The Google Startups for Sustainable Development program (SFSD) creates a global ecosystem of impact-focused startups, offering tailored support and expert guidance from Google and their partners across diverse domains, using the UN Sustainable Development Goals as the framework for measuring impact.
CarbonFarm was selected within a Google’s SFSD cohort, and has recently completed Google’s Impact Assessment Program. This assessment is explicitly designed to enable startups to measure and report their impact on the SDGs.
For over three years, CarbonFarm has been committed to creating a more resilient and decarbonised rice sector. Rice is responsible for 12% of global methane emissions—a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than CO₂—and consumes 33% of global freshwater withdrawals. Sustainable practices, such as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), can reduce emissions by 50% and cut water use by 30%, all at no extra cost to farmers or negative effects on yields. Despite these benefits, adoption remains slow due to insufficient farmer incentives, training, and barriers to accessing carbon markets.
CarbonFarm is working to bridge these gaps by providing transparent incentives and unlocking funding to drive widespread adoption of sustainable practices in rice farming. Our cutting-edge satellite monitoring and AI technology allows for accurate calculation of methane emission reductions and water savings, which is crucial for generating high-quality carbon credits.
This increased transparency attracts greater investment in rice carbon projects, accelerating the global transition towards sustainable rice farming, while contributing to several UN Sustainable Development Goals:
→ SDG 2: Zero Hunger
CarbonFarm contributes to strengthening global food security and increasing the resilience of global rice farming by accelerating the adoption of sustainable rice farming practices. This is crucial as rice feeds half the world's population, but extreme climate events increasingly threaten crop yields.
→ SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
CarbonFarm drives the adoption of more efficient water consumption in rice production, which accounts for over 40% of the world’s irrigation water. Given the growing global demand for freshwater and increasing water scarcity due to climate change, optimising water use in agriculture, and particularly rice crops, has become essential.
→SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
CarbonFarm collaborates with local project partners, enabling them to access carbon markets and create jobs to manage and implement large-scale decarbonisation projects. Through these partnerships, local officers and trainers are hired to support farmers in transitioning to sustainable practices, generating employment opportunities. Furthermore, by certifying and selling high quality carbon credits, CarbonFarm helps farmers improve their livelihoods by rewarding their transition to sustainable farming.
→SDG 13: Climate Action
CarbonFarm’s MRV solution helps drive significant reductions in methane emissions by providing scalable, accurate monitoring of emissions reductions resulting from sustainable practice implementation.
CarbonFarm is committed to continue scaling its impact and driving meaningful progress toward the SDGs. Stay connected with us on LinkedIn as we share updates on our journey to build a more resilient and decarbonised rice sector.
References
Edmond, C. (2023, June 6). Rice is both a victim and a villain in terms of the climate crisis. Here’s why. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2023/06/rice-climate-crisis-food-security/#:~:text=Rice cultivation also consumes 40,of the Earth's natural wetlands.
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). (2020). GHG Mitigation in Rice: Alternate Wetting and Drying. https://ghgmitigation.irri.org/mitigation-technologies/alternate-wetting-and-drying
Styger, E. (2024). TRANSFORMING GLOBAL RICE PRODUCTION: The System of Rice Intensification. In Beyond Borders: Exploring the History of Cornell’s Global Dimensions (pp. 113–120). Cornell University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501777028-019