NetZeroAg harnesses SRP to connect rice smallholders to voluntary carbon markets

NetZeroAg, a founding member of the Sustainable Rice Platform (SRP), is excited to launch a programme to enable smallholder rice farmers to access the voluntary carbon markets - at scale.  Until now, smallholder rice farmers have been largely unable to benefit from the expansion of voluntary markets due to challenges in verification and the complexity of the process.

Rice farming remains a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, ranking on par with the global aviation business in terms of GHG footprint. It is the second largest source of agricultural contributions to global methane emissions. However, changes to water management practices can enable rice smallholders to reduce methane emissions from paddy rice fields and monetise these reductions through carbon offsets.

The SRP Standard for Sustainable Rice Cultivation advocates comprehensive water management techniques in paddy rice that by boosting water use efficiency, can also significantly reduce GHG emissions.  Linking the SRP Standard to carbon metrics can therefore offer farmers an additional revenue stream through purchase of carbon offsets; these climate and financial benefits of adoption add further to the utility of the SRP Standard.

NetZeroAg has developed a proprietary technology suite, including the use of ground-based sensors and satellite data, to increase the quality of data available to generate carbon offsets and in the reporting of Scope 3 emissions.  NetZeroAg has established a pioneering scheme verified by Gold Standard, ahead of Gold Standard’s release of a revised methodology for rice cultivation.

Ali Erfan, co-founder of NetZeroAg said: “We look forward to working across the SRP network to aggregate and incentivise smallholder farmers to adopt climate-friendly growing practices, by delivering farmers with an additional income stream in the form of carbon offsets.  With the right incentives in place, smallholder farmers can reduce their GHG footprint by up to 50%”.

Wyn Ellis, SRP’s Executive Director said: “SRP is committed to support member initiatives that contribute to our shared goal and mission to transform the global rice sector, and congratulates NetZeroAg on its commitment to supporting smallholder rice farmers to access voluntary carbon markets. This NZA initiative will be crucial to building a robust body of evidence in support of further replication and scaling, and we look forward to exploring opportunities for further collaboration on innovative approaches to access both voluntary carbon markets and international compliance carbon markets governed by Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.”