The carbon offset market is largely sustained by tech firms. Estimates have indicated that Microsoft alone is responsible for over 80% of carbon credit purchases worldwide. Now Google is expanding its presence in the carbon offset market, announcing new purchases of nature-based avoided emissions offsets. The company announced a major purchase of carbon credits from a project run by Mitti Labs. The project aims to improve the practices of rice farmers in India to reduce the associated methane emissions. An article in Carbon Herald notes:
“Mitti Labs uses a GeoAI platform combining satellite radar imagery with field data to monitor crop conditions, soil moisture and flooding at the individual farm level. The company says the technology is intended to make methane reductions measurable across large agricultural areas.
The partnership is expected to deliver an estimated 3 million tons of near-term warming impact reductions, measured using a 20-year global warming potential (GWP20) metric, equivalent to 1 million tons under the 100-year metric (GWP100), while saving billions of gallons of water.”
Offsets like these are notorious for their unreliability and poor methodologies. Nature-based avoided-emissions projects have a troubled history in particular. However, Mitti Labs claims its technology can quantify avoided methane emissions using satellite data. Google’s renewed interest in carbon offsets is likely linked to AI driving their emissions up. While time will tell the quality of the Mitti project, it is encouraging to see investment in the carbon offset industry.
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