ESG Today writes that, according to estimates made by experts at the World Bank, rice farming accounts for 10% of the global methane emissions, which is why the recently-established collaboration aims to bring more sustainable farming practices to farmers as soon as possible.

Methane is a very powerful greenhouse gas that heats the planet as much as 80 times more when compared to carbon dioxide, although its lifespan is not as high as CO2's.

Flora Ji, Vice President Nature Based Solutions at Shell, said that "nature-based solutions, like this rice cultivation project, are an important additional tool in addressing climate change and contributing to sustainable development. We look forward to the outcome of this program to further strengthen capabilities and leverage novel technologies to deploy nature-based solutions at scale."

Measurement, Reporting & Verification (MRV) mechanisms which use remote sensing technology for methane emissions released during the cultivation and growth of rice is the proposed solution that the three companies will look to implement. Besides methane reduction, the measures are also expected to bring benefits with regards to improved soil quality and optimized water usage.

Simon-Thorsten Wiebusch, Country Divisional Head, Crop Science Division of Bayer for India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, added that, "through our focus on rice, we want to solve two of the biggest challenges impacting humanity, namely, food security and climate change. With this program, we aim to get more insights into how regenerative agricultural practices can contribute to mitigating climate change by way of methane emission reductions, water conservation, soil health improvements and drive sustainable development of smallholder farmers."

Earlier this year, we wrote that, following a 2021 strategic partnership announcement with Microsoft, Bayer launched new cloud-based solutions for the agri-food industry: AgPowered Services from Bayer in combination with the new Microsoft Azure Data Manager for Agriculture provide ready-to-use capabilities available for businesses and organizations to license and use for their own internal or customer-facing digital solutions.