Japan Firms' Plans For CO2 Export, Storage In Southeast Asia Rise

More Japanese companies are seeking to export carbon dioxide emissions to Southeast Asian nations and elsewhere for underground storage as a way to tackle climate change, with over a dozen projects in the works, a tally by Kyodo News showed.

About 3 million tons of CO2 are expected to be collected annually under the project, which the companies aim to start by fiscal 2030. I Photo: ENEOS Corporation

The move comes as the Japanese government promotes carbon capture and storage (CCS) and sets a goal of putting the technology into practical use by 2030.

However, the technology costs are high, and overseas projects could face local opposition. CCS technology captures CO2 from industrial plants before it can be emitted into the atmosphere and injects it deep underground for long-term storage, Mainichi Shimbun also reported.

Trading house Mitsubishi Corp., major oil distributor Eneos Corp., and two other companies are studying a project to liquefy CO2 emitted from thermal power plants and oil factories in the Tokyo Bay area and ship it to Malaysia for storage there.

About 3 million tons of CO2 are expected to be collected annually under the project, which the companies aim to start by fiscal 2030.

Chubu Electric Power Co., based in Nagoya, central Japan, has also started, along with other companies, a feasibility study on collecting CO2 from plants and factories at the Port of Nagoya area for storage in Indonesia.