In April 2023, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) established the "MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2". Within it, the company set detailed targets for various climate change measures and has been striving to achieve milestones between 2030 and 2035. The progress is disclosed annually, and in the fiscal year (FY) 2024, for the first time, MOL achieved results "equivalent to removing 2,000 tons of CO₂". This achievement relates to the target of "amount of removal type carbon credit used" set out in "Action 4: Build Business models that enable net zero emissions" within the "Environmental Vision 2.2". It also marks "MOL’s first tangible achievement in CDR".
When people encounter the slogan "Let’s reduce greenhouse gases (GHG)", most envision measures to "reduce" emissions of GHG. For example, using fuels that do not emit GHG or developing energy-saving technologies with higher fuel efficiency.
However, there is another approach to reducing GHG: "removal (absorption) and storage". For instance, absorbing GHG already in the atmosphere through forests or engineered processed and storing them for long periods helps reduce their concentration. Carrying out the "removal and storage" of CO₂- the primary greenhouse gas- is what we call "Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR)". In other words, removing and storing CO₂ from the atmosphere or ocean effectively allows us to make net CO₂ emissions negative, which is why CDR is also referred to as "Negative Emissions".
Today, many countries around the world are focusing on initiatives to achieve "net-zero emissions" by 2050. However, simply reducing emissions of CO₂ and other GHG is not enough to reach net zero. That is why, in addition to reduction, efforts are being made to accelerate progress toward this goal through the removal and storage of existing CO₂- in other words, through CDR.
Yoshikazu Hirose, General Manager of the Carbon Removal Team/Carbon Solution Development Unit responsible for CDR initiatives at MOL, explains: "According to scenarios in IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) reports, achieving the 1.5℃target requires the removal and storage of up to 10 billion tons (10 gigatons) of CO₂ per year by 2050. Measures to achieve this are being explored worldwide."
Industries with high CO₂ emissions continue to develop technologies to reduce their emissions, but at the same time they face a dilemma.
For example, the annual CO₂ emissions from international shipping are about 700 million tons, accounting for roughly 2.1% of global CO₂ emissions. In 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a new strategy for reducing GHG emissions, setting a target of achieving net-zero emissions from international shipping by around 2050. The plan also aims to reduce overall emissions by 20-30% by 2030, through measures such as improving fuel efficiency (reducing carbon intensity) by at least 40% compared to 2008 levels by 2030, as well as by expanding the share of zero-emission fuels to 5-10%.
However, choosing alternative fuels for decarbonization, building infrastructure for their supply, and building vessel’s capability to use them all involve significant technological and economic challenges. As a result, the transition to zero-emission vessels that do not release GHG during operation will not be easy, and even by 2050 a certain number of vessels using fossil fuels may remain.
The aviation industry faces a similar situation. The CO₂ emissions from the aviation sector account for about 2.0-2.6% of the world’s emissions, roughly the same as international shipping. Japan Airlines Co., Ltd., which also collaborates with MOL on CDR-related initiatives, states: "We are working on measures such as renewing our fleet with more fuel-efficient aircraft, optimizing operations, and switching to Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF). However, addressing residual emissions will inevitably require CDR, so we are exploring partnerships with companies that possess CDR technologies." (Kazuo Hirotani, Director of the GX Planning Group, ESG Promotion Department, Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.)
In FY2024, the MOL Group emitted 10.45 million tons of GHG. Compared with FY2019 five years prior, this represents a reduction of about 2 million tons, but further acceleration is needed. Hirose explains the rationale for focusing on CDR: "For companies and industries with high CO₂ emissions, CDR is a valuable environmental measure that enables us to contribute to emission reductions in fields outside of our core business. There is no need to wait for external infrastructure to be built- if the company has the will, it can engage in a variety of projects right away."
In April 2023, the MOL Group formulated its "Environmental Vision 2.2". To realize net zero emissions by 2050, it specifically set forth "five actions".
Along with ‘Adopt clean energy’, ‘Further adopt energy-saving technologies’, and ‘Efficient operations’, "Action 4" is defined as ‘Build business models that enable net zero emissions’.
