Crop and Livestock Criteria 3.0 - Coming Soon!
Status: Development of version 3.0 of the Agriculture Criteria has begun! This will expand the scope of the criteria beyond just green bonds to include certification of entities and Sustainability Linked Bonds (SLBs) covering Crops & Livestock.
Technical and Industry Working Groups have been established and collective work will commence shortly, led by the Agri-Food Standards team at Climate Bonds Initiative.
A Crop and Livestock Issue Paper outlining the main topics that will be addressed by Working Groups will be publicly available soon.
If you have technical or industry expertise in the sector and would like to collaborate in this work, reach out at agrifoodstandards@climatebonds.net.
Crop and Livestock production represents the biggest source of climate emissions within food systems and thus it is essential for any investment aiming to address climate change. The updated version of this criteria will include impacts from the production of crops and livestock, farm-gate to farm-gate, including land use and land use changes and production and use of inputs (fertilisers, pesticides, machinery, irrigation, etc.). It will have a focus on climate impacts, but it will also include options to reduce impacts on biodiversity, water use and pollution, animal welfare and just transitions, including food security and nutrition.
The updated criteria will have a strong emphasis on transition pathways, in accordance to Climate Bonds Standard Version 4, and hence the mitigation options within the crop and livestock system as defined here will represent an important element of the scientific criteria to incorporate by entities. Mitigation, adaptation, and resilience options available for crop and livestock production systems will be informed by the latest science, including the latest reports from the United Nation Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2023).
The Agriculture Criteria are already available for use in certifications. Bonds and loans linked to eligible assets and projects will be aligned with the Paris Agreement 1.5ºC limit. Get in contact with certification@climatebonds.net to start the certification process for your agriculture green bond.
Climate Bonds Team
Technical Working Group
Industry Working Group
