Salesforce and Mitti Labs Partner on 500,000 Rice Methane Credits in India

ENVIRONMENT | GLOBAL / INDIA | OCTOBER 31, 2026 –  A new partnership between Salesforce and Bengaluru-based climate technology company Mitti Labs is bringing agricultural methane reduction into sharper focus for corporate climate investment.

Announced on October 28, 2026, the five-year agreement will see Salesforce purchase 500,000 methane-reduction carbon credits from projects supporting more sustainable rice cultivation in India. The programme is designed to reduce emissions from rice farming while improving water efficiency for participating farmers.

According to the companies, the initiative could save approximately 700 billion litres of water over the crediting period. The partnership also highlights the growing role of satellite monitoring and geospatial artificial intelligence (GeoAI) in measuring environmental outcomes across agricultural supply chains.

Salesforce–Mitti Labs Deal Targets Rice Farming Emissions

Rice cultivation is an important source of agricultural methane emissions. In conventional rice farming, fields are often kept flooded for extended periods. Waterlogged soil limits oxygen availability, creating conditions in which microorganisms produce methane as they break down organic matter.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, making reductions from agricultural sources an important component of broader climate mitigation efforts.

The Salesforce–Mitti Labs agreement seeks to address this challenge by supporting farming practices that reduce the duration of continuous flooding. Rather than relying exclusively on broad carbon-removal projects, the partnership focuses on changing how water is managed in rice fields.

For Salesforce, the purchase forms part of its broader climate strategy, which includes supporting initiatives intended to reduce emissions with a significant near-term warming impact.

For Mitti Labs, the agreement provides a commercial route to expand agricultural climate projects and connect participating farmers with demand for carbon credits.

How Alternate Wetting and Drying Can Reduce Methane

The programme centres on alternate wetting and drying (AWD), a rice irrigation method that allows fields to dry partially between watering cycles instead of remaining continuously flooded throughout the growing season.

When implemented appropriately, AWD can reduce the anaerobic conditions associated with methane production. It can also lower irrigation requirements, potentially delivering environmental benefits in regions facing water stress.

Mitti Labs cites potential reductions of up to 50% in methane emissions and up to 40% in water use under suitable conditions. Actual results can vary according to soil characteristics, climate, irrigation systems and farming practices.

Successful implementation requires careful water management, farmer training and attention to crop health. Poorly managed drying cycles can affect yields, so the approach must be adapted to local agricultural conditions.

The proposed water savings of approximately 700 billion litres across the Salesforce partnership represent a projection from the programme, rather than a measurement of water already conserved.

The initiative aims to make these practices more accessible to smallholder farmers by combining agricultural support with a system for measuring environmental performance.

Satellite Monitoring Brings Greater Transparency to Carbon Credits

Measuring emissions reductions across thousands of small farms presents a significant challenge for agricultural carbon projects. Traditional approaches can require extensive field visits and monitoring, making it difficult to assess changes consistently across geographically dispersed plots.

Mitti Labs uses a proprietary GeoAI platform that combines satellite radar imagery with field-level observations to monitor agricultural conditions.

The system is designed to assess indicators such as water coverage, soil moisture and crop conditions. These observations can help determine whether participating farms are following the intended water-management practices and support the calculation of associated emissions reductions.

Satellite-based monitoring offers the potential to improve the scale and consistency of agricultural project assessments. However, remote sensing alone does not establish the full climate impact of a project. Reliable carbon accounting also depends on appropriate baselines, credible methodologies, independent validation or verification where required, and safeguards against double counting.

For corporate buyers, these factors are central to determining whether purchased credits represent credible and additional emissions reductions.

The partnership therefore offers a case study in how digital monitoring could strengthen transparency in agricultural carbon markets, provided the underlying methodology and reported outcomes withstand scrutiny.

Why Salesforce Is Investing in Methane Reduction

Methane has a particularly strong warming effect over shorter time horizons compared with carbon dioxide, although carbon dioxide remains a major driver of long-term global warming.