This is where efforts toward CDR are outlined, with "the acquisition and utilization of carbon credits" set as one of the KPIs. Carbon credits are issued according to the amount of GHG, such as CO₂, that have been removed and stored. By redeeming these credits, companies can count them as their own CDR achievements (they can also be traded).
Then, in FY2024, as part of Action 4’s initiatives for CDR, credits equivalent to 2,000 tons of CO₂ emissions were reported as MOL's first CDR achievement.
MOL Group’s "Environmental Vision 2.2", which establishes quantitative KPIs and milestones to measure progress for each action to ensure net-zero emissions by 2050 (Source:MOL website)
Exactly what kind of CDR leads to tangible results?
Among environmental researchers and practitioners, the term CDR became recognized and research and development for it began in earnest about 15 years ago. Its history is still short, and there are no clear definitions for all the various strategies and technologies. However, the two main categories currently receiving significant attention as core CDR technologies and undergoing active development are the "nature-based" and "technology-based" approaches.
Nature-based approaches remove and store GHG, particularly CO₂, by utilizing natural processes. Examples include "ARR" (Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation projects), "blue carbon" which promotes ocean carbon storage through measures such as encouraging seaweed growth, and "land reformation", which locks carbon into farmland through soil improvement.
Technology-based approaches rely on engineered processes. These include "Direct Air Capture (DAC)", which removes CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, and "Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS)", which collects CO₂ generated when biomass power or biofuels are burned.
There are also "hybrid" approaches, such as "enhanced weathering", which collects CO₂ through chemical reactions on the surface of rocks, and "biochar", which promotes carbon storage by carbonizing agricultural residues at high temperatures and applying them to farmland.
The first time a person in charge of CDR was appointed at MOL was in 2022. Through the company’s internal proposal system, a blue carbon project was suggested, and after a feasibility verification, the Carbon Removal Team was established in January 2022 to take charge of the project. The very first CDR initiative was also in 2022, when MOL participated in mangrove conservation activities in South Sumatra, Indonesia, to generate removal carbon credits.
The conservation activities have been carried out since 2013 by YL Forest Co., Ltd., with a 30-year project plan. Its goals are to prevent about 5 million tons of CO₂ emissions through mangrove conservation, and to remove and store 6 million tons of CO₂ through 9,500 hectares of new mangrove planting.
Mangrove Afforestation in South Sumatra Province, Indonesia (Reference:MOL website )
In 2025, MOL also invested 25 million dollars in "The Reforestation Fund I, LP (TRF)", a Canadian forest fund. TRF is a fund focused on South America that issues carbon credits through commercial afforestation aimed at timber production on former pastureland, as well as through the restoration and conservation of native tree plantations. It is operated by BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which has a proven track record in forest management and commercial afforestation.
He Lin of the Carbon Removal Team, who is responsible for nature-based CDR, visited the mangrove conservation site in South Sumatra in the spring of 2025 after a four-hour ride on a small boat from the nearest port. Although initially puzzled- "Why CDR, when I joined a shipping company?"- Lin now proudly says, "Many companies are interested, but the actual implementation is still in the trial-and-error stage. Within that landscape, MOL is pioneering these efforts."
Lin further explains, "In nature-based CDR, the growth rate of forests and other ecosystems differs depending on the environment, so the volume of carbon credits cannot be determined by area alone. Therefore, our company is focusing on creating high-quality credits that meet existing international standards while adhering to their requirements."
On the technology-based side, MOL’s first initiative was in 2023, when it participated as a anchor buyer in the joint carbon credit purchasing program "NextGen". NextGen offtake credits fromsome of the world’s pioneering projects, such as biomass-related initiatives and DAC that removes CO₂ from the atmosphere to promote the market for high quality, certified CDRs from technological projects. Under the agreement, MOL is able to purchase CDR credits from these projects.
The 2,000 tons of CO₂ CDR credits introduced earlier in this article as "MOL’s first CDR achievement in FY 2024" were received through NextGen from a biochar project by a Bolivian company.
The biochar project which was the first carbon credit achievement for MOL's CDR (Source: MOL Press Release）
In 2025, MOL also signed a purchase agreement for CO₂ removal credits with the U.S.-based company Captura Corp., which possesses Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology to directly capture and store CO₂ from the ocean. At the same time, MOL signed a memorandum of understanding for partnership in further business development. This purchase agreement for CO₂ removal credits derived from DOC was the first of its kind in the world.
