Xavier Laguarta Soler co-founded Mitti Labs to train more than 100,000 smallholder farmers across Southeast Asia in sustainable practices to cut their methane emissions, and track their progress using satellite data, AI, and on-the-ground observations.
asserted
Soler → co → ground
In September 2026, the company announced an agreement for Google to buy 1 million carbon credits through 2030, supporting rice-farming projects in India.
asserted
Google → announce → India
What is the single most important action you think the public, or a specific company or government, needs to take in the next year to advance the climate agenda?
asserted
public → think → agenda
More governments need to stop debating carbon markets and start using them.
asserted
governments → need → them
Look at aviation: Under the United Nations’ aviation climate scheme, airlines must buy roughly 200 million carbon credits to offset the growth in their emissions through 2026.
asserted
airlines → look → 2026
Only about 10 countries have authorized projects to sell to them.
asserted
countries → authorize → them
That's money meant for climate projects in developing countries, waiting on a government signature.
asserted
That → mean → signature
Voluntary buying by companies got these markets started, but it will never be big enough on its own.
asserted
it → get → own
Both now put a price on carbon for their largest emitters and let them cover part of the bill with credits from projects abroad.
asserted
them → put → projects
Singapore alone has signed carbon agreements with a dozen countries.
asserted
Singapore → sign → countries
More governments should follow, both by pricing carbon at home and by authorizing projects that can sell to these buyers.
asserted
that → follow → buyers
What is a climate solution that isn't getting the attention or funding it deserves?
asserted
it → get → attention
In India, more than half the nitrogen farmers spread on their fields is never taken up by the crop.
asserted
farmers → spread → crop
Some washes into groundwater.
asserted
Some → wash → groundwater
Some escapes into the air as nitrous oxide, a gas about 270 times more potent than carbon dioxide that has driven roughly a tenth of global warming so far.
asserted
that → escape → warming
Fixing this doesn't require new science.
asserted
Fixing → fix → science
Farmers need to know how much nitrogen their crop actually needs, and when.
asserted
crop → need → nitrogen
Something as simple as a color chart held up against a rice leaf can tell them.
asserted
Something → hold → them
In China, a decade-long program helped nearly 21 million smallholders cut nitrogen use by roughly 15 percent and still raise yields by about 11 percent.
asserted
smallholders → help → percent
I believe the key reason nitrous oxide gets so little attention or money is that it's hard to measure.
asserted
it → believe → attention
It comes off a field in short bursts after rain or fertilizing, and buyers won't pay for what they can't verify.
asserted
they → come → what
Fix the measurement, and the money will follow.
asserted
money → fix → measurement
When the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed earlier this year, global urea prices doubled within weeks.
asserted
prices → close → weeks
Every government that imports fertilizer should be asking how much of that fertilizer its farmers truly need.
asserted
farmers → import → fertilizer
If I were allocating climate capital today, I would put it into helping farmers use less nitrogen.
asserted
farmers → allocate → nitrogen
What gives you hope about the future of the planet?
asserted
What → give → planet
Politics runs on four-year cycles but companies that plan to be around for another century can't think that way.
asserted
that → run → century
That's why, despite the backlash, most large companies haven't walked away from climate action, they've just stopped talking about it as much.
asserted
they → walk → it
Look at what they're building into their businesses.
asserted
they → look → businesses
Mars and PepsiCo are working with farmers globally toward their goals for regenerative farmland by 2030.
asserted
Mars → work → 2030
Global investment in the energy transition reached an all-time high of $2.3 trillion last year.
asserted
investment → reach → trillion
In carbon markets, Google has pledged at least $50 million through 2030 to eliminate superpollutants like methane, and this year it joined other companies in doubling the Frontier coalition's commitment to buy future carbon removal to $1.8 billion.
asserted
it → pledge → billion
Microsoft has contracted tens of millions of tons on its own.
asserted
Microsoft → contract → own
Critics are right that there is much more to be done.
asserted
Critics → be → ?
But by working directly with sustainability and supply chain teams, I see large contracts being signed and real action happening at global scale.
asserted
action → work → scale
The Aporia
