The EX-Ante Carbon balance Tool (EX-ACT) team of the FAO Agrifood Economics and Policy Division has recently performed two missions to reinforced ties with international financing institutions (IFIs) in the context of greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting in the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) and wider agricultural sector.

At the beginning of March, we presented the EX-ACT tool at the meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Technical Working Group (TWG) on GHG accounting. The aim of the engagement was the discussion of tool useful developments in the context of meeting IFIs' GHG accounting needs for agricultural sector. The presentation covered themes ranging from alignment with international reporting requirements to monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) features and coverage of metrics beyond GHG emissions, e.g. socioeconomic and biodiversity.

The meeting confirmed the relevance of EX-ACT as the main tool to be used for GHG mitigation assessments in AFOLU, in line with the latest common principles for climate mitigation finance tracking developed by multilateral development banks (MDBs) and IFIs. Further, IFI members have shown interest in current developments of EX-ACT, particularly regarding biodiversity metrics and the upcoming online application.

At the end of March 2024, the EX-ACT team also travelled to Washington, DC to deliver a two-day capacity building workshop to the World Bank.

The workshop allowed the Agriculture and Food Global Practice team and members from connected teams to dive the tool, its key features and its application. The workshop was a great opportunity to showcase recent tool enhancements and build accountability and transparency on the methodology of the tool. It was also the chance to introduce the work being performed on marginal abatement cost curves for the agricultural sector.

The EX-ACT suite is composed of three complementary tools aiming at providing guidance in estimating the value of nature’s contribution to people in the form of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation and avoidance and biodiversity preservation.

With thousands of registered users across the world, the EX-ACT suite is mainstreamed across private and public institutions to estimate, report and recognize environmental externalities in the context of AFOLU and other agriculture-related investments.

The outcomes of the recent commitments underline the relevance of EX-ACT in context of IFIs operations in agriculture, and consolidated the tool as the main instrument for GHG accounting in the agricultural and AFOLU sector in line with international climate commitments.