Japanese shipowner Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) and Marubeni Corporation have entered into a shareholders agreement to jointly establish a new company, called Marubeni MOL Forests Co., Ltd. to create, purchase, sell, and retire nature-based carbon removal credits.
Marubeni Corporation will hold 60% whilst Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. will hold the remaining 40%.
As its first project, the new company Marubeni MOL Forests, plans to establish new forests covering 10,000 hectares in India, aiming to start handling carbon credits from 2028 onwards.
MOL explains that nature-based carbon removal credits are carbon credits based on the direct removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through the use of natural ecosystems.
Marubeni MOL Forests will operate under the philosophy: “Open the way to a sustainable future through the power of people and forests.”
The joint venture company aims to contribute to global environmental preservation and sustainable societal development through the creation, trading, and proxy retirement of nature-based carbon removal credits.
The market for carbon removal credits, which utilize carbon sequestration by new afforestation and carbon capture and storage technologies such as carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), is expected to further expand in the future as an indispensable tool, MOL said in a statement.
The company says the “net zero” goal is difficult to achieve by emission reductions alone.
Also, nature-based carbon removal credits absorb CO2 and bring co-benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, soil improvement and water conservation functions.
“These approaches make it possible to simultaneously combat climate change and protect the natural environment, contributing to nature revitalization,” MOL added.
