Japanese firms join forces to set up carbon capture research firm

A total of 24 Japanese power and energy-related companies have jointly launched a research company to develop carbon capture and storage technologies. The new company, Japan CCS Co. aims to mitigate global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from thermal power plants and other major CO2 sources and storing the major greenhouse gas underground or below a seabed. CCS said at a news conference that it is hoping to win research projects from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and to select candidate locations for implementation of such technologies by the end of this fiscal year. It also aims to launch large-scale experiments soon. The Japanese government is targeting an annual reduction of 100 million tons in carbon dioxide emissions through CCS technologies in 2020. The 24 companies, each investing ¥3 million (US$28,678) in the new firm, include 10 power utilities, such as Electric Power Development Co., and seven oil-related companies, such as Nippon Oil Corp., as well as civil engineering firms, steelmakers and chemical firms. The new firm aims to combine the CCS technologies of the participating companies to overcome technological difficulties for commercialization. (June 30, 2008)