The Global Methane Hub’s Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator will focus on five key research areas to support more sustainable rice production as climate pressures grow.
October 28, SINGAPORE — A new strategy for halving methane emissions from rice farming by 2040 while protecting yields and meeting demand has been released by the Global Methane Hub.
The strategy, unveiled during Singapore International Agrifood Week, outlines five research areas to be prioritized by the Global Methane Hub’s $100 million Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator, which was launched last year.
As part of the strategy, the Accelerator will advance research into agronomic practices, soil amendments, plant genetics, methane-reducing agents and measurement tools. Solutions will be tested at research “Super Sites”, which will complement existing infrastructure across South, Southeast and East Asia. These facilities will support ongoing research, as well as generate high-quality emissions data to validate and improve specific technologies and models under near real-world farming conditions, with cutting-edge scientific instrumentation and data management.
Rice is a vital staple food for half the global population, especially in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, making up to 70 percent of daily caloric intake for millions.
But rice cultivation currently accounts for between eight and 12 percent of total anthropogenic methane emissions. Just five Asian countries – China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Thailand – account for nearly 80 percent of the global methane emissions from rice.
Rice production is coming under growing pressure from climate extremes, including this year’s “super” El Niño. Authorities in the Philippines have already warned of a potential 17 percent drop in rice production compared to last year, while rice production in India and Thailand is also expected to be affected.
“Rice feeds a fifth of the world, but flooded paddies are also one of agriculture’s biggest sources of methane,” said Hayden Montgomery, Agriculture Program Director at the Global Methane Hub.
“Cutting methane is the fastest way to slow global warming, and rice is one of the biggest levers we have. No single practice will get us to 50 percent reductions, so this strategy is about developing and validating more solutions from across agronomy, plant genetics and other areas of the strategy, and demonstrating how these are best stacked to make them practical and affordable so that farmers can adopt them and cut emissions, without affecting harvests.”
Methane emissions from rice farming primarily comes from flooded rice paddies, where submerged conditions create an oxygen-free environment where specific soil microbes flourish. These microbes consume organic matter and produce methane as a byproduct, most of which is subsequently released into the atmosphere via the rice plants.
Without new low-emission strategies that are adaptable across diverse contexts and able to balance productivity, water-use efficiency and sustainability with improved farmer resilience, rice methane emissions could increase by an estimated seven per cent by 2030.
Among the existing solutions are practices such as alternate wetting and drying (AWD), which has been reported to cut methane by 30–70 percent, as well as emerging areas such as soil supplements like gypsum and biochar, methane-reducing agents, and genetic traits that could lead to the development of low-emission varieties.
“A number of promising solutions for reducing methane emissions from rice without compromising yields are on the horizon,” said Masa Iwanaga, a member of the Accelerator’s Science Oversight Committee.
“The Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator strategy sets out a roadmap for rapidly developing a full suite of tools that farmers can use according to their means and needs. This is essential for safeguarding the sustainability of one of the world’s most important crops.”
The Global Methane Hub launched the Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator with an initial $30 million commitment, with the aim of raising at least $100 million from philanthropic, public and private funders. Funders and supporters include the Gates Foundation, Philanthropy Asia Alliance, Quadrature Climate Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, among others.
The Rice Methane Innovation Accelerator is the Global Methane Hub’s second flagship research initiative after its Enteric Fermentation Accelerator, which has raised over $200 million in pooled and aligned funding from philanthropy, public and private sector, of which over $120 million has been deployed in research projects to date.
“Methane reduction is the fastest lever we have to slow down global warming, and the rice sector presents one of the best opportunities to do so. This strategy gives funders a clear roadmap to back the science and get proven solutions into farmers’ hands more quickly at scale,” said Floor Overbeeke, Director, Regenerative Agriculture, The Rockefeller Foundation.
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For more information, an embargoed copy of the strategy and interview requests:
Donna Bowater
Marchmont Communications
+61 434 635 099
Harvey Presence
Marchmont Communications
+44 7582 195497
About the Global Methane Hub
The Global Methane Hub organizes and unites governments, industry leaders, scientists, and nonprofit organizations across the globe to minimize methane pollution from energy, waste and agriculture through technology and common-sense public policies and regulations. We have raised over $500 million in pooled funds from more than 20 of the largest climate philanthropies to accelerate methane mitigation across the globe. https://www.globalmethanehub.org/