[ThanksLetter] How ThanksCarbon closed its first full AWD season, and what comes next

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ThanksCarbon's methane reduction work in Cambodian rice farming closed out a strong season. 

In June, something special happened in Takeo province. ThanksCarbon held incentive payment events for farmers who had faithfully practiced AWD, rewarding them in proportion to their verified results. With these events, incentive payments were completed across all four communes in Takeo province. Farmers who trusted a method promising to cut water use by 30% and greenhouse gas emissions by 40%, all while increasing yield, saw that promise return to their hands in a tangible form.

With this round of payments, the Takeo project effectively completed its first full season. The project began in November 2025, building on ThanksCarbon's track record of AWD pilot programs, and stands as Cambodia's first large-scale AWD carbon project. Spanning roughly 4,000 hectares, it brought together more than 1,000 participating farmers. Verifying reduction results through digital MRV and paying farmers directly based on that data is rare in the international carbon market, and rarer still at this scale. A ceremony marking the close of this first season is planned in Takeo this September.

That momentum continues today. Across Takeo and Battambang combined, the current season is being implemented over approximately 13,400 hectares. Farmers in both areas are currently harvesting, and data collection is now entering its final stage.

If you would like to see more of what this season looked like on the ground, our LinkedIn post captures it in more detail.

There is another piece of good news connected to this momentum. In July, a European international development cooperation agency visited the Takeo project site, part of a climate-smart agricultural project currently supporting a sustainable transition in Cambodia's rice sector. This issue takes you into what was discussed that day, in the fields and in the meeting room.

Quick Summary

Project Highlights

A European development agency visits Takeo

What a climate-smart agricultural project looks like in the field

There is an agency responsible for international development cooperation in Europe, operating on a large budget across many countries over many years. In February last year, this agency, together with Cambodia's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, its Council for Agricultural and Rural Development, the European Union, and the International Rice Research Institute(IRRI), unveiled a multi-stakeholder rice sector program at a forum in Phnom Penh. The program takes on the interconnected challenges of agriculture, climate change, and food security, aiming to cut methane emissions from rice cultivation while raising farmer income and resilience.

A large part of the project's work goes into an MRV system that can accurately measure, record, and verify which cultivation methods farmers are using, and what those methods mean for emissions, productivity, and cost. The program is built on the premise that scaling low-emission rice farming requires farm-level baseline data and a credible verification system before anything else can follow. It currently operates in parts of Cambodia and plans to expand its coverage over time.

This is where ThanksCarbon entered the picture. The agency was looking for a digital MRV solution proven to work in the field, and that search led them to ThanksCarbon. We have continued discussions on potential collaboration through both online and in-person meetings. In July, representatives from the agency visited Takeo to see firsthand how ThanksCarbon's project is being implemented and operated on the ground.

The visit was split into morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning, the group met with local government officials and an agricultural cooperative to review the project's structure and progress to date. In the afternoon, they moved out to the fields to see how Haimdall collects and verifies data on the ground. They watched a single photo, taken by a farmer, get logged with GPS coordinates and cross-checked against satellite data to confirm whether water management had actually taken place, standing right there on the paddy dike. The group also spoke directly with participating farmers. What stood out to them was how little burden the method placed on the fields, even as the data it produced stayed meticulous. 

The visit reaffirmed our shared vision for methane reduction that delivers real benefits to farmers. More than anything, both sides agreed that this impact must be backed by verifiable field data. Drawing on its experience running projects across Cambodia and several other countries, ThanksCarbon has built the digital MRV capability to manage thousands of scattered farm plots accurately and efficiently.

If you are exploring a methane reduction program of your own, reach out through the link below. 

ThanksCarbon Updates

ASKER launches in September

A messaging based AI solution for farm data collection

ThanksCarbon will officially launch ASKER, a messaging based AI solution for collecting farm data, this September. Farmers have historically had to log field activity through apps or paper forms, a process prone to missed or incomplete entries. ASKER replaces that with conversation. When a farmer sends a message as simple as "started drying the paddy today," or shares a photo, the AI converts it into structured data automatically.

That data flows directly into Haimdall, ThanksCarbon's digital MRV platform. Location data and geotagged photos are cross-checked against satellite-based moisture index readings to verify whether water management practices were actually carried out in the field. In particular, ASKER connects real-time field activity with satellite verification data, providing a solid data foundation for issuing verifiable, high-quality carbon credits. Following the September launch, ThanksCarbon plans to extend ASKER to Bangladesh and other key project regions.

Battambang project's canals get a closer look

A Korean PMC firm surveys the ground for upcoming repairs

In late July, a Korean project management consulting (PMC) firm visited the Battambang project area. As part of the international greenhouse gas mitigation project, the visit was conducted to assess the on-site condition of irrigation canals and identify the sections that require rehabilitation and improvement.

