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CarbonFarm has raised €7 million in an oversubscribed Series A round to scale its rice decarbonisation business, targeting a major source of agricultural methane emissions. The company plans to use the capital to expand its digital measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) capabilities, develop new projects and connect more rice-growing communities with climate finance and carbon markets. The round was led by Colam Impact, with participation from Proparco, Suma Capital, elea, Working Capital Fund, Albo and Bpifrance. Existing investors Serena & makesense, through Racine², and Techmind also renewed their support. CarbonFarm works with organisations across the rice value chain to develop projects that help farmers adopt lower-emission practices and provide buyers and financiers with evidence of their climate impact. Its business combines digital monitoring with project development, financing support and access to carbon buyers—a model designed to address the operational challenges of scaling climate interventions across fragmented agricultural supply chains. Rice’s untapped climate potential Rice feeds roughly half the world’s population, but its cultivation is also a significant source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to near-term global warming. Flooded rice fields can create conditions that promote methane production, making water management an important lever for reducing emissions. Practices such as alternate wetting and drying, which allow rice fields to drain periodically instead of remaining continuously flooded, can lower methane emissions and reduce water use. Results depend on local growing conditions and implementation, but these approaches offer a potential route to improving the environmental performance of rice production without necessarily compromising yields. The opportunity extends beyond emissions reduction. More efficient water management could help rice-growing regions respond to growing pressure on freshwater resources, while climate finance could provide additional support for farmers adopting improved practices. Corporate interest in rice-related carbon projects is also increasing as food companies and other major buyers face greater pressure to measure and address emissions across their supply chains. Deals involving rice-carbon initiatives announced by companies including Amazon and Google have helped bring the sector into sharper focus. Turning that interest into measurable impact, however, requires more than a change in farming practices. Rice is predominantly grown by smallholders, often on plots of around one hectare. Scaling projects across thousands of farms means coordinating local partners, engaging farmers, collecting reliable data and demonstrating that reported emissions reductions are credible. Building the infrastructure behind rice decarbonisation CarbonFarm’s model centres on working with organisations that already have established relationships with farming communities. Its partners include rice producers, cooperatives, agribusinesses, non-governmental organisations, governments and local project developers. The company provides project-development expertise, digital MRV, access to climate finance and links to carbon buyers and corporate supply chains. Its technology combines AI-powered satellite-image analysis, field-data collection and greenhouse-gas modelling to track changes in farming practices and quantify emissions at field level. The aim is to make it easier to monitor projects across dispersed smallholder farms and provide a stronger evidence base for carbon credits and corporate supply-chain claims. As scrutiny of carbon markets and corporate Scope 3 emissions reporting intensifies, the ability to demonstrate how climate outcomes have been measured is becoming increasingly important. “Carbon accounting is becoming much more rigorous, whether it underpins a carbon credit or a corporate Scope 3 claim,” said James Hastwell, co-founder and CTO of CarbonFarm. He said independent, field-level evidence was increasingly expected and could help projects build confidence among buyers willing to pay a premium for high-quality credits. Measurement is only one part of the process. CarbonFarm also helps partners move from project design and financing through certification and the search for buyers. The strategy is to strengthen local organisations rather than replace them. “Scale will not come from replacing local value-chain players; it will come from equipping them,” said Vassily Carantino, co-founder and CEO of CarbonFarm. He said local partners bring the knowledge of farming systems and the relationships needed to implement change, while CarbonFarm helps translate that expertise into programmes capable of attracting finance and withstanding scrutiny. From 19 countries to a wider global footprint CarbonFarm has expanded into 19 countries since its previous funding round. The company says its network includes food and agricultural businesses such as Mars Food, Diageo, Ebro, Tilda and BASF Agricultural Solutions; carbon-finance organisations including Livelihoods Funds and myclimate; development organisations such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, SNV, Helvetas and Action Against Hunger; and technology companies including Google. The new funding will help CarbonFarm deepen its presence across Asia, Africa and Europe while accelerating expansion into Latin America. The company is positioning itself as a partner for organisations seeking to develop rice decarbonisation projects, deploy climate finance and measure their environmental impact. For investors, the opportunity lies in building the infrastructure that connects changes on individual farms with corporate climate commitments and sources of carbon finance. “CarbonFarm is building the enabling infrastructure for one of the largest untapped decarbonisation opportunities globally,” said Benjamine Friderich, investment director at Colam Impact. He said the company’s combination of project-development expertise, climate-finance capabilities and digital MRV could provide a scalable platform for the rice sector. Proparco’s participation brings a development finance institution into the funding round, reflecting growing interest in climate investments that combine emissions reduction with support for agricultural communities. “Rice decarbonisation is a highly promising climate-finance opportunity that is beginning to receive the attention it deserves,” said Jean-Gabriel Dayre, co-head of regenerative agriculture, carbon markets and naturetech at Proparco. He said CarbonFarm had developed a project portfolio and the capabilities to channel climate finance towards rice-growing communities. CarbonFarm’s next challenge is to translate growing corporate and investor interest into projects that deliver measurable results across diverse farming systems. The company’s ability to scale will depend on the strength of its local partnerships, the availability of finance and the credibility of its emissions accounting. Its ambition is to become a global partner for rice decarbonisation, helping connect agricultural expertise, digital measurement and climate finance to make lower-emission rice production commercially viable at scale.

Source : msn