is not necessarily spatially explicit. You calculate your baseline footprint by combining direct, spatially explicit measurements (for example, for your own sites) with estimations based on secondary, statistical data (for example, based on known yields for the commodities you source).