Home Technology Growers Industry First Nations Insights News About Contact Request a Briefing →
Climate Change & Emissions

Scope 3 emissions in agriculture: why food and fibre buyers are looking at the paddock

For food and beverage companies, most of the climate footprint sits in what they buy. New reporting rules and company targets are pushing that footprint back to the farm.

Germinating barley on a malt house floor; malting barley links brewers' Scope 3 emissions to agriculture.

· 3 min read

Companies report their greenhouse gas emissions in three groups. Scope 1 covers emissions from their own operations. Scope 2 covers the energy they buy. Scope 3 covers everything else in their value chain, including the goods they purchase.

For most companies, Scope 3 is by far the largest. Among companies disclosing through CDP, supply-chain emissions average 26 times their direct operational emissions (CDP, 2024). Yet only 15% of those companies had set a Scope 3 target, and they were twice as likely to measure their own operational emissions as their supply-chain emissions.

Why Scope 3 emissions in agriculture matter

For a brewer, a miller or a food manufacturer, much of that supply-chain footprint is on farms: in the fertiliser applied, the soil managed and the grain harvested.

A ripe malting barley head at sunrise.

The global picture is large. Agrifood systems produced about 16.5 billion tonnes of CO₂-equivalent in 2023, around a third of all human-caused emissions, and about half of that came from the farm gate, from crops and livestock (FAO, 2025).

Reporting is becoming mandatory

In Australia, AASB S2 brings climate reporting to large entities in phases from 2025. Scope 3 is not required in the first reporting period but is required from the second, and assurance requirements tighten over the following years (AASB, 2024; AUASB, 2025). Similar requirements are being phased in for the largest companies in the EU and Japan.

That means large buyers will increasingly need farm-level emissions data. Industry averages will only go so far, and the data will need to stand up to assurance.

Measuring Scope 3 is harder than measuring a company's own operations. The data comes from many suppliers, often thousands of farms, each with different soils, practices and records. That is why many companies still rely on industry averages, and why credible farm-level data is becoming valuable.

Brewers are already acting

Some of the world's largest brewers have set targets that reach the farm. Their main agricultural input, malting barley, is a broadacre grain, so their footprint runs straight through the paddock.

  • Asahi has a validated target to cut Scope 3 emissions 30% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2040, including land-sector targets (Asahi Group Holdings, 2024).
  • Kirin regained its science-based net-zero validation in 2026 with new land-sector targets, and names malt as a focus (Kirin Holdings, 2026).
  • Heineken UK is paying farmers a premium for regenerative barley, with independent measurement built in, and forecasts that almost half of the malted barley it sources in the UK will come from regenerative agriculture in 2027 (HEINEKEN UK, 2026).

Companies are named here as industry context only.

What this means for growers

For growers and agronomists, Scope 3 is moving from a corporate reporting term to a practical question: what is happening in this paddock, and can it be measured? Farms that can show what they do, with credible data, will be better placed as these programmes grow.

It also raises a question about how buyers will count farm-level change. Some will offset; others will try to inset, investing in their own supply chain. We explain the difference in insetting vs offsetting, and look at a fibre example in where a wool sweater's carbon footprint comes from.

Frequently asked questions

What are Scope 3 emissions?

Emissions in a company's value chain outside its own operations and purchased energy, including the emissions in the goods it buys, such as grain or fibre from farms.

Do Australian companies have to report Scope 3?

Under AASB S2, in-scope entities are not required to report Scope 3 in their first reporting period, but are required to from the second, with assurance requirements increasing over time.

Why do brewers care about farm emissions?

Malting barley is their main agricultural input, so emissions from growing barley form part of their Scope 3 footprint and their land-sector targets.

References

← Back to Insights

Want to talk about this?

We'd welcome a conversation about trials, research or partnerships.

Get in Touch →