Beyond CO₂: Carbon Direct X Mitti Labs

Carbon dioxide gets most of the attention in climate conversations. But a class of molecules known as super pollutants is responsible for between a third and half of the warming the planet has experienced to date. And we’re barely scratching the surface of what’s possible in addressing them.

That was the central message of our recent webinar co-hosted by Mitti Labs and Carbon Direct — a conversation between Dr. Meera Atreya, VP of Decarbonization Science at Carbon Direct, and Devdut Dalal, co-founder of Mitti Labs. Here’s what we covered.

What are superpollutants, and why do they matter now?

Superpollutants are climate-warming molecules other than CO₂. This includes methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, and other climate-warming molecules — each with different atmospheric lifetimes and warming intensities.

There is a subset of superpollutants that are short-lived climate pollutants (SLCP), such as methane, which has an atmospheric lifetime of ~12 years. These SLCPs tend to have potent near-term warming impacts. Over a 20-year window, one tonne of methane warms the planet approximately 80 times more than one tonne of CO₂.

''Reducing methane emissions today produces a measurable cooling effect almost immediately.''

Super pollutant mitigation can also have significant co-benefits beyond climate: improvements in air quality, reductions in respiratory and cardiovascular disease, and gains in food security. These are important impacts, particularly for the communities where this work takes place.

The accounting problem: why GWP-100 understates the opportunity

Most corporate climate reporting uses a metric called GWP-100 (Global Warming Potential over 100 years). It converts all greenhouse gases into a CO₂-equivalent number, so the impact of warming molecules can be compared — but this approach hides crucial information about the temporal impact of superpollutants.

Consider: one megaton of CO₂ and 36 kilotons of methane produce the same GWP-100 value. That means they generate the same number of carbon credits under today’s standard accounting. But their climate behaviour over time is radically different. Methane causes intense, front-loaded warming that then dissipates. CO₂ causes lower but persistent warming that extends over centuries.

The metric you choose to compare these gases changes the reported warming value by nearly threefold. GWP-100 collapses two very different warming profiles into a single number and tells you they’re the same. They’re not.

Carbon Direct, in its new report, highlights annual warming matching as a more accurate framework for companies looking to truly understand their year-on-year climate impacts.  This approach preserves the time-resolved information that GWP-100 obscures, giving companies a clearer picture of what their climate investments are actually doing.

The portfolio strategy: pairing methane mitigation with durable CDR

Together, carbon dioxide removal (CDR) and superpollutant mitigation form a powerful portfolio. When thoughtfully integrated, superpollutant action can complement, rather than compete with, voluntary corporate action on essential longer-term decarbonization measures.

Paired together, they can produce what Carbon Direct calls a “consistently negative warming profile” — significant near-term cooling from the superpollutant mitigation, sustained long-term cooling from the CDR, with no rebound or lag.

''The near-term climate benefits of short-lived superpollutant mitigation can synergistically complement the long-term benefits of CDR, providing a balanced overall impact'' Carbon Direct - Integrating Superpollutant Mitigation into Corporate Climate Action

The economics are encouraging, too. Research shows that adding methane mitigation alongside deferred CDR adds only a few dollars per tonne to a CDR portfolio. The incremental cost is modest; the incremental climate benefit is substantial.

Rice farming: a massive, underserved opportunity

Mitti Labs was built around one of the most compelling intersections of scale, impact, and tractability in climate: rice methane.

The numbers are stark. Rice farming occupies 150 million hectares across Asia — 40 million of them in India alone. The crop accounts for roughly 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions, on par with the entire aviation industry. Within the global methane stack, rice farming contributes 12% of total methane emissions.

The mechanism is straightforward: traditional continuous flooding of paddies creates anaerobic conditions in the soil, which produce methane. The same flooding also represents a staggering water burden — 5 to 10 million litres per hectare, or roughly 3,000 litres per kilogram of rice produced. Rice farming accounts for one-third of global groundwater extraction.

The silver lining: the practice changes needed to reduce both methane emissions and water use are relatively simple for farmers to adopt. Mitti Labs has built its model around this, framing its value proposition not as “carbon credits” but as “farming the same output with less water.” In regions where groundwater tables are in serious decline, that message resonates immediately.

How Mitti Labs works: from field to credit

Reaching farmers at scale requires working through trusted intermediaries, such as local NGOs, farmer producer organisations, and implementation partners who already have relationships with farming communities. Mitti Labs recruits and trains hyperlocal field agents, typically from the same villages they serve, to deliver the behaviour change programme.

The technology is where Mitti Labs distinguishes itself. It begins with a mobile app that captures farm boundary maps, farmer identification, and field data. Remote sensing then monitors whether practice changes are actually happening across enrolled farms, enabling real-time push notifications to field agents when intervention is needed.

Emissions reductions are quantified through greenhouse gas measurement chamber studies conducted across multiple strata and geographies. This is what enables Mitti Labs to issue what Gold Standard classifies as Tier 3 credits. This is the most rigorous measurement tier, using direct in-field measurements rather than default emissions factors.

Since launching in 2023, Mitti Labs has grown to approximately 70,000 hectares under climate-smart rice farming in India. That will reach 150,000 hectares this season, and 200,000 by year's end. Expansions into Indonesia and the Philippines are underway.

Introducing the Beyond CO₂ platform

One of the barriers to scaling superpollutant action is access to science-led information on the topic. The science accounting frameworks and carbon credit landscape are complex; navigating it is difficult.

The Beyond CO₂ platform, launched alongside this webinar, is designed to close that gap. It’s a living resource covering the science of superpollutants, the mechanics of annual warming matching, and a showcase of project developers across rice methane and other sectors that are reducing/avoiding superpollutant emissions today. Carbon Direct’s research on superpollutant accounting and portfolio strategy is also available through the platform.

Watch the full webinar now