BPP Partnership Impact Series: Scaling carbon markets access for sustainable rice producers in Vietnam
Since its launch, the Business Partnerships Platform (BPP) has worked with ambitious partners to deliver meaningful, lasting change in communities across the world. The BPP Partnership Impact Series celebrates the outcomes and lessons from our partnerships, highlighting their contributions to inclusive economic growth, resilience and sustainable development.
Our Carbon Markets partnerships in Vietnam were launched to promote the growth of sustainable carbon markets that deliver significant social and environmental benefits to communities in Vietnam. This partnership, which concluded in 2024, developed and launched a new methodology for low-emissions rice production and created a shared platform with resources to help rice farmers and project developers cut methane emissions and access carbon markets, opening new income streams and global opportunities for scale.
Cutting carbon in rice farming
In Vietnam, a transformative BPP partnership set out to unlock carbon markets for rice farmers, one of the country’s largest sources of methane emissions. Since 2022, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), The Gold Standard Foundation and the Australian Government have worked together to simplify market access and create practical tools for farmers and project developers.
This partnership successfully developed and launched a new methodology, Methane Emission Reduction by Adjusted Water Management Practice in Rice Cultivation, now publicly available on Gold Standard’s website and already in use by project developers. It also created a Rice Sustainability Hub for Vietnam, providing resources and training to accelerate adoption of sustainable practices and expand access to carbon finance.
By the time the partnership concluded in 2024, it had delivered a cost-effective pathway for smallholder farmers to reduce methane emissions, access carbon markets and open new income streams. The tools and hub developed in Vietnam also embed global applicability, offering the potential for carbon abatement impacts at scale across rice-producing countries worldwide.
About the partnership
Rice production is one of Vietnam’s largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, contributing significantly to the country’s methane footprint. As the world’s third-largest rice exporter, Vietnam has pledged to cut methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 under the Global Methane Pledge, with the rice sector central to achieving this target. At the same time, rice offers one of the most promising opportunities for generating carbon credits, given its high baseline emissions, large reduction potential and well-established protocols for lowering methane without reducing yields.
Through the BPP partnership, the partners developed a tailored package of resources for the new methodology, including how-to guides, ready-to-use templates and an easy access tool to estimate a project’s GHG emission reductions. The Sustainable Rice Hub also highlighted Programme of Activities (PoA) as a relevant model to improve access to carbon markets by reducing transaction costs and simplifying the implementation of smaller-scale activities, such as low-emissions rice projects. The partnership also delivered targeted training to farmers, verifiers and government staff, building capacity to implement low-emission rice farming practices in Vietnam. Early testing by project developers enhanced the system’s user-friendliness and scalability, establishing a model that can not only support a country’s national climate goals but can also contribute to the global movement to reduce methane emissions from agriculture.
Highlights
During the BPP partnership period, highlights included:
- Creating a new global standard: Developed and launched the Methane Emission Reduction by Adjusted Water Management Practice in Rice Cultivation methodology, publicly available on Gold Standard’s website and already used by project developers.
- Establishing the Rice Sustainability Hub: Created the Rice Sustainability Hub for Vietnam, attracting 1,100+ users in its first year, and offering resources, templates and training in English and Vietnamese to help farmers and project developers access carbon markets.
- Building farmer and auditor capacity: Delivered targeted training and webinars to farmers, project developers, verifiers and government staff, with hundreds of views and downloads of new calculation tools, templates and tutorials.
- Adoption at scale: There were three carbon projects applying the new methodology in the pipeline in its first year, covering more than 40,000 hectares and expected to generate over 150,000 tonnes of CO₂-equivalent reductions annually. Adoption of the new rice methodology surged globally in its second year, with over 40 projects listed on the Gold Standard’s Impact Registry – representing more than a tenfold increase.
- Influencing international initiatives: The methodology informed the World Bank’s approach to calculating emission reductions in the 1 Million Hectares Program through the Transformative Carbon Asset Facility (TCAF).
- Harnessing digital innovation: Commissioned an analysis of how AI and remote sensing could be deployed to lower implementation costs, with recommendations feeding into Gold Standard’s digital MRV pilots, positioning rice projects at the forefront of digitised carbon accounting.
- Shaping policy and regulation: Co-authored an interim policy brief with the Institute of Strategy and Policy on Agriculture and Environment (ISPAE) (formerly known as the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD) to guide carbon credit projects in Vietnam’s rice sector, ensuring alignment with national climate goals while long-term regulations are developed.
View the full partnership impact story below or download here.
