ITOCHU partners with Neste to deliver renewable diesel in the Japanese market

Japan’s ITOCHU Corporation is partnering with Finland’s Neste Corporation to deliver renewable diesel to the Japanese market. In this collaboration, ITOCHU Corporation will be the first company in Japan to sell and distribute renewable diesel from Neste.

In addition, FamilyMart, which is owned by ITOCHU Corporation and is one of the largest convenience store chains in Japan, will start to use renewable diesel in some of the delivery vehicles at their distribution center in Yokohama City. This will be the first time that convenience store delivery vehicles will use renewable diesel in Japan. 

The renewable diesel from Neste is produced from 100% renewable raw materials and helps reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 90% when emissions over the fuel’s life cycle are compared with fossil diesel. The renewable diesel is a “drop-in” fuel, fully compatible with all diesel engines, not requiring any modifications to the existing vehicles or fuel distribution infrastructures. 

ITOCHU Corporation has set a goal of contributing to and strengthening initiatives for sustainable development goal. Likewise, FamilyMart in 2020 established the “FamilyMart Eco Vision 2050” to contribute to the realization of a sustainable society. It has set numeric goals under three themes: “Reduction of greenhouse gas”, “Plastic measures,” and “Reduction of food loss” as its mid- and long-term goals for 2030 and 2050. With its message, “FamilyMart, Where You Are One of the Family,” FamilyMart vowed to advance sustainability initiatives to achieve continuous growth with society. 

In 2020, Neste’s renewable products helped customers in several geographic markets to reduce a total of 10.0 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). This figure equals the annual carbon footprint of 1.5 million average EU citizens or 3.7 million passenger cars from the roads for one year. Neste said it is pleased to be part of the journey to reduce GHG emissions of the road transportation industry in Japan.

Neste is expanding its renewable diesel capacity in Singapore, its only manufacturing footprint in the Asian region. The Singapore expansion will extend Neste’s renewable product overall capacity in Singapore by up to 1.3 million tons per annum, bringing the total renewable product capacity close to 4.5 million tons annually in 2022. Neste’s target is to start up the new production line in Singapore during the first half of 2022.

The company has also opened an office in Shanghai, China, to source renewable raw materials for its production facilities in Singapore, the Netherlands and Finland.