Google signs its largest deal yet to cut methane from rice farming
Google's biggest superpollutant deal yet will pay Indian rice farmers to cut methane emissions using a water-saving planting technique.
Google has agreed to buy 1 million carbon credits over four years from Mitti Labs, in what the company describes as its largest deal yet targeting "superpollutants" — short-lived but powerful greenhouse gases like methane. The credits will come from a program helping more than 70,000 smallholder rice farmers in India adopt a technique called Alternate Wetting and Drying, which periodically drains and refloods paddies instead of keeping them continuously flooded.
Rice cultivation is responsible for roughly 12% of global methane emissions, the second-largest agricultural source after livestock, because flooded paddies create ideal conditions for methane-producing bacteria. The drying-and-flooding method Mitti Labs promotes cuts those emissions by about half and reduces irrigation water use by roughly 40%, without lowering crop yields, according to the companies.
By 2030, the partners aim to bring the practice to more than 100,000 hectares of rice fields, which they estimate would prevent 1 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions over the following century and save 1.5 trillion liters of water. Google's chief sustainability officer said the company is looking for measures that address both near-term and long-term warming.
Based on reporting by Mark Segal for ESG Today. Read the original: https://www.esgtoday.com/google-signs-its-largest-ever-superpollutant-carbon-credit-deal/
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
