# How many years can an India-Japan JCM project earn credits?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/india-japan-jcm-crediting-period

Ten years at most. Each India-Japan JCM project picks a crediting period no longer than 10 years, including any renewal. A longer period needs both governments to consider an extension and India's competent authority to approve it, under the Rule of Implementation for the cooperation memorandum signed on 7 August 2025.

## The 10-year ceiling

- The project selects its crediting period, up to 10 years including renewals.
- The Joint Committee decides the crediting period with prior approval of both governments.
- Both governments' letter of authorization at registration covers the crediting period, the credit share and the uses of the credits.
- Any extension is a government-to-government decision, concluded only after approval from India's competent authority.

## How credits are counted inside that period

JCM credits are reference emissions minus project emissions. Reference emissions are set below business-as-usual emissions with a conservative buffer, so that part of every project's reduction stays with India's own target. The crediting period caps how many years that difference can be credited.

## Plan finance on ten years

A boiler, chiller or furnace may run for 20 years or more, but carbon revenue under the JCM covers at most the first 10 unless an extension is approved. Other programmes give energy projects longer: up to 45 years under VCS Standard v5.0. What the JCM offers instead is a Japanese partner's finance and technology, which the credit split takes into account.

## Example: an efficient furnace under the JCM

- Business-as-usual emissions: 10,000 t CO2e a year
- Reference emissions set below that with a buffer: 9,000 t CO2e a year
- Project emissions after the upgrade: 6,000 t CO2e a year
- JCM credits: 9,000 minus 6,000 = 3,000 t CO2e a year
- Over a 10-year crediting period: 30,000 t at most, before the India and Japan split

Figures are an example. Reference emissions come from the approved JCM methodology.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible keeps a plant's energy and fuel records month by month, traceable to source bills, which is the evidence behind project emissions that a third-party entity checks. It does not prepare or file JCM documents.

- [How JCM credits are split](https://senseible.earth/answers/india-japan-jcm-credit-sharing)
- [Starting a JCM project](https://senseible.earth/answers/india-japan-jcm-how-to-start-project)
- [CCTS crediting period](https://senseible.earth/answers/ccts-offset-crediting-period-length)
- [Carbon credits](https://senseible.earth/carbon-credits)

Sources: [Rule of Implementation of the Joint Crediting Mechanism between India and Japan (MoEFCC)](https://moef.gov.in/storage/tender/1784699228.pdf), [Verra, VCS Standard v5.0 (16 December 2025): Table 8](https://verra.org/documents/vcs-standard-v5-0/)

Last reviewed 2026-11-03. The Joint Committee can modify the Rule of Implementation with both governments' written approval, and the secretariat issues detailed procedures and forms; check the latest versions on moef.gov.in.