Growing Need for Carbon Credits

Companies are actively using carbon offsetting^* to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Although the J-Credit scheme, through which the government certifies greenhouse emissions reduction, has gained attention as a reliable and promising option in Japan, only a small number of tradable credits have been issued, making it inadequate for meeting the expected increase in demand. Furthermore, the complicated certification process for creating carbon credits remains a barrier to broad adoption.

*A system that enables the volume of reduced emissions and absorption of greenhouse gases such as CO₂ to be traded mainly among companies. A company purchases credits to offset (compensate for) emissions that it cannot reduce by its own efforts.

Create Credits by Reducing Methane Gas Emissions from Rice Paddies

To promote decarbonization across society, NTT Communications is committed to supporting the creation of J-credits through ICT solutions. Our collaboration with Yanmar Marché Co. Ltd., announced in August 2023, is one such initiative in which credits are created by reducing the emission of methane gas from wetland rice cultivation for constructing an agricultural model that lessens environmental impact while at the same time increasing farmers’ profits.
About 45% of methane gas emissions in Japan are derived from cultivating rice, and its greenhouse potential is about 25 times greater than that of CO₂ emissions. Mid-season drainage is a common practice in wetland rice cultivation, and we were able to confirm that if the drainage period is extended by about a week, methane emissions can be reduced by roughly 30%. This was approved as a new method under the J-Credit system in April 2023.The initiative will support the farming operations of Yanmar Marché’s contract farmers as they introduce an extended drainage period and utilize ICT solutions for cultivating rice. We will install the MIHARAS IoT sensor, capable of obtaining data on soil temperature, water levels, water temperature, humidity, and air temperature, in the rice paddies and use the data to improve the efficiency of the work involved in credit certification to create highly reliable credits. The two companies will also support the branding of the harvested rice to help farmers expand their business.
This initiative was launched during the planting of the 2023 rice crop with 12 farmers in 6 prefectures including the Tohoku and Hokuriku regions. The extended drainage period showed no negative effects on the harvested volume, and the method was certified as a J-Credit in January 2024. In the current fiscal year, use of the method has expanded to around 20 prefectures, which is expected to significantly increase the volume of credits to be created. We will continue to strengthen our collaboration with companies and local communities to contribute to society as a whole through decarbonization.