May 21, 2025
- New tools offer companies clear path to implement high-integrity insetting
- Research shows insetting could help companies cut a major share of agriculture’s climate footprint within their supply chains
- High-integrity insetting strategies deliver wins for climate, biodiversity, communities and long-term business resilience
ARLINGTON, Va. (May 21, 2025) – In response to the growing need for credible corporate strategies that address climate and biodiversity threats, Conservation International today published a set of principles and launched a new interactive dashboard to guide companies in implementing high-integrity insetting globally.
Read the principles and view the global dashboard, or watch a webinar intro to both.
High-integrity insetting refers to investments that companies make to reduce emissions within their own value chains while also creating additional benefits for communities and nature. For example, if a company protects and restores a watershed used by its suppliers, this can help protect local communities against water shortages or climate shocks.
The principles and actions released today by Conservation International offer a blueprint for companies to scale measurable climate action while strengthening the landscapes and communities they rely on.
New research, also released today, highlights the enormous potential for nature-based climate solutions within agricultural supply chains – potential that insetting can tap into. The analysis from Conservation International and Climate Focus found that natural climate solutions could reduce or remove up to 4 billion tonnes of carbon emissions per year across 20 global agriculture commodity supply chains, cutting global agricultural emissions by up to 70%. That is equivalent to about 10% of all global emissions, underscoring the scale of climate impact possible through supply chain action.
Of that total potential, about a third – 1.3 billion tonnes annually – could be directly addressed today through corporate supply chain action, including high-integrity insetting. This represents a powerful lever for companies to advance their climate goals while supporting nature and communities.
“Together these parallel efforts demonstrate where companies can unlock the value of natural climate solutions and drive meaningful change within their own supply chains,” said Elijah Innes-Wimsatt, Conservation International’s Director of Corporate Climate Solutions. “High-integrity insetting allows companies to leverage their climate targets to secure ecosystems, communities, and supply chains.”
The framework outlines six key principles:
- Prioritize climate impact: Companies should focus on supply chain improvements that deliver the greatest real-world emissions reductions and removals near their operations, not limiting actions to only the most easily accountable types
- Collaborate in landscapes and supply sheds: Where multiple companies share sourcing regions, they should coordinate efforts to reduce emissions, amplify impact, reduce climate-related risk, and support holistic outcomes for the communities and ecosystems on which their business rely
- Deliver shared value for people: Insetting projects should be designed in partnership with local producers and communities, ensuring that Indigenous Peoples rights, human rights and land rights are respected and that benefits are equitably shared
- Deliver positive outcomes for nature: In addition to reducing emissions, insetting actions should enhance biodiversity, protect water resources and support broader ecosystem health and resilience in sourcing landscapes
- Ensure credible claims: Companies must back up their impact claims with robust evidence, aligning with transparent accounting practices that incentivize real, durable impact
- Implement efficient monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV): Projects should use MRV systems that ensure accountability while minimizing the reporting burden on farmers, suppliers and local communities
These first-of-their-kind principles for high-integrity insetting were developed by Conservation International and 3Keel with support from seven NGO partners drawing on input from over 40 organizations that span supply chains.
“We hope that these principles will catalyze more collaboration and investment in holistic, high-integrity insetting programs,” said Innes-Wimsatt. “Insetting as a practice can benefit a company’s workers, investors, suppliers, consumers and the ecosystems on which they all depend.”
Despite insetting’s massive potential – for companies, people and nature – corporate use of insetting has been slowed by a lack of clear standards for what counts toward corporate emissions targets and how to credibly claim actions in shared supply chains and sourcing landscapes.
“Organizations and teams focused solely on emissions reporting and achieving climate targets can miss out on key opportunities for collaboration within their supply chains and scalable nature-based solutions. Effective climate solutions must support the people who work along a company’s value chain and the environments in which they live,” said Oksana Korotka, Senior Manager of Corporate Climate Solutions at Conservation International. “High-integrity insetting can future-proof investments and ensure holistic, durable impacts while minimizing risks and strengthening local community support.”
To help companies apply the new principles in practice, Conservation International has also rolled out an interactive dashboard mapping the climate mitigation potential for nine natural climate solutions across 20 key global commodities.
The dashboard offers a user-friendly platform for companies to understand which geographies and supply chains have the highest climate potential. It is intended to serve as a living guide for agricultural companies, standard setters and/or governments to develop their climate mitigation strategies and consider climate risks. The mapping tool also highlights where collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and local communities is critical to realizing these solutions.
“Ultimately, we hope these tools will encourage companies to approach insetting with more confidence and ambition,” said Innes-Wimsatt. “There’s huge opportunities to not only improve operations and sustainability for a business, but to make that business a better corporate neighbor in the process.”
Explore the new high-integrity insetting principles here and the global map dashboard here.
For more about Conservation International’s work on guiding principles:
- ‘High-Quality Blue Carbon Principles and Guidance’ Seeks to Drive Sustainability and Equity in the Blue Carbon Market
- Indigenous Partnership Principles for the Fashion, Apparel and Textile Industries
- Principles for Investments in Natural Climate Solutions
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About Conservation International: Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.