NYK outlines plan to use carbon removal for net zero shipping
Japanese giant will adopt carbon dioxide removal technologies to reduce Scope 1 emissions
NYK pledges to begin purchasing third-party-verified CDR credits from voluntary carbon markets by 2025 or earlier to offset stubborn residual emissions
JAPANESE shipping group NYK Line has released a position paper outlining its perspective on using carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies as part of its strategy to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
This goal aligns with the International Maritime Organization’s pledge to reach net zero emissions from international shipping by around mid-century.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations body, defines CDR as technologies, practices, and approaches that remove and durably store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Those include soil carbon sequestration, direct air carbon capture and storage and ocean fertilisation.
The paper cites the IPCC’s advice that CDR will be a vital tool needed in tandem with deep emissions cuts to reach ambitious climate targets, especially for hard-to-decarbonise sectors, such as maritime shipping, which operates worldwide and currently relies heavily on carbon-intensive fossil fuels.
Given the extremely limited carbon budget society can emit while restricting global warming to 1.5°C, NYK pledges to make utmost efforts to reduce its direct and indirect GHG footprint.
However, the company acknowledges it will likely have residual Scope 1 emissions it cannot eliminate entirely through maximising energy efficiency, deploying carbon capture and storage, and transitioning its fleet to alternative low- or zero-carbon fuels.
Scope 1 emissions refer to direct GHG emissions from sources owned or controlled by the company, such as fuel combustion in ships.
To address this gap, NYK confirms it will start procuring third-party-verified CDR credits on the voluntary carbon markets from 2025 or sooner to neutralise stubborn residual emissions on the path to net zero by 2050.
NYK originally planned to retire 200,000 tonnes of CDR credits annually by 2030 but has revised this initial target down to 100,000 tonnes because of the current immaturity of CDR technologies and markets.
The company said through this initiative, it will demonstrate how an emission-balancing mechanism can help a hard-to-abate sector achieve ambitious net zero targets, not just on paper but by clarifying the accounting and financial arrangements underlying these carbon credit transactions.
And this will call for developing “a regulatory global framework for this transaction”, it added.
The paper argues developing CDR framework globally is critical to accelerate capacity, reduce costs and drive adoption.