Southeast Asia produces an estimated 7,767 Gg CH4/year or 194,186 Gg CO2e/year from 48.5 million ha of paddy rice and globally is the region with the second-highest emissions from rice. Vietnam is distinctive in the region for its high proportion of irrigated, rather than rainfed, rice. Of the total annually cultivated rice area of about 3 million hectares, 2.96 million hectares are irrigated and are usually planted with two to three rice crops per year. Rice irrigation accounts for 70% of national water needs. GHG emissions from rice are 37.4 Tg/year or 57.5% of national emissions (UNFCCC, 2000). 

In Vietnam, rice is cultivated on 82% of its arable land, with about 52% produced in the Mekong River Delta (MRD) and another 18% in the Red River Delta. The country is the world’s fifth-largest paddy rice producer and a leading exporter. Planting of modern rice varieties of short duration, improved management of resources, and appropriate government policies have enabled Vietnam to be consistently self-sufficient in rice since 1985. Vietnam and IRRI have worked in areas of varietal improvement, conservation of rice diversity, and sustainable farming systems. 

With the support from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC), and other development partners, IRRI is changing the way rice is cultivated to mitigate its GHG emissions and environmental impacts. The Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) developed by IRRI has been proven to save up to 48% of methane emissions from rice and reduce 30% of irrigation water without yield penalty. The package of improved cultivation techniques named "1 Must-do, 5 Reductions" (1M5R) integrating AWD and other advanced techniques can save up to 11 tons of CO2 equivalent per hectare per year compared to conventional farming (measured by the World Bank’s 10th Mission within the VnSAT project). 

In 2020, Vietnam's Government committed to reducing 6 - 32 million tons of CO2 equivalent emitted from agriculture by 2030 in its updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). Key technologies to achieve these ambitious targets include AWD and other low-emission packages in rice. At the same time, IRRI supports the national partners in assessing mitigation options and developing evidence-based action plans which consider the participation of multiple stakeholders.