Captura Corp.'s President and Hirose standing in front of Captura Corp.'s DOC plant (Reference:MOL Press Release)
Kohei Harada of the Carbon Removal Team, who is responsible for technology-based CDR, originally joined MOL out of an interest in building floating structures. He says: "In the development of technologies to directly capture CO₂ from the atmosphere or the ocean, I can apply the chemical engineering knowledge I studied, and there are also plant-related technologies involved, so I find the work endlessly fascinating. Today, the global challenge is to advance and scale up various technology-based CDR methods to an industrial level, and I truly feel that I'm working in a period of significant change."
As expressed by Lin and Harada, CDR is still in its infancy. It is fair to say it is in its formative stage. At this point, it is impossible to predict which initiatives or technologies will make breakthroughs and become mainstream.
Currently, there are no regulations or guidelines from governments regarding CDR. For companies, it is not yet positioned as an environmental measure they are obliged to implement. Furthermore, concrete methodologies to quantitatively demonstrate the environmental contribution (effectiveness) of CDR alone have not been fully established.
However, Hitachi, Ltd., which has been providing various decarbonization technologies through integrated solutions combining IT, OT, and products, views this as a critical challenge. According to Yoshikazu Takae, Manager of the Green Strategic Planning Office at Hitachi's Connective Industries Division, the company is exploring value creation across the entire lifecycle- from renewable energy connection and measurement to CO₂ capture, purification, storage, and market integration- to achieve high-quality, reliable, and efficient CO₂ removal, utilization, and storage as the next step after maximizing emission reductions."
At present, companies working on CDR are, in a sense, pioneers, exploring new measures and methods by sharing experiences across industries and sectors. Moreover, they recognize that there are many challenges that cannot be overcome by a single company alone, and are willing to share information and technology. Hirose laughs: "I’ve gotten to know CDR representatives from other companies. When I attend symposiums or lectures, we greet each other with, 'Good to see you again today.'"
What has become clear through these experiences is, in Hirose’s words: "CDR is indispensable for achieving carbon neutrality, and we must make the effort to turn it into an upside- that is, a business that generates revenue. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain the initiatives." In other words, there is indeed a business model that can establish CDR as a viable business.
MOL communicates its environmental initiatives at various opportunities (speaking at the APPEC Carbon Markets Conference)
On the technological front, we're facing a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma. "Cost is only part of the problem," says Hitachi's Manager Takae. "We're dealing with multiple bottlenecks: building CO₂ distribution and storage infrastructure, developing reliable measurement and verification systems, establishing traceability standards. These aren't separate issues- we need coordinated progress across technology, policy, and markets."
Nevertheless, according to Hirose, Japan does have a chance to secure an advantage. For example, Japan is surrounded by the ocean, and many coastal plants already make use of seawater. If CO₂ removal and storage technology from the ocean (DOC) could be incorporated into such plants, commercialization would be possible. In other words, "issuing and exporting domestic carbon credits" is not just a dream.
Current trends show trading companies are attempting to build ecosystems that extend all the way to the creation and sale of carbon credits. Financial institutions are also looking with interest at intermediary services for carbon credits.
While MOL's distinctive CDR approach remains to be defined, MOL differs from others in that it is not only an investor and collaborator in various CDR initiatives, but also a "customer" that purchases credits generated from them.
Hirose explains, "Currently, various companies are pursuing CDR with different backgrounds and circumstances, and I believe each will greatly contribute to the establishment of CDR methodologies. In that context, MOL is also a purchaser of credits- in other words, a user. I think the user perspective can play a significant role in shaping those methodologies."
Kazuo Hirotani who is the director of Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. adds, "While collaboration among companies in the same sector is certainly important, cooperation across different sectors is equally vital. Through repeated discussions with MOL, we’ve encountered ideas we would never have conceived on our own, as well as unique strengths that only a shipping company can bring. At the same time, I feel the potential for breakthroughs in the future of CDR."
Making the act of protecting the Earth itself into a business creates wealth that did not exist before. This is nothing less than the creation of a new, environmentally friendly industry- one that goes beyond environmental contribution alone.