Greenhouse Gas Mitigation in Rice

Assisting the Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification of GHG Reductions in Rice Cultivation

Providing GHG Mitigation and MRV Expertise

The International Rice Research Institute dedicates its technical expertise to developing national strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implementing Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems in rice cultivation.

Low-emission technologies already transform Viet Nam’s rice sector

In 2020, Viet Nam increased its Nationally Determined Contribution target for the agriculture sector for 2030 by 16MtCO2-eq. 100% of the unconditional target was to come from rice production.

Three major challenges had to be overcome: insufficient emission data, policy endorsement, and demonstrating that emission mitigation is complimentary to agriculture.

Today, Viet Nam serve as a knowledge pool of tried and tested methods for greenhouse gas mitigation in rice.


IRRI's GHG Mitigation and MRV Tools

Tried and Tested in Viet Nam


Rice activity Monitoring and Reporting System (RICEMORE) is designed to monitor and plan rice cultivation at central and local agriculture offices. It enhances accurate and effective data management and reporting for climate-responsive decision-making.

Farm-activity Monitoring and Reporting (FARMORE) is a performance assessment application to track and assess sustainability performance of agroecological practices for systematic, time-series data recording and reporting of farmers.

The Source-selective and Emission-adjusted GHG Calculator (SECTOR) is a greenhouse gas calculator for croplands. It provides a streamlined framework for data entry that facilitates rapid assessments for multiple emission scenarios.

COMPARE is a cost-impact analysis tool for emission reduction projects to calculate Cost-Benefit indicators and GHG emissions of different rice management practices. It incorporates eight rice production methods.

The Mapping Alternate Wetting and Drying tool (MapAWD) evaluates the bio-physical suitability of the AWD water-saving technique in rice cultivation. A location specific water balance model is used to analyze climatic-suitable areas.

The Digital Information System for Rice Product Labeling and Yield (DISPLAY) estimates the carbon footprint of rice across its value chain from cultivation to processing.

Carbon Footprint of Rice tool (CF-RICE) is a calculator for carbon footprints under product-specific settings and technological alternatives for conventional and mitigation-conform rice production. 

Introducing Rice Emission Measurement Approaches

Automated chamber systems

Automated chamber systems are useful tools in the investigation of soil-atmosphere trace gas exchange and its response to changes in the environmental conditions. Since monitoring takes place  ... Learn more

Manual chamber method

The closed chamber method is a widely used technique in quantifying greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). In fact, more than 95% of published emission studies used this method. This approach is low cost and can be implemented ... Learn more

Eddy covariance

The eddy covariance (EC) system is an effective tool that IRRI uses in ensuring that the mitigation and adaptation options that the institute develops to minimize the impacts of climate change on rice ... Learn more

Photo-acoustic spectroscopy

A photo-acoustic field gas monitor from Lumasense™ Technologies – INNOVA 1412i has been used for agricultural air monitoring studies including measurements of N2O, CO2, and NH3, in maize and ... Learn more

GHG Calculator

Greenhouse gas (GHG) assessment calculators have been created for a number of reasons, such as raising awareness to GHG emissions, reporting GHG emissions, project evaluation for change in GHG emissions, and market and product oriented ... Learn more

Measurement guidelines

These guidelines were commissioned by the Secretariat of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan through the international research  ... Learn more

Advancing Rice Cultivation Practices

Learn more about rice, emissions, and the climate

Research Papers and Publications

Looking for more resources? Head on over to the library of published journal articles, institutional publications, guidelines, and other information materials.

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