Spowdi and Deloitte North and South Europe initiate collaboration to drive climate smart farming through big data and AI-enabled carbon credits

Deloitte North and South Europe (NSE) has selected Spowdi for collaboration under its Beyond Value Chain Mitigation (BVCM) work. Through best practice BVCM collaborations, Deloitte NSE supports climate action beyond its own operations, by helping to reduce and remove emissions where it can make a real difference to society — for example by enabling cleaner technologies in agriculture and energy use.

Spowdi was selected based on its ability to replace diesel-powered irrigation pumps with unique and high-quality solar-powered alternatives, delivering climate benefits while improving farm productivity. Diesel pumps are still widely used in many regions. They are costly to run, create local air pollution and contribute to climate change.

Within the collaboration, Deloitte NSE and Spowdi will explore how climate finance and carbon credits can be used to lower the cost of access to solar irrigation, so that benefits reach smallholder farmers directly.

Another key part of the collaboration is data and digital monitoring. Deloitte NSE will support the further development of Spowdi’s digital smart farming platform, which tracks irrigation performance, fuel savings and emissions reductions. The data-driven platform also enables optimisation of farming operations and provides reliable information for financing partners and policymakers.

The work aligns with Sweden’s growing role in international climate cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Through bilateral agreements with partner countries, Sweden is supporting projects that combine emissions reductions with local development. In this context, the Deloitte NSE–Spowdi collaboration shows how international climate policy can be translated into practical solutions on the ground.

The collaboration will build on Spowdi’s ongoing and planned initiatives in Kenya, Zambia and India. It is led by a Deloitte NSE team in Sweden, working closely with Deloitte East Africa and central specialists in sustainability and agriculture.

– Through our BVCM work, we aim to speed up climate action by supporting solutions that are both practical and scalable. Supporting Spowdi to scale enables sustainable farming through energy transition, two topics that are important in a net-zero future, says Camilla Götbrant, Sustainability Engagement Partner at Deloitte.

– For smallholder farmers, moving away from diesel-powered irrigation is essential for lowering costs and coping with a changing climate. Spowdi was recognised as a Top Innovator by the World Economic Forum’s UpLink platform in 2024, where Deloitte is a key collaborator, and this collaboration helps show how smart irrigation, digital tools and climate finance can work together to make clean technology more affordable for farmers, says Henrik Johansson, Founder and CEO of Spowdi.

Article 6 in the Paris Agreement Framework
The Paris Agreement provides the global framework for countries to limit global warming by setting national climate targets, known as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). To support higher ambition and enable international cooperation, Article 6 establishes the rules for how countries can work together to achieve emissions reductions across borders in a transparent and credible way. Together, Article 6 provides an emerging infrastructure for scaling climate finance and mitigation technologies through credible cross-border cooperation, ensuring transparency, host-country benefits and alignment with global climate goals.

Article 6.2 – Bilateral and cooperative approaches
Allows countries to enter bilateral or multilateral agreements to transfer internationally recognised mitigation outcomes (ITMOs), provided robust accounting rules and safeguards are applied.

Article 6.4 – A UN-supervised global crediting mechanism
Creates a centralised carbon crediting mechanism under UN oversight, designed to generate verified mitigation credits while ensuring environmental integrity and host-country sustainable development benefits.

Article 6.8 – Non-market cooperation
Covers international cooperation outside carbon markets, such as technology transfer, capacity building and policy coordination.