To harmonize the methods used in calculating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture, the three main farm carbon calculators included in the Defra Report Harmonization of Carbon Accounting Tools for Agriculture – SCF0129 have announced a collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

To support UK agriculture in measuring GHG emissions using the most accurate and up-to-date tools available, Farm Carbon Cutting Toolkit, Cool Farm Alliance Community Interest Company, and Agrecalc Limited have agreed to collaborate and harmonize their carbon calculation tool methodologies and outputs.

The three businesses are eager to collaborate on this significant task to meet the demands specified in the extensive report that ADAS published in 2023. Everyone agrees that the main objective should be to minimize the negative effects on the environment, optimize production methods, and increase resource efficiency to lower the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture.

“We are not seeking to reach a point where all three calculators will produce the same answer for any given dataset. As the Defra report put it, “There is no single ‘right’ answer”. Rather we are striving to make it possible for users to fully understand why different calculators produce different answers. We plan to align with the Science-Based Targets initiative Forestry Land and Agriculture Guidance (SBTi FLAG) and draft Greenhouse Gas Protocol Land Sector Removals Guidance (GHGp LSRG) through our collaborative actions. This commitment underscores our dedication to maintaining high-quality standards and ensuring environmental sustainability in our operations, and calculation outputs,” Liz Bowles, Farm Carbon Toolkit CEO, said.

According to Scott Davies, Agrecalc CEO, it is intended that all the companies agree on a common set of data sources that all three calculators will use.

“All calculators can go beyond these baseline requirements, and all parties to this MOU will retain their commercial independence. We will also involve the relevant government and other organizations’ teams with our work plan as we develop it. This collaborative approach supports a joint understanding of industry requirements and advancing consistency in our tools and methodologies. Our goal is collaboration with industry, trade bodies, and fellow calculator providers in the UK and internationally so that we can actively contribute to the development of more consistent approaches to on-farm carbon calculation,” Davies added.

Richard Profit, Cool Farm Alliance CEO, declared that everyone involved is looking forward to this collaboration, as it will help align methodologies where that makes sense and that will especially allow them to look into new areas that require attention.

“How we then incorporate the new information in our calculators will vary from calculator to calculator as a result of our different base approaches. We will also ensure that the tools include the latest and most robust scientific findings into their frameworks and road maps,” Profit mentioned.

The calculators hope that this collaborative effort will become the ‘agreed way’ and, eventually, the minimum standard that all calculators must adopt. The corporations will liaise with Defra, the Welsh Government, the Scottish Government, and the Northern Ireland Government to develop a viable and realistic method of ongoing validation for their harmonization efforts.

The MOU will directly result in the development of methodologies or other harmonization solutions, which will be transparently disclosed or otherwise made available for use by others.

The alliance is open to other calculators joining, even if this MOU presently only includes the three largest players in this market, provided that they openly disclose their calculator methods.