Insetting means investing in climate and nature action within a company’s own value chain: in the farms, landscapes and communities it sources from. Rather than compensating for emissions elsewhere, companies reduce emissions and build resilience where their business actually depends on it. As companies look to turn Scope 3 targets into tangible results, insetting has become a core lever of corporate climate and nature strategies.
Introduction
Founded in 2014 to define and shape the insetting space, the International Platform for Insetting (IPI) has long served as a primary reference point for the field. Today, this work continues as an initiative within WBCSD’s Agriculture & Food Program.
What distinguishes IPI within the insetting landscape is the range of stakeholders it convenes at the same table: companies, implementation partners and technical experts, each bringing a different vantage point on what high-integrity insetting requires in practice.
Scaling impact across global supply chains
Regenerative value chains offer a transformative pathway to align corporate performance with ecosystem restoration and community resilience. IPI accelerates this transition by bridging the gap between corporate ambition and field-level implementation.
This bridge is what enables nature-based solutions to scale, and scaled implementation is what moves the practice beyond traditional carbon accounting toward landscape-level impact that restores biodiversity, strengthens local livelihoods and secures the long-term stability of land-dependent supply chains.
Objectives & impact
Through this initiative, WBCSD's global network connects with IPI's technical expertise to enable high-integrity insetting at scale. This joint effort focuses on three key areas of action:
Support members in embedding insetting into business strategy and resilience planning, anchored in the High-Integrity Insetting Principles, and build capability through the Insetting Academy and tailored training.
Coordinate joint inputs to standard-setters through policy papers and consultation responses on key gaps such as claims and safeguards.
Advance shared criteria, reference tools and blended-finance pathways to de-risk projects and scale investments in high-quality insetting.
Strategic workstream
Standard engagement for high-integrity insetting (in collaboration with WBCSD’s A&F Frameworks for Performance)
This workstream engages with standard-setters to ensure insetting is well reflected in the frameworks companies already rely on for climate and nature reporting. It develops practical materials to integrate the business case for insetting into corporate climate and nature strategies, while working toward the recognition of insetting approaches within established global standards.
Engage with standard-setters
- to shape definitions and approaches in emerging and established standards, including on near-value-chain mitigation and safeguards for people and nature.
Develop concise corporate guidance
- for integrating high-integrity insetting into climate, nature and risk management strategies.
Produce practical materials
- policy briefs and one-pagers, to support decision-making by sustainability, procurement and risk teams.
FAO/EBRD contract: toward an insetting taxonomy
IPI's project-level technical work is carried through a contract with FAO and EBRD, under which IPI members contribute case studies and expertise to inform evaluation criteria for insetting projects. This work is building toward an insetting taxonomy: a shared classification system that lets companies, practitioners and investors describe and compare insetting interventions using common terms and criteria. By making project quality legible to financial partners, it lays the groundwork for the blended-finance pathways needed to de-risk and scale investment in high-quality insetting.
Webinars & Q&A sessions
The IPI hosts periodic webinars and open Q&A sessions to foster continuous learning and collective engagement. These interactive forums allow the community to explore evolving technical topics, address shared implementation challenges, and exchange real-time insights from their insetting journeys.
Case studies
The IPI maintains a growing library of case studies that showcase insetting in action across diverse sectors and commodities. By highlighting real-world projects at the farm, community, and landscape levels, these examples illustrate best practices and inspire organizations to implement high-impact, regenerative solutions within their own supply chains.
Explore the case studies
IPI Members Hub
The IPI Members Hub is a space created to support members with access to curated resources, training materials, event listings, and opportunities for peer connection. It is designed as a collaborative platform where members can engage with insetting-related content and contribute to the growth of a shared knowledge base.
Explore the hub
Insetting Academy
The Insetting Academy is a dedicated learning platform that equips professionals with the insights needed to inform strategic
decision-making and drive measurable impact. By facilitating knowledge exchange and peer interaction, the Academy
inspires ambitious action on climate and nature through two primary training streams:
- Insetting Practitioner Training & Certificate: A flagship three-session program that guides practitioners through the entire implementation journey, from internal stakeholder mobilization to impact measurement.
- Private & Customized Training: Bespoke programs tailored to an organization's specific supply chain context, regional goals, and team maturity to accelerate internal capability and Scope 3 decarbonization. Explore the IPI Insetting Academy
IPI Insetting Guide
The IPI's Practical Guide to Insetting offers sustainability professionals a strategic roadmap for transforming supply chains toward a resilient, net-zero future. It translates the collective experience of global practitioners into actionable recommendations, featuring ten key learnings for internal mobilization and five strategic opportunities to scale insetting impact within the value chain.
Find out more an download the guide
Exploring AI for insetting
IPI is exploring how artificial intelligence can support the field. A Knowledge Navigator tool is currently in early development, intended to help members search and navigate validated IPI and WBCSD insetting guidance more easily. This work is at an early stage and not yet available to members.