Isometric Issues First Rice Methane Credits: 97,000 Tonnes to Mitti Labs

Isometric has issued more than 97,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in verified methane-reduction credits to climate technology company Mitti Labs, the first issuance of superpollutant credits in the certification firm's history. Google and Salesforce count among the buyers, and the certificates cover rice-farming projects across southern India.

The issuance lands at a moment when methane has moved to the top of the carbon-market agenda. Global methane concentrations reached a record in 2025, according to the World Meteorological Organization. Rice cultivation ranks among the largest sources of the gas, producing roughly 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent each year — a figure comparable to emissions from global aviation.

What does the credit represent?

Each certificate stands for one tonne of CO2e emissions avoided, independently verified under Isometric's Rice Methane Reduction Protocol. Isometric ran its checks and calculations through its Certify platform, automating the arithmetic, and published the supporting evidence and data on its public registry.

That transparency carries weight in a market still recovering from credibility problems. "As demand for superpollutant reductions grows, it's critical that every certificate represents a tonne of emissions that was actually reduced," said Isometric Chief Science Officer Stacy Kauk. The registry publication gives buyers and auditors a paper trail for every issued tonne.

How does the reduction happen?

The physics of the problem sits in flooded paddies. Continuously submerged fields create oxygen-depleted soil conditions that encourage methane-producing microbes, and the gas escapes into the atmosphere at scale.

Mitti Labs promotes Alternate Wetting and Drying, or AWD, a practice that periodically drains and refloods rice paddies rather than keeping them underwater through the entire growing season. The company says the approach can cut methane emissions by as much as 50% and reduce water consumption by 40%, without lowering yields.

The programs operate in four Indian states: Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Odisha. More than 100,000 farmers participate. Revenue from credit sales will support project operations and, from early 2027, deliver a share of proceeds directly to those farmers — a distribution model that ties the voluntary market to household income in growing regions.

What does this change for corporate buyers?

Mitti Labs co-founder Xavi Laguarta says corporate buyers are broadening their portfolios to include rice methane reduction, a category that until recently sat outside mainstream procurement of nature-based credits.

The purchase agreements already back that claim. Google and Salesforce have signed deals with Mitti Labs for a combined 1.5 million tonnes of emissions reductions. Salesforce alone partnered with the company to buy 500,000 rice methane carbon credits, and Google committed to 1 million credits — commitments that will require issuances well beyond the first 97,000 tonnes now on the registry.

The demand signal reflects wider corporate interest in methane and other short-lived climate pollutants, which buyers prize for their outsized near-term warming impact relative to carbon dioxide.

What comes next?

The milestone to watch is delivery against the 1.5-million-tonne pipeline. Isometric must verify and issue the remaining tonnes under its protocol, and Mitti Labs must scale AWD adoption among its farmer base fast enough to supply them. The first farmer revenue distributions in early 2027 will test whether the model holds on the ground, not only in the registry.