Land use change releases stored carbon and should be counted under Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reporting.
Example of a wildflower meadow (left) that was bulldozed to create a parking lot (right). This land use change results in direct emissions of stored soil carbon and plant biomass, as well as continuing opportunity costs: the meadow can no longer accumulate sequestered carbon. If this land is owned by the developing company, this would count as Scope 1 Emissions under GHG reporting requirements.
New GHG reporting standards for land use change are due to be finalized in 2024. According to these new standards,
"Companies shall:
-Account for land use change emissions from land carbon stock decreases across all carbon pools (biomass, soil organic carbon and dead organic matter).
-Account for and report direct land use change (dLUC) emissions or statistical land use change (sLUC) emissions in scope 1, scope 2, and scope 3."
This is important because, according to the IPCC AR6 (2023), land use change accounts for approximately 15% of anthropogenic emissions. Interestingly, the parts of the land and ocean that have not been developed by humans still absorb 30% of our emissions. As we degrade more and more land and water, the Earth loses this buffering capacity, in addition to the extra emissions created from land use change.
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