Google to buy 1M rice-methane credits from Mitti Labs by 2030
What's the deal? Deep-tech startup Mitti Labs has signed a five-year carbon credit agreement with Google to deliver one million high-integrity credits by 2030 — the largest rice methane offtake to date. The partnership will scale climate-smart agriculture across 100,000 hectares in India.
How it works: Mitti Labs transitions farmers from continuous flooding to alternate irrigation practices. The shift cuts up to 50% of methane emissions from rice fields and reduces irrigation volumes by close to 40%, while maintaining yields.
Why now? The deal follows Mitti Labs' recent funding round, reflecting growing momentum for agriculture as a climate solution. Methane breaks down in the atmosphere within a decade, so cutting emissions today is a direct path to reducing near-term warming.
By moving over 70,000 farmers to water- and methane-saving practices, the partnership aims to eliminate three million tons of near-term warming impact (GWP20, equivalent to one million tons of GWP100). It also targets billions of litres in water savings — the equivalent of Bengaluru's annual supply for three years.
Why it matters: Continuously flooded rice paddies are among the largest human-induced methane sources, accounting for more than 10% of global methane emissions.
"Reducing methane from rice farming is one of the most powerful levers we have to slow near-term warming," said Xavier Laguarta, co-founder at Mitti Labs. He added the deal strengthens the livelihoods of the 150 million smallholder farmers who grow the crop.
The tech: Mitti Labs' GeoAI platform, developed with support from NASADealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, fuses high-resolution satellite radar data with field-collected ground truth. It generates field-level insights on crop health, soil moisture, and flooding at the resolution of individual smallholder plots.
"Mitti Labs' approach delivers critical near-term atmospheric impact by cutting methane emissions, while conserving billions of gallons of water and empowering smallholder farmers," said Kate Brandt, chief sustainability officer at Google.
The signal: Since launching in 2023, Mitti Labs has scaled to run what it calls the largest alternate irrigation program globally, earning an "A" rating for its methane credits from ratings agency Sylvera. As buyers grow wary of low-quality offsets, high-integrity, measurable credits are becoming the market standard.
Read more: agrospectrumindia.com
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
