Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) President & CEO Takeshi Hashimoto announced its participation in the NextGen CDR Facility, a collaborative initiative supporting to build a market for credible, scalable carbon removal technologies since 2022.
Its participation makes MOL the first Japanese shipping company to retire technology-based CDR credits to help achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CDR credits, or Carbon Dioxide Removal credits, represent the verified removal of one metric ton of CO₂ from the atmosphere.
In a statement, MOL said it has obtained 2,000 tons of technology-based carbon dioxide removal (CDR) credits from Bolivia’s Biochar project led by Exomad Green through NextGen, making it the first Japanese shipping company retirement.
Demand for technology-based CDR credits, designed to remove and storage CO2 over extended periods of time, is expected to rise in the future.
However, these credits remain in the early stages of development in terms of both technology and cost, with only a handful of companies in the world purchasing them.
MOL has taken a leading role in procuring these credits, driving market growth by fostering innovation.
While the credits will not directly offset greenhouse gas emissions within the company’s value chain, they will play a role in removing CO2 at an entire society (Beyond Value Chain Mitigation).
This project will also contribute to achieving the milestone of “contributing to the removal of a cumulative 2.2 million tons of CO2 by 2030″ under the “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2,” which was established as a roadmap for achieving net zero GHG emissions by 2050 and sustainable development for people, society, and the Earth. Through these milestones, we aim to further ensure that we will be able to neutralize our remaining emissions in the future, as well as to promote the spread and expansion of negative emissions in order to achieve decarbonization throughout society.
The MOL Group identifies “Sustainability Issues” (Materiality) as key issues for sustainable growth with society through realization of the Group Vision.
This initiative is expected to contribute especially to the realization of “Environment -Conservation for Marine and global environment-” and “Innovation -Innovation for –development in marine technology-“.
