


ClimateRice
Transforming global rice production with SRI

4 billion people eat rice every day
The way we grow rice needs to change
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generates 12% of man-made methane emissions
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uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation
-
15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change
-
80% of rice is grown by smallholders
ClimateRice is a collaboration between Cornell University & CarbonFarm
We aim to scale up the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) to 1/3 of global rice area in 10 years.
To get there, we're creating a self-financing model with carbon credits.

4 billion people eat rice every day
The way we grow rice needs to change
-
generates 12% of man-made methane emissions
-
uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation
-
15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change
-
80% of rice is grown by smallholders

4 billion people eat rice every day
The way we grow rice needs to change
-
generates 12% of man-made methane emissions
-
uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation
-
15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change
-
80% of rice is grown by smallholders
A climate-resilient alternative exists
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
A simple method based on agronomy, agro-ecology and farmer knowledge
A climate-resilient alternative exists
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
A simple method based on agronomy, agro-ecology and farmer knowledge

4 billion people eat rice every day
The way we grow rice needs to change
-
generates 12% of man-made methane emissions
-
uses 1/3 of world's freshwater for irrigation
-
15% estimated yield loss by 2050 due to climate change
-
80% of rice is grown by smallholders

What is SRI?
The System for Rice Intensification is a set of sustainable practices that can have a big impact
For the farmer
-
+20 to +100% increase in smallholder profits
-
improved soil quality
For the environment
-
-50% reduction in methane emissions
-
-30% reduction in water use
For food security
-
Improved resilience to drought, flooding and extreme wind events
SRI is a knowledge-based approach all about developing healthy plants

Scaling SRI globally requires money to train and support farmers...
... so we're creating a virtuous self-financing model.
This is our self-financing model
1. Train farmers
2. Measure impact
3. Sell carbon credits
1/ Train farmers
Provide training and support to farmers to adopt SRI
2/ Measure the impact
Use satellites to measure, report and verify the reduction in methane emissions
3/ Sell carbon credits
Issue and sell registry-certified carbon credits to companies striving to reach Net Zero emissions
4/ Repeat
Use carbon credit sales to reward farmers, and train and support new ones
Our impact
We're targeting 55M hectares over the next 10 years.
That's one-third of global rice farmland.

Erika Styger
Professor of Practice
Director Climate Resilient Farming Systems

Vassily Carantino
CEO

James Hastwell
CTO
Earth Observation start-up


Erika is Professor of the Practice in the Department of Global Development at Cornell University. There, she holds the position of Director of the Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program and with SRI-Rice is connected to a global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries.
Vassily combines expertise in climate change with a cultivated intuition for data-driven problem solving.
As a former McKinsey consultant, he specialised in sustainability & carbon markets. Engineer by training, Vassily is a graduate of Columbia Business School.
Data product leader to leverage big data and scientific research to build innovative products.
Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers.
James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.
Team


Climate-Resilient Farming Systems Program
Earth Observation Start-up

Erika Styger, PhD
Professor of Practice

Vassily Carantino
CEO CarbonFarm

James Hastwell
CTO CarbonFarm
Erika is a global expert on implementing and scaling-up the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), and has worked in 30+ countries for the past 30 years.
She is connected to a global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries.
She is a Professor of the Practice in Tropical Agronomy, Cornell University, Director of Climate-Resilient Farming System.
Vassily combines expertise in climate change with a cultivated intuition for data-driven problem solving.
As a former McKinsey consultant, he specialised in sustainability & carbon markets.
Engineer by training, Vassily is a graduate of Columbia Business School.
James is the data product leader to leverage big data and scientific research to build innovative products.
Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers.
James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.
&
Cornell's Climate Resilient Farming Systems program
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Leading academic group on SRI
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Global network of local SRI partners in 50+ countries
CarbonFarm, an innovative Earth-observation startup
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Partnered with the European Space Agency
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Collaborating with 2 leading research labs to detect methane emissions from rice via satellite

James Hastwell, CTO
James is a data product leader whose expertise lies in leveraging big data and scientific research to build innovative products.
Prior to CarbonFarm, James was the Head of Data Science at a French AdTech leading a team of 15 engineers. James holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Ecole Polytechnique in Paris.