Japan's first soil credits from the Natural Capital Credit Consortium (NCCC) have traded at 20,000 Japanese yen ($124) a tonne of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e), a steep premium to the country's government-backed J-Credit scheme. The sale is the standard's first, setting an early price reference for credits certified under it. The level reflects a method that scores ecosystem value alongside the carbon a site stores.
NCCC chair Shunsuke Managi tied the figure to the standard's measurement approach. “The price is much higher than usual credits because we measure ecosystem value with carbon value, using academic help of Kyushu University and aiESG corporation,” he said. Managi is a professor at Kyushu University and a director at aiESG, an AI-based sustainability data provider and consultancy in Fukuoka.
The first credits came from Tsujita Construction's Akaiwa Grassland project, which stores carbon in soil. Sompo Japan Insurance, a member of the consortium, bought them, and NCCC reported the sale last month. The consortium groups companies, municipalities, and academic researchers, and the grassland project is certified for 704 tCO2e through 2028.
The forestry project, certified on 1 July, is NCCC's second overall and its first in forest management. The Tokyo site, developed by iForest, spans 17.31 hectares and will generate 1,562 tCO2e between 2025 and 2045. Managi said a real estate firm and a hotel operator have agreed to buy the forestry credits at a price likely above 5,000 Japanese yen a tonne.
The named buyers so far span insurance, property, and hospitality. The iForest forestry price sits above J-Credit forestry units under Japan's government-run certification scheme, which the Tokyo Stock Exchange listed at 4,400 Japanese yen a tonne. NCCC plans to extend its soil and forestry methodologies to other regions of Japan, supported by new technology, and aims to integrate its forestry methodology with the J-Credit scheme.