What Are SBTi FLAG Targets and Why Coffee Companies Must Act
Coffee is one of seven mandatory commodities under SBTi FLAG. Here's what that means for your science-based targets and Scope 3 reporting.
The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) introduced FLAG — Forest, Land and Agriculture — targets to address emissions from land-intensive supply chains. For coffee companies, this isn’t optional.
What are FLAG targets?
FLAG targets require companies with significant land-related emissions to set separate science-based targets for their agricultural supply chains. This sits alongside existing Scope 1, 2 and 3 targets — it doesn’t replace them.
Seven commodity sectors are mandatory: coffee is one of them, alongside beef, dairy, leather, palm oil, soy, and timber.
What this means for coffee companies
If your company has set or plans to set science-based targets, you’re required to include FLAG emissions. For most coffee companies, this means addressing what happens at the farm level — where 68–91% of coffee’s carbon footprint originates.
Generic carbon offsets don’t count towards FLAG targets. What counts is measurable action within your supply chain — exactly what carbon insetting delivers.
The measurement gap
To report against FLAG targets, you need credible farm-level carbon data. Until recently, this wasn’t possible for coffee. There were no allometric equations for coffee trees — the mathematical models needed to convert tree measurements into carbon estimates simply didn’t exist.
Without an agreed methodology, carbon estimates for coffee farms can vary by a factor of 3.5×. That variance makes credible reporting impossible.
How F.O.C.U.S.™ closes this gap
F.O.C.U.S.™ developed bespoke allometric equations by sampling and measuring large numbers of coffee trees directly — calibrated specifically for coffee agroforestry. Combined with soil organic carbon measurement, it provides the dual above-ground and below-ground data that FLAG reporting requires.
Full traceability from farm to registry supports reporting against CSRD/ESRS, SBTi FLAG, EU Taxonomy, and EUDR.
See our FAQ on sustainability frameworks for more on how F.O.C.U.S.™ aligns with corporate reporting requirements.
