Google has signed a deal with Indian carbon removal firm Mitti Labs to purchase one million tons of carbon credits through 2030.

The five-year deal will have Google purchase credits generated by Mitti’s methane-reduction projects in the rice farming sector. The company achieves these reductions through satellite technology, artificial intelligence (AI), and on-the-ground operations across smallholder rice farms in India. The platform, dubbed GeoAI, was developed with support from NASA and combines high-resolution satellite radar data with field-collected ground truth to generate field-level insights on crop health, soil moisture, and flooding at the resolution of individual smallholder plots.

According to the partners, the agreement will support the scaling of Mitti’s technology across 100,000 hectares of farmland in India. Mitti claims that by transitioning more than 70,000 farmers to water- and methane-saving irrigation practices, the agreement could eliminate up to three million tons of near-term warming impact while conserving billions of gallons of water.

"Google is committed to finding the most promising solutions that neutralize warming across both the near and long term. Mitti Labs' approach delivers critical near-term atmospheric impact by cutting methane emissions, while conserving billions of gallons of water and empowering smallholder farmers to deploy advanced water-management practices. We're excited to partner with them to help accelerate and scale their solution across India," said Kate Brandt, chief sustainability officer at Google.

Rice farming contributes significantly to methane emissions, accounting for more than 10 percent of global methane emissions. Mitti claims that its solution can cut up to 50 percent of methane emissions from rice fields and reduce irrigation volumes by up to 40 percent, without impacting rice yields.

"Reducing methane from rice farming is one of the most powerful levers we have to slow near-term warming. This partnership is a powerful accelerator of our mission to reduce emissions, save water, and strengthen the livelihoods of the 150 million smallholder farmers who grow one of the world's most important food crops," said Xavier Laguarta, co-founder at Mitti Labs.

Mitti was founded in 2023 and is based in Bengaluru, India. Last month, the firm raised $9.5 million in Series A funding, which included backing from Cisco Foundation and Aramco Ventures.

Google has signed several carbon removal deals this year. In July, it inked a deal with agroforestry carbon removal firm Thryve.Earth to purchase 260,000 tons of carbon removal credits from a reforestation project in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Before this, in March, the company signed a deal with Commonwealth Sortation to purchase 200,000 biochar-related removal credits by 2030.