Green Carbon Signs MOU with New Forests

Looking to build an investment pathway for large-scale rice methane reduction in Vietnam

MEDIA RELEASE –  Tokyo, Japan / Singapore, 2 September 2026 – Green Carbon Inc. (CEO: Jun Okita, hereinafter referred to as “Green Carbon”) is pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with New Forests Asia (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “New Forests”).

Through this MOU, the parties will combine Green Carbon’s on-the-ground project-development capabilities with New Forests’ natural-capital investment expertise to assess selected potential Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) carbon credit projects and their feasibility for large-scale implementation. The collaboration is expected to strengthen the foundation for scalable rice methane reduction and high-integrity carbon-credit development in Vietnam.

AWD is a water management practice used in rice cultivation. Instead of keeping rice paddies continuously flooded, farmers allow the field to dry to a specified level before re-flooding it.  Some of the potential benefits include reducing water use by up to 30%; lowering methane emissions by 30% to 70%[1]; helping to maintain rice yields and opportunity to generate carbon credits.

The potential project areas range from approximately 50,000 to 180,000 hectares, with Green Carbon’s current operations covering approximately 8,000 hectares in Can Tho and 2,000 hectares in Phu Tho. Green Carbon and New Forests will assess selected project areas in the Mekong Delta for their viability, investment opportunities, and expansion through the most suitable carbon-credit pathway.

Takato Senoo, Chief Operating Officer at Green Carbon commented, “Our mission is to secure a sustainable future by harnessing the power of nature. Partnering with a recognized industry leader like New Forests enables us to unlock new channels for deploying capital into high-integrity, nature-based projects globally. Through these joint investments, we are accelerating carbon sequestration, restoring vital ecosystems, and driving our collective transition toward a net-zero economy.”

Geoffrey Seeto, Senior Managing Director and Head of Emerging Markets at New Forests, commented,

“Vietnam cultivates approximately 7 million hectares of rice each year, making it one of the world’s largest rice-producing countries and a major opportunity for methane-reduction practices such as Alternate Wetting and Drying.

“We are looking forward to working with Green Carbon as we explore opportunities to develop and scale sustainable, low-emission rice production in Vietnam, as part of our Southeast Asian nature-based landscape investment and management approach.”

The collaboration aims to assess and develop scalable project structures and to determine the most appropriate carbon-credit pathway for the project, which may include the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), another Article 6.2-aligned approach, or the voluntary carbon market.

It is hoped that the collaboration between the parties will help to accelerate the expansion of AWD practices in Vietnam and consequently the potential benefits including to reduce methane emissions from rice cultivation, support more efficient water management, and initiate the development of a scalable portfolio of high-integrity carbon projects. Subject to successful feasibility assessments, due diligence and other pre-implementation activities, the parties may explore a potential pathway towards capital deployment from 2027.

[1] International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) n.d., GHG Mitigation in Rice: Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), IRRI.