Google has entered into a four-year agreement with Indian climate-tech startup Mitti Labs to purchase 1 million carbon credits by 2030. This deal is described by the companies as the largest publicly announced agreement for credits derived from reducing methane emissions in rice cultivation.
The project will span rice farms across the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana, covering approximately 100,000 hectares at its peak. Farmers will be compensated for adopting practices that decrease the duration rice fields remain flooded, which is expected to reduce methane released during cultivation and lower water consumption.
Mitti Labs states that this technique can cut methane emissions by about 50% and irrigation water use by around 40%, without impacting crop yields. The startup, founded in 2023, uses a GeoAI platform combining satellite imagery with field measurements to monitor crop growth, soil moisture, and flooding on smallholder farms.
This agreement comes as Google works towards its goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. Google's greenhouse gas emissions increased by 18% year-over-year in 2025, reaching approximately 14.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, according to its environmental report released in June.