FAO and CCAC Launch Initiative to Strengthen Methane Monitoring in Rice Production

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) have launched a new project to improve how countries measure and report methane emissions from rice cultivation, one of agriculture's most significant sources of the potent short-lived climate pollutant.

Rice paddies account for between 8 and 12 percent of global man-made methane emissions, yet most national inventory teams rely on methods that offer limited spatial detail and carry significant uncertainty. As countries face growing pressure to demonstrate credible progress under the Global Methane Pledge and strengthen their national climate reporting, the gap between what is expected and what existing tools can deliver has become increasingly apparent.

The project, funded by the CCAC and implemented by FAO's Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment and the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, is developing an open-source framework to produce rice methane estimates with greater accuracy and detail than current approaches allow. The methodology is being piloted in Viet Nam and Cambodia — two of Asia's most significant rice-producing nations — in close collaboration with national ministries and research institutions.

The project was launched on 13 March 2026 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the FAO Asia-Pacific and Central Asia Regional Workshop on Enhanced Transparency and Regional Cooperation on Climate Actions, which drew practitioners from 21 countries. The timing was deliberate, convening alongside a broader transparency workshop and positioning the project's ambitions against the realities that inventory teams and climate negotiators are navigating right now.

Kicking off the launch, Listya Kusumawati, CCAC Programmer Manager, said the Coalition was committed to supporting countries scale methane mitigation action. "The CCAC stands ready to continue to support Viet Nam and Cambodia's effort to reduce short-lived climate pollutants, strengthen agricultural policy, and demonstrate regional and global leadership in methane action," she said.

Country responses at the launch reflected both the appetite for better tools and the practical challenges ahead. Leel Randeni, Director of Climate Change at Sri Lanka's Ministry of Environment, described what better measurement could mean in practice: "With this technical advancement, we can go for more precise ways for preparing our greenhouse gas inventories, so that we can achieve, report and adhere to transparency principles better."

From Cambodia, H.E. Meas Sophal, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Environment, said countries must work together: "Regional collaboration is very important. From this project, we hope that by learning-from-doing and using our experience applying the tool, we can replicate our work across Cambodia and the region."

With framework development underway and rollout in both countries expected later in 2026, the project team will work with national experts to ensure the methodology is not only technically robust but also practical, user friendly, and designed to be owned and operated by the inventory teams it is meant to serve.

The framework and associated guidance materials will be made openly available, with the intention that the approach can be taken up by other rice-producing countries. 

FAO and CCAC launch new methane monitoring projects with Viet Nam and Cambodia