Over two days, the on-site team inspected the condition of the irrigation infrastructure and worked through construction plans and risk management with local stakeholders, contractors, and designers. Practical questions filled the agenda: how to repair aging canal sections, and how to account for water flow across both the rainy and dry seasons.  Once the canals are upgraded, more precise water management is expected to directly support the project's methane reduction performance.

Site visits like these, which keep the project's execution grounded, are a routine and essential part of how ThanksCarbon operates. It is this kind of groundwork that lets ThanksCarbon show up as a partner people can rely on.

Bangladesh's next milestone

A Gold Standard stakeholder consultation in Dhaka on August 27

Peter Yun, Director of ThanksCarbon Bangladesh, recently shared a letter looking back on the project's journey. In it, he describes a country facing real climate and agricultural challenges, and an equally real opportunity to take them on.

To turn that opportunity into something concrete, ThanksCarbon has built its foundation step by step. In 2024, the team met with government stakeholders to lay the groundwork. In 2025, an AWD pilot in Mymensingh confirmed the approach works in the field. From 2026, ThanksCarbon has taken on AWD adoption across a significantly larger area. Peter also returned to a point he holds close: this work has to genuinely help the farmers on the ground, who are ThanksCarbon's most important partners in making change happen.

If you would like the fuller story of how ThanksCarbon has built this journey in Bangladesh alongside its partners, Peter's full letter is available on our LinkedIn page.

Our public invitation, in English and Bangla.

On August 27 at 10:00 AM local time, a Gold Standard stakeholder consultation will be held at the Department of Environment building in Dhaka. This is a required step in Gold Standard's certification process, designed to share project details with local communities and stakeholders and gather their feedback. The consultation will focus on ThanksCarbon's AWD-based methane reduction project in Bangladesh's rice farming sector. Invitations have been posted across villages in the Magura region over the past month, and both in-person and virtual participation will be available. The consultation marks an important milestone toward scaling this work to more than 200,000 hectares, and the feedback gathered will feed directly into how the project moves forward.

📌 Further Information

Investment and recognition add up

A new funding round, and selection by KDB, IBK, and KODIT

ThanksCarbon opened its Series A funding round this year, and the first investor's commitment has already been paid in. The round is expected to close this fall.

Around the same time, ThanksCarbon was selected for KDB NextONE, the Korea Development Bank's startup accelerator, and IBK Changgong, its counterpart at the Industrial Bank of Korea, along with the First Penguin program run by the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT). At the opening of KDB NextONE's Gwangju site on July 7, ThanksCarbon presented as a leading regional company in an investor relations session attended by more than 150 people, including the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission. Back-to-back selection by these policy-backed financial institutions points to a broader shift: credible, verifiable carbon data is increasingly treated as something worth investing in.

📌 Further Information

The next credit starts in the tidal flat

A new conversation on blue carbon methodology

Drawing on its field experience in blue carbon and biodiversity, including the HSBC seagrass project in Tongyeong, ThanksCarbon has opened a new conversation with a domestic marine research institute. The subject is the tidal flat. As both a carbon sink and a haven for biodiversity, the tidal flat is drawing attention for its potential, and the discussion centers on a concrete methodology for generating credits there. The methodology design and digital MRV capability that ThanksCarbon built through rice farming are now taking their next step, out toward the sea.

Global Climate Context

Photo credit: European Commission

A shift in the world's carbon markets

What the EU ETS reform signals

On July 17, the European Union unveiled its reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). At its core, the plan keeps existing reduction targets in place while easing the supply of allowances, with the aim of stabilizing carbon prices. The most notable piece is a new Investment Booster paired with an Industrial Decarbonisation Bank. Under this structure, companies that invest in reduction measures such as switching to electric furnaces, adopting hydrogen, or installing carbon capture and storage receive EU allowances (EUAs) directly, rather than cash grants. The volume involved is substantial, though it will be released gradually, tied to the pace at which companies actually implement and verify their reductions.

Alongside this, the pace at which allowances shrink each year will slow, easing pressure on long-term supply. Sectors covered by the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), including steel, aluminum, and fertilizer, will keep their free allowances for a longer transition period. On aviation, the EU has chosen to keep the international aviation offset scheme, CORSIA, embedded in its legal framework through 2035, easing concerns across the international aviation industry that the CORSIA market might have been at risk of shrinking.

Taken together, these changes are generally read as easing pressure on carbon prices. At the same time, some analysts point out that the importance of international carbon markets built around Article 6 of the Paris Agreement is growing. This shift could also extend into areas like supply chain emissions reduction and nature-based solutions. Drawing on its experience in rice farming methane reduction and digital MRV, ThanksCarbon is ready to work alongside companies navigating this change.

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