Mitti Labs has signed a four-year Google offtake deal to supply 1 Mn carbon credits through 2030
The deal could help scale methane-reduction and water-saving practices across rice farms while giving farmers an additional income stream through carbon credits
The credits will primarily come from projects across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, with Mitti Labs currently covering more than 100,000 hectares and targeting expansion to millions of hectares
has signed a four-year agreement with Google to supply 1 Mn Carbon credits till 2030, which it describes as one of the largest nature-based offtakes to date
The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. However, Mitti Labs said the deal is a fixed contractual offtake covering 1 Mn credits, delivered between 2027 and 2030.
Mitti Labs said payments will be made upon delivery of the verified carbon credits, with no upfront financing involved in the agreement.
The credits will primarily be generated from Mitti Labs’ rice farming projects in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. The startup currently has programmes covering more than 1 Lakh hectares in India.
“We are currently working on expanding both across India and Southeast Asia. This deal with Google doesn’t just validate the quality of the projects, the use of our MRV and the scalability of our projects, but will also help us scale our India projects,” cofounder Xavier Laguarta Soler told Inc42.Kate Brandt, Google’s chief sustainability officer, said Mitti Labs’ approach could cut methane emissions while conserving water and helping smallholder farmers adopt more efficient irrigation practices.
“Mitti Labs’ approach delivers critical near-term atmospheric impact by cutting methane emissions, while conserving billions of gallons of water and empowering smallholder farmers to deploy advanced water-management practices. We’re excited to partner with them to help accelerate and scale their solution across India,” Brandt said.
The agreement comes a month after Mitti Labs raised Ventures. The funding is being used to expand its operations across India and develop new greenfield projects in the Philippines and Indonesia.
Cutting Methane By Changing How Rice Is Grown
Rice farming is a major Methane producer, a potent greenhouse gas. Flooding fields creates oxygen-poor conditions in which methane-producing microbes thrive.Mitti Labs works with farmers to introduce a practice known as alternate wetting and drying (AWD).
Developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the technique involves allowing fields to dry periodically before they are irrigated again.
The approach can reduce the conditions that produce methane while using less water, as per Mitti Labs, without affecting crop yields.
Mitti Labs trains farmers and provides support as they adopt the practice. It also shares revenue from the resulting carbon credits with participating farming communities.
Mitti Labs’ AI platform combines high-resolution synthetic aperture radar, remote sensing and biogeochemical models with on-the-ground measurements to estimate changes in greenhouse gas emissions and water use.
Water savings are also measured using flow meters. The GeoAI platform has been developed with support from NASA through a grant.
Mitti Labs has also begun expanding outside India, with the Philippines serving as its first south-east Asian pilot market. It is exploring other major rice-producing markets in the region.