Reducing methane emissions can therefore complement efforts to cut carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Jamila Yamani, Salesforce’s Director of Climate & Energy, said the company views reducing highly polluting gases as an important way to slow near-term warming and direct funding towards impactful mitigation efforts.

Salesforce is also a founding member of the Beyond Alliance, a coalition of corporate buyers focused on methane and other short-lived climate pollutants.

The Mitti Labs agreement aligns with this emphasis on supporting projects that target emissions beyond conventional carbon dioxide-focused initiatives.

Carbon credits, however, should be assessed alongside companies’ direct emissions reductions. The environmental value of an offtake agreement depends on the quality of the underlying project, the credibility of its accounting and the way credits are incorporated into the buyer’s climate strategy.

Mitti Labs Looks to Expand Agricultural Carbon Projects

Founded in 2023, Mitti Labs is developing technology-enabled projects aimed at reducing emissions from rice cultivation. The company has also worked with Google on rice-methane credit purchases, according to the supplied reports.

The Salesforce agreement adds another major corporate buyer to the company’s project pipeline as interest in agricultural methane reduction grows.

Mitti Labs has stated an ambition to issue two million satellite-verified credits annually by 2028. Achieving that target would require substantial project expansion, continued participation from farmers and sufficient demand for credits that meet buyers’ environmental integrity requirements.

Scaling such programmes involves more than securing corporate offtake agreements. Developers must also demonstrate that farmers can adopt the practices reliably, that the projects deliver measurable benefits and that credit issuance reflects actual emissions reductions.

For India’s agricultural sector, the approach could create opportunities to connect climate finance with improved water management. Its longer-term success will depend on practical implementation, farmer incentives and the credibility of the resulting carbon credits.

What the Partnership Means for ESG and Carbon Markets

The Salesforce–Mitti Labs agreement highlights the growing interest in agricultural methane as a potential source of climate mitigation and carbon-market investment.

Agricultural credits face many of the same integrity questions as other voluntary carbon credits. Buyers need confidence that emissions reductions are additional to what would otherwise have happened, are calculated using defensible methods and are not counted more than once.

In rice cultivation, monitoring whether farmers adopt alternate wetting and drying is an important part of the evidence base. Yet practice adoption and verified emissions reductions are not identical: robust accounting must connect the observed changes to credible estimates of methane avoided.

The deal also draws attention to the relationship between climate action and water stewardship. By supporting irrigation practices designed to reduce both methane emissions and water use, the programme seeks to address two environmental challenges through one agricultural intervention.

For ESG teams and carbon-market participants, the agreement offers an example of how corporate climate funding, farmer engagement and geospatial technology can be combined in a single programme. Its significance will ultimately depend on independently credible results and transparent reporting over the life of the project.

Salesforce–Mitti Labs Deal: Key Numbers

• 500,000 carbon credits: The volume Salesforce plans to purchase under the agreement.
• Five years: The duration of the offtake arrangement announced on October 28, 2026.
• Approximately 700 billion litres: Projected water savings associated with the partnership, according to the companies.
• Up to 50%: Potential methane-emissions reduction cited for alternate wetting and drying under suitable conditions.
• Up to 40%: Potential water-use reduction cited for the farming practice.
• Two million credits annually by 2028: Mitti Labs’ stated target for annual satellite-verified credit issuance.

These figures describe the agreement, programme estimates and company targets. They should not be interpreted as independently confirmed environmental outcomes already achieved.

The Road Ahead

The Salesforce–Mitti Labs partnership illustrates how carbon-market investment could help scale climate-smart farming practices in India. Its combination of water management, methane reduction and satellite-enabled monitoring may offer a model for other agricultural programmes.

But the central test will be delivery: whether farmers can sustain the practices, whether projected water savings materialise and whether emissions reductions are measured and verified to credible standards.

As corporate demand for climate-related investments evolves, the quality of evidence behind each credit will remain essential to building trust in voluntary carbon markets.

For India, the opportunity is to connect climate finance with practical improvements in agricultural water use and emissions performance—while ensuring that environmental claims are supported by transparent, measurable results.

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