Most companies treat Scope 3 decarbonization and supply chain resilience as two separate priorities.
One belongs to the sustainability department, measured in tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
The other belongs to procurement and risk management, measured in yield, cost, and supply security.
But these goals are deeply connected. The problem is that the link between them has been almost impossible to measure, until now.
Soil is where resilience and decarbonization meet
In agricultural supply chains, the majority of emissions and risks come from the same place: degraded soil.
Years of overreliance on synthetic fertilizers have depleted soil organic matter, reducing fertility and stability.
As soil health declines, farmers use more fertilizer to achieve the same yield, driving up both emissions and costs.
Improving soil organic carbon changes this cycle. It enhances water retention, boosts fertilizer efficiency, and stores carbon for the long term.
The result is not only lower emissions but also more stable yields that strengthen supply chain resilience.
The real challenge: connecting soil data to Scope 3
While the science of soil health is clear, the ability to quantify its business value is not.
Corporates often lack data systems that connect field-level changes, such as soil carbon and fertilizer efficiency, to corporate metrics like emissions, ROI, and risk exposure.
This is the missing link between resilience and decarbonization: the data infrastructure that translates agronomic performance into measurable Scope 3 outcomes.
Why this matters for business and climate
Under frameworks like SBTi FLAG, ISO 14064, and ISO 14067, companies are expected to report verified data on agricultural emissions.
But reporting alone does not build resilience.
What we truly need is the ability to forecast how investments in soil carbon and regenerative inputs will affect supply reliability and financial performance.
This realization is what inspired our team at Happy Ground to start building the data infrastructure that can make it possible.
After years of working directly with smallholder farmers and corporate partners, we saw that the problem was not a lack of technology.
It was the gap between what is scientifically measurable in the field and what is financially reportable in corporate systems.
By collecting and standardizing real field data on soil carbon, fertilizer efficiency, and crop performance, we are working to create the foundation for data models that reveal the true ROI of resilience.
From Compliance to Long-Term Resilience
Forecasting the true economic and climate value of resilience takes time.
It requires two to three years of consistent data collection across multiple farms and seasons to build models that can accurately predict ROI and risk reduction.
But resilience cannot be outsourced. It must be built, measured, and proven over time.
As an industry, we need to move beyond compliance and toward confidence, connecting soil data to Scope 3 performance in ways that create lasting value for both people and the planet.
The sooner we begin, the faster we can build the evidence base needed to make regenerative agriculture a core part of our decarbonization strategy.
By starting now, we can gain the intelligence to decarbonize our supply chains while securing them for the future.
If your company is exploring how to strengthen both resilience and decarbonization in your supply chain, reach out to us. Happy Ground helps design data-backed projects that improve soil carbon, fertilizer efficiency, and long-term supply security.
Sources
IPCC (2022): Agriculture produces around 70% of global N₂O emissions, nearly 300 times more potent than CO₂.
Lehmann & Joseph (2015): Biochar improves soil health and stores carbon for centuries.
Cowie et al. (2023): Each tonne of biochar can store about 2–3 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
Cooper et al. (2020): Increasing soil organic carbon enhances productivity and resilience.
SBTi (2023): FLAG guidance links soil carbon and fertilizer efficiency to measurable Scope 3 reduction.
ISO 14064 & 14067: Provide frameworks for standardized GHG measurement and reporting.
