MOL Carbon Desk Our initiatives for Carbon Dioxide Removal

Corporate net zero targets rightly focus on rapid reductions in scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. But in line with the mitigation hierarchy, corporate net zero guidelines, by such as Science Based Target Initiatives, the United Nations and International Organization for Standardization (ISO), nowadays strongly recommends that companies contribute to societal net zero: thinking beyond their own value chains when decarbonizing.  With the limited remaining carbon budget in mind, we therefore have started supporting the scale up of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) to contribute to the mitigation actions beyond the value chain (BVCM) while reducing emission from own value chain. Numbers of companies that build BVCM into its corporate strategies are still limited and we are proud of being one such few among the hard-to-abate sectors.

Reaching net zero CO2 or GHG emissions primarily requires deep and rapid reductions. However, some hard-to-abate residual GHG emissions (e.g., some emissions from agriculture, aviation, shipping, and industrial processes) remain and would need to be counterbalanced by deployment of CDR methods to achieve net zero CO2.

By 2050, nearly 10 billion tonnes of CO2 may have to be removed from the atmosphere annually, according to the median estimates of several of the IPCC’s net-zero scenarios.

From mid-century onwards, CDR will continue to play an important role to reverse the accumulation of historic emissions.

But CDR market is still in its infancy and its supply volume is limited today.  As a member of the industries that will need the CDR the most in the future, we think it is important to be a part of the efforts to scale up CDR massively.

We are one of the founding buyers of NextGen CDR Facility and a member of the CDR sector of First Movers Coalition where we commit to purchase at least 50,000 tons of CDR credits 2030.
Why do we act now for Technological solutions that are still very expensive in today's market? – To meet the required amount of CDR needed by the society in the future, Nature based Solutions alone is not enough and Technological solutions need to scale. But Technological solutions cannot scale and will not be avaiable when we need them if everyone just waits for its price to drop down. With an awareness of such challenges, we will act as a first mover and contribute to innovation and cost reduction of underfunded elements of nascent technologies.  

Carbon Direct’s team of experts developed a comprehensive carbon removal strategy that helped us understand how the carbon removal landscape will evolve over time and how to establish purchasing timelines based on quality criteria and technological maturity. Looking ahead, as we work to address our own emissions, we hope that by mapping our climate action journey we can help to shift the maritime transport industry as a whole.