Vinh Long province in Vietnam has received a research proposal from a Japanese company for carbon credits covering about 100,000 hectares of coconut. The meeting was held on September 17, 2026, and the explanation was given by Jizoku Inc. and Kansai Electric Power. The scheme uses the Japan-Vietnam Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), and the pillars of the research are the proper use of fertilizer and turning by-products into biochar to return to the soil. The agriculture and environment paper Nong nghiep va Moi truong reported it on September 20.
The first thing to grasp is that this is not a settled project. The article states clearly that 'the proposal is at the research stage and is not an approved project.' For Japanese food-ingredient buyers, the meaning lies less in the credits than in how the measurement, reporting and verification (MRV)measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) records that this proposal demands largely overlap with the documentation for exporting to Japan.
A power company and a university-born startup brought in the survey of 100,000 hectares of coconut
What was presented at the September 17 meeting is research, not an approved project
At the meeting with the Vinh Long Provincial People's Committee, the two companies explained a proposal to research emissions reduction and carbon-credit development across about 100,000 hectares of coconut. Jizoku Inc.'s president, Keiichiro Kataoka, praised the province's scale of raw material and the depth of its processing enterprises, and said he wanted to study the actual state of by-product collection and reuse and whether raw material can be aggregated from processing plants. Ngo Thanh Dat, vice president for the Vietnam-Laos market, floated a plan to partner with domestic institutions on soil sampling and evaluation, satellite data, and AI-based emissions monitoring. The description of the company as originating from Hitotsubashi University comes from the article and could not be independently verified.
The province is cautious. Vice Chairman Nguyen Quynh Tien, while receiving the proposal, listed legal compliance, transparency, and harmonizing the interests of the state, residents, cooperatives and enterprises as conditions. On that basis he directed a comprehensive review with the provincial agriculture and environment department as the point of contact, and asked the companies to submit methodology and legal grounds. The current position is at the entrance to a document review.
Kansai Electric Power's reduction target is 43.7 million tonnes in FY2030, with FY2013 as the base year
Attending as Kansai Electric Power's representative, Mr. Matsuoka said that in line with 'Zero Carbon Vision 2050' the company has a target to cut emissions by 50% in 2030, about 44 million tonnes a year, and stated that it would take up all of the credits generated in Vietnam, the article reports. The attendance and the statement of offtake rest on this single report, and no announcement from Kansai Electric Power could be confirmed.
The figures can be corroborated against the company's published materials. Its Zero Carbon Roadmap (revised April 2024) states it will cut Scope 1, 2 and 3 by 50%, from 87.4 million tonnes in FY2013 to 43.7 million tonnes in FY2030. The reduction of 43.7 million tonnes roughly matches the article's 'about 44 million tonnes.' However, the quoted statement gives neither a base year nor a scope. The same roadmap also states a 70% cut in Scope 1 and 2, from 47.1 million tonnes to 14.0 million tonnes, and notes it has already submitted a voluntary target to the GX League's emissions trading scheme. The 50% is for Scope 1, 2 and 3 and the 70% for Scope 1 and 2, so the scopes differ.
Vinh Long province's 122,000 hectares is the figure after merging Ben Tre and Tra Vinh
Organic certification of 30,708 ha and 187 export codes for China form the base
The province's actual figures that serve as the receptacle for the proposal are laid out in the article as a tally by the provincial agriculture and environment department.
| Item | Figures (tally by the provincial agriculture and environment department) |
|---|---|
| Coconut growing area | 122,870 ha (first in the country, over 50% of the national area) |
| Organic-certified area | 30,708.3 ha / about 337.8 million units per year |
| Growing-area codes for fresh fruit bound for China | 187 codes / 19,439.79 ha |
| 2025 processing output value | 8.15 trillion dong (up 5.84% year on year / about JPY 49.4 billion) |
| 2025 product export value | about US$600 million (about JPY 94.5 billion) |
| Area and output targets | 2030: about 132,000 ha, about 1.72 million tonnes / 2045: about 140,000 ha, about 2 million tonnes |
Yen conversions are based on the September 26, 2026 rate of US$1 = 25,965.70 dong = JPY 157.54.
There is one more point. This 122,000 hectares is the shape after the 2025 administrative reorganization merged Ben Tre and Tra Vinh provinces. The province's official portal handles pre-merger Ben Tre-area matters at its own province's meetings and lists Tra Vinh's wind-power project as its own province's investment project. For the Japanese side, which has long built its supply chains on 'Ben Tre coconut,' this is a practical matter of place-of-origin labeling and administrative boundaries beginning to diverge.
Organic to rise to 44,077 ha in 2026, and those plots fill first
The province plans to increase organic raw-material land by 13,369 ha in 2026 to 44,077 ha. Organic certification and low emissions are easy to layer onto the same plots, and if the JCM research moves in, the plots targeted will be those that already have certification and ledgers. If you want to source organic coconut, securing it early is better. The pattern in which supply earmarked for Japan is readily filled by Europe and the United States is the real example of an allocation where 5 to 10 containers a week were assigned to Europe and the US alone as we saw in.
Area does not become credits: the contents of Vietnam's 15 approved JCM methodologies
The 15 approved methodologies cover 11 in energy demand and one in waste, among others
The article itself notes that 'growing area cannot be converted straight into credits.' Looking at the methodology data on the official JCM site, the constraints are more concrete. There are 15 approved methodologies for Vietnam, covering 11 in energy demand and one each in energy industries, power distribution, transport and waste. Farmland and soil carbon are not included. Even among the 109 approved across all partner countries, the field '15. Agriculture' has just one: paddy-field water management in the Philippines.
To issue credits from coconut biochar, the work of drafting a new methodology and passing it through the Joint Committee comes first. This is also why the province asked for a methodology to be submitted.
Line up the 16,675 tonnes already issued against Kansai Electric's target and the orders of magnitude do not match
| Item | Figure |
|---|---|
| Approved methodologies for Vietnam | 15 (9 under review) |
| Breakdown by field | Energy demand 11 / energy industries 1 / power distribution 1 / transport 1 / waste 1 |
| Registered projects in Vietnam | 14 (95 across all partner countries) |
| Cumulative credits issued for Vietnam | 16,675 t-CO2 (977,846 t-CO2 overall) |
| Agriculture among the 109 approved | 1 (paddy-field water management in the Philippines) |
| Kansai Electric GHG target, Scope 1, 2 and 3 | 43.7 million tonnes in FY2030 (a 50% cut from 87.4 million tonnes in FY2013) |
| Kansai Electric GHG target, Scope 1 and 2 | 14.0 million tonnes in FY2030 (a 70% cut from 47.1 million tonnes in FY2013) |
Laid side by side, Vietnam's cumulative issuance of 16,675 tonnes amounts to 0.04% of the 43.7 million tonnes that Kansai Electric Power alone says it will cut in FY2030 (a figure we divided out from both published values). Although at 14 registrations it is over a tenth of the 95 overall, in credit volume it is only 1.7% of the total. Vietnam's JCM takes the form of project count leading and issuance following. Even when a figure like 100,000 hectares appears, this gap in orders of magnitude shows the distance to issuance.
What changes for the coconut raw material coming to Japan when fertilizer and biochar are put in motion
The side that turns husks into charcoal and the side that sells fiber and peat compete for the same by-products
The province has about 151 coconut-processing enterprises, and their products range widely from activated carbon to coconut fiber and coco peat. By-products are already merchandise. Le Van Dung, deputy director of the provincial agriculture and environment department, says he is considering trials to make biochar from by-products, aiming at soil improvement and water, nutrient and carbon retention. If demand for biochar rides in, there will be a scramble for husks, fiber and peat. The Japanese side, which sources coco peat and activated carbon from Vietnam, will want to keep in mind that the way prices are set is in motion. When comparing, align on which stage applies -- ex-farm, ex-processing-plant or export FOB. Working out multiples from values at different stages leads to misreading.
MRV records demand almost the same ledgers as export documentation
Soil samples, satellite data, measurement, reporting and verification of emissions. Each is the work of recording who did what, plot by plot. Moves to build plot ledgers are advancing for other commodities too, Son La province's work to sort 36,000 ha of coffee into three categories and put ledgers in order to a deadline shares the same character. The traceability the Japanese side wants, compliance with EU regulations and the JCM's MRV all demand similar records. Once a plot has a ledger, it becomes easy to supply for any use. The effort to breed 30,000 parasitic wasps and cut pesticides across 6 sites and 12 ha that is under way with Mekong coconut also rides the same ledger, which works for both residue standards and low emissions.
What Japanese food buyers can do first is re-read the place-of-origin names and check the ledgers
The 'Ben Tre' label now, as an administrative division, means Vinh Long province
Specifications and certificates of origin bearing the Ben Tre name point, as an administrative division, to Vinh Long province. If your internal origin master stays on the old name, you risk double-managing the same farm as two different origins. Whether to use Ben Tre as a brand name is a product-side decision, but you will want to re-read the administrative-division field.
The two lines you will want to add to the contract are credit ownership and by-product rights
The article raises the profit-sharing mechanism as an issue. The ones actually doing the low-emissions work are farmers and cooperatives, and who holds the rights and obligations is unsettled. If the Japanese side signs a long-term contract, writing down two points in advance -- who owns the carbon credits generated on that plot in the future, and who has the right to divert by-products to carbonization -- avoids trouble later. The article also notes that international transfer of credits must follow Vietnamese domestic law and the nationally determined contribution (NDC), and must avoid double counting.
A realistic next move is to have your partner coconut-processing plant put 'plot code, whether organic-certified, and by-product buyers' on a single sheet. Within the province there are 187 growing-area codes covering 19,439.79 ha for fresh fruit bound for China. Once you know which one your raw material is tied to, the documentation for shipping to Japan is settled first, whether or not the JCM research moves.
