MANILA, Philippines ~ The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has entered into a three years non-binding agreement with Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd. to conduct upstream and adaptive research aimed at developing novel and comprehensive farm-level innovations that can reduce methane emissions from rice production.
Worldwide, rice production contributes about 8% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from Agriculture, Forestry, and Land Use Change. This corresponds to about 16% of emissions from the agricultural sector. Methanogenesis in rice production comes primarily from anaerobic conditions in flooded rice fields.
Though some aspects of methanogenesis and GHG emissions in rice are being studied by several groups around the world, there has not yet been a holistic approach that comprehensively addresses the combined effects of the environment, management practices, and rice varieties on GHG emissions and rice performance (yield). The understanding of how to maneuver the processes of methanogenesis is still limited, which hampers the development of novel applications and methodologies.
The Reducing Methane Emissions from Rice (REMET-Rice) Project is a 3-year non-binding Research Agreement between IRRI and Shell India Markets Pvt. Ltd. that aims to reduce/mitigate emission from rice cultivation process by improving agronomic performance. Various innovations to be studied include varietal improvement, influencing the soil microbiome, soil amendments, methane inhibitors, adapted crop/soil/water management, and other related technologies.
Under the non-binding Agreement, Shell will provide support for REMET-Rice’s methanogenesis research activities and can leverage research deliverables into scaled-up projects.
“The foundational research we will be doing will be key to improving understanding of the variability for GHG emission among different rice ecosystems,” said Dr. Ando Mariot Radanielson, REMET-Rice Project Lead and IRRI Senior Scientist for Climate Change Mitigation in Rice Systems. “Not just for targeting technologies and options in mitigation, but also in generating new knowledge to inform the development of novel solutions that will ensure mitigation benefits and sustainability for various systems of rice production - for yield, quality, resource use efficiency, and environmental impact.”
“This is a real frontier project that aims to generate new knowledge about the methanogenesis processes in rice,” said Dr. Bas Bouman, IRRI Research Director for the Sustainable Impact for Rice-Based Systems (SIRS) Directorate. “We will link scientific upstream research to the development of practical and scalable crop management recommendations that can be used by farmers to reduce the emission of methane and other greenhouse gases while safeguarding yield and income. It is crucial that any solution will benefit small-holder farmers.”
"Tackling climate change is an urgent challenge. Shell aims to contribute to a net-zero world, where society stops adding to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. This project will help unlock the pathway for emission reductions and carbon sequestration through management of the methanogenesis process in rice with the help of solutions based on agricultural amendments, methane inhibitors, varieties and agronomy, as well as development of measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) for GHG measurement", said by Stephen Fowler, VP Chemicals, DS Process & Bio Technology, Shell Plc.
Learn more about Shell’s Nature-based Solutions and IRRI’s GHG Mitigation research. Discover more climate change innovations and technologies at the 6th International Rice Congress.
Shell’s net-Zero Emissions Target
Shell’s operating plan, outlook and budgets are forecasted for a ten-year period and are updated every year. They reflect the current economic environment and what we can reasonably expect to see over the next ten years. Accordingly, they reflect our Scope 1, Scope 2 and Net Carbon Intensity (NCI) targets over the next ten years. However, Shell’s operating plans cannot reflect our 2050 net-zero emissions target and 2035 NCI target, as these targets are currently outside our planning period. In the future, as society moves towards net-zero emissions, we expect Shell’s operating plans to reflect this movement. However, if society is not net zero in 2050, as of today, there would be significant risk that Shell may not meet this target.
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