South Korean developer targets expansion in Vietnam, Cambodia

Quantum Commodity Intelligence - South Korean rice methane developer Thanks Carbon is aiming to generate 180,000 carbon credits in 2026, with nine projects in three countries currently under various stages of implementation, chief executive Kim Haewon told Quantum.

The company is developing four projects in Vietnam and Cambodia each and one in Bangladesh, which are expected to cover about 370,000 hectares (ha) under multiple schemes, including Corsia, Article 6 and Japan's Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM), Haewon said.

Thanks Carbon has developed technology to track methane emissions from rice fields and estimate the emissions reductions from alternate, wetting and drying (AWD) practices.

The company is negotiating a price of $10-$25 a tonne of CO2 equivalent for its credits, Haewon told Quantum.

Cambodia

Within Cambodia, the company is developing three projects, namely Kampong, Takeo and Pursat, under the Gold Standard, with two of these being implemented for the Corsia scheme.

"We finished the stakeholder consultation a week ago and will be listed in October on the Gold Standard," Haewon told Quantum.

The company is also developing a project, namely Battambang, under Article 6.2 and has secured 61,000 ha to expand from the demonstration phase, with potential to generate 400,000 credits annually.  

The company expect to receive a Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Cambodian government this week and a Letter of Authorisation (LOA) in December, it said, which will allow the developer to generate carbon credits under Article 6.

It has already secured buyers for the Battambang project in the form of the South Korean government, Korea South-East Power Co. (KOEN) as well as a large financial entity.

The South Korean government is expected to receive about 20% of the credits from the Battambang project, Haewon said.

Thanks Carbon is also in talks with a major South Korean technology conglomerate and Japanese trading companies, such as Mitsubishi, for offtake and collaboration on the Corsia and voluntary projects, it added.

It has also secured buying agreements with Seoul-based brokerage and asset manager, Korea Investment & Securities, for two of its Corsia projects.

JCM

The company is also exploring the potential to register some area of its projects in Cambodia and Bangladesh under the JCM scheme whenever the countries approve an AWD methodology.

The AWD methodology under the JCM is seeing rising interest from Japanese developers and buyers, as credits from the scheme would be eligible for use in Japan's GX emissions trading scheme and are likely to fetch an attractive price compared with Corsia and Article 6.2.

The Philippines became the first JCM partner this year to approve such a methodology, with two projects already nearing approval.

It will take one-two years for the approval of an AWD methodology in Cambodia, with Thanks Carbon planning to register some land from its Corsia projects under the JCM, Haewon said.

Haewon expects JCM credits to be priced at around $40/tCO2e, citing parity with J-Credits, compared with $16 for Corsia forward transactions and $23.80/tCO2e in the spot market.

Bangladesh, Vietnam

Thanks Carbon has recently secured a 'no objection' certificate from Bangladesh's Ministry of Environment and an LOI from the Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation to scale up its AWD project to around 2,000 ha in the South Asian nation.

The company is currently looking for investors to develop the project, named Mymensingh, under Article 6 and is negotiating with Asian Development Bank in Bangladesh for funding.

It is also working on four projects in Vietnam, another country receiving strong interest for AWD projects from Japanese developers such as Green Carbon and Faeger.

The company has secured approvals and agreements from farmers and the Vietnamese government to scale its Tay Ninh project to 42,000 ha and nearing final stages for permission to expand Kien Giang project to 51,600 ha.  

Both of these projects will be under Article 6.2, with Thanks Carbon now waiting to get LOAs from Vietnam.

The Quantum View: Thanks Carbon is hedging its bets on a diversity of schemes to secure buyers for credits from its AWD projects. Most of these are compliance schemes, such as Article 6, Corsia and JCM, reflecting the broader trend of developers avoiding or exiting voluntary carbon market due to weakening demand.