Summary
Google and Terradot have agreed to combine methane-reducing irrigation with enhanced rock weathering across more than 200,000 hectares of Brazilian rice farms. Google says the project targets 1 million metric tons of methane-related CO2e impact by 2030 and 1 million metric tons of permanent carbon removal by 2040.
Google and Terradot have announced an agreement to combine methane reduction and permanent carbon removal across rice farms in southern Brazil. Under the arrangement, Google says it will purchase the equivalent of 1 million metric tons of CO2e in methane elimination by 2030, measured using a 20-year global warming potential basis, and 1 million metric tons of permanent carbon removal by 2040.
The planned deployment covers more than 200,000 hectares. It pairs a fast-acting change in irrigation with a slower process that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over time.
Two climate timelines in one agricultural system
Methane and carbon dioxide affect the climate on different timescales. Methane is a short-lived superpollutant, so reducing its emissions can lower the rate of warming relatively quickly. Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for much longer, making durable carbon removal part of efforts to reduce long-term warming.
The project is designed around those different timelines. Terradot will first help rice farmers adopt Alternate Wetting and Drying, or AWD. The irrigation method periodically drains flooded rice paddies rather than keeping them continuously submerged. Google says this can drastically reduce methane emissions from the fields.
Terradot will then apply crushed volcanic rock to those same farms. As the material dissolves, it removes carbon dioxide through Enhanced Rock Weathering, a process in which naturally weathering minerals contribute to the long-term uptake of atmospheric carbon.
Google says the combination can provide near-term methane benefits while the rock gradually delivers permanent carbon removal. Measured across time, the company describes the two interventions as a way to reduce warming quickly and maintain the climate benefit as the methane effect fades.
How the rice-farm system works
AWD changes the water conditions in rice paddies. Flooded soils can generate methane, while periodic drainage changes the conditions that produce the gas. The approach is intended to reduce methane emissions while also using less irrigation water.
Enhanced Rock Weathering works on a different timescale. The project will use naturally sourced crushed volcanic rock, rather than relying on a separate industrial carbon-removal facility. The rock is spread over agricultural land and reacts gradually as it weathers. Google says the material may also improve soil health.
The company says AWD can lower farmers’ water use and input costs, giving participating communities a direct economic interest in the project. These benefits are presented as expected outcomes of the planned deployment rather than results already reported from the Brazilian fields.
From a Brazilian project to wider rollout
Google identifies southern Brazil as a favourable location for the approach because of its tropical soils, warm and wet climate, flooded rice systems and nearby basalt quarries. Those conditions are expected to support the weathering process while reducing the distance that the volcanic rock must be transported to farms.
The project is intended as a possible model for larger deployment. Google says the approach could first expand across Brazil’s 1.5 million hectares of rice cultivation and later be adapted to rice-growing regions in other countries.
The company is also funding research into how effectively AWD reduces methane in different rice systems around the world. That research is relevant to scaling the model because irrigation practices, soil conditions and farm operations vary between regions.
For now, the agreement represents a planned climate intervention rather than completed field results. Its central design is to link immediate superpollutant reduction with durable carbon removal in the same agricultural landscape, while testing whether the combination can be repeated at much larger scale.