MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan's Mitsubishi Corp will invest 2 trillion yen (USD17.54 B) by 2030 in alternative energies such as renewables and hydrogen to drive its decarbonization efforts and cut emissions, reported Reuters with reference to the company's statement on Monday.
Mitsubishi, a trading house and mineral resources company with energy and metals assets worldwide, aims to halve its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 on 2020 levels, and to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, it said in a statement.
The move comes as oil and coal producers and consumers worldwide accelerate a move away from fossil fuels by investing in cleaner energy and developing technology to eliminate climate-warming gases.
Of Mitsubishi's 2 trillion yen budget, about half will be spent on expanding its renewable energy assets, mainly wind power, while the rest will go to hydrogen and ammonia, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and metals used in electrification and batteries.
The Japanese company will keep investing in LNG as it believes it will play an important role as a transitional energy, but plans to use carbon capture and storage and other technology to cut CO2 emissions in the LNG supply chain.
As MRC informed earlier, in September 2021, Mitsubishi Corp and Shell Canada Products, by its managing partner, Shell Canada Limited (Shell Canada), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) relating to the production of low-carbon hydrogen through the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) near Edmonton, Canada. Mitsubishi Corp said it aims to build and start-up the low-carbon hydrogen facility near the Shell Energy and Chemicals Park Scotford towards the latter half of this decade, and Shell would provide CO2 storage via the proposed Polaris