Rice is one of the world’s staple crops, but its cultivation is responsible for significant methane emissions. Xavier Laguarta Soler co-founded Mitti Labs to train more than 100,000 smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia in sustainable practices to cut their methane emissions, and track their progress using satellite data, AI, and on-the-ground observations. In September 2026, the company announced an agreement for Google to buy 1 million carbon credits through 2030, supporting rice-farming projects in India. —Jessica Hullinger What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?More governments need to stop debating carbon markets and start using them.
Look at aviation: Under the United Nations’ aviation climate scheme, airlines must buy roughly 200 million carbon credits to offset the growth in their emissions through 2026. Only about 10 countries have authorized projects to sell to them. That's money meant for climate projects in developing countries, waiting on a government signature.
Voluntary buying by companies got these markets started, but it will never be big enough on its own. Singapore and Japan are great case studies. Both now put a price on carbon for their largest emitters and let them cover part of the bill with credits from projects abroad.
Singapore alone has signed carbon agreements with a dozen countries. More governments should follow, both by pricing carbon at home and by authorizing projects that can sell to these buyers. What is a climate solution that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?In India, more than half the nitrogen farmers spread on their fields is never taken up by the crop.
Some washes into groundwater. Some escapes into the air as nitrous oxide, a gas about 270 times more potent than carbon dioxide that has driven roughly a tenth of global warming so far. Fixing this doesn't require new science.
Farmers need to know how much nitrogen their crop actually needs, and when. Something as simple as a color chart held up against a rice leaf can tell them. In China, a decade-long program helped nearly 21 million smallholders cut nitrogen use by roughly 15 percent and still raise yields by about 11 percent.
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