Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced that MOL, along with Mitsubishi Corporation (President and CEO: Katsuya Nakanishi; Headquarters: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) and Climeworks AG (Co-founders: Jan Wurzbacher and Christoph Gebald; Headquarters: Switzerland), a developer of direct air capture (DAC) technology, which captures CO2 from the atmosphere, hosted an event to discuss and exchange ideas on creating a new market for technological carbon dioxide removal (CDR).
The event was held at Mitsubishi Corporation's headquarters in Tokyo on December 4-5, 2024, with the aim of creating new business opportunities by sharing information on trends in the CDR market around the world and the challenges each region faces. A total of 54 project developers and major companies from Japan and overseas attended the event.
Participating CDR developers introduced the features and benefits of their projects and engaged in a lively Q&A session on future growth potential, while participants in group discussions exchanged opinions on the challenges and future direction of the credit market.
The MOL Group Vision is to develop a variety of social infrastructure businesses in addition to traditional shipping businesses, and will meet the evolving social needs including environmental conservation, with innovative technology and services.
MOL is one of the few companies in a difficult-to-decarbonize industry that is working on beyond value chain mitigation (BVCM). It will promote initiatives that support the spread and expansion of CDR while reducing CO2 emissions from its value chain.
The event is in line with not only the MOL Group Vision, but also the expansion of offshore and non-shipping businesses set forth in the "BLUE ACTION 2035" management plan, as well as one of the strategies in the "MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2": "Expand low-carbon and decarbonization projects-MOL Group Approach." MOL will ensure a prosperous future from the blue ocean, by contributing to the sustainable growth of people, society and the planet, for all life living in the next generation.
Direct air capture is a technology that directly collects carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using absorbents or chemical reactions. The recovered carbon dioxide is stored underground or used as a raw material for other purposes. For details, please refer to the December 5, 2024, press release: MOL Switch to Invest in Heirloom, a U.S. DAC Technology Developer - Contributing to Spread and Expansion of Negative Emissions.
Carbon dioxide removal can be divided into two categories: nature-based CDR, which increases CO2 absorption by nature such as forests and blue carbon, and technology-based CDR, which uses chemical engineering techniques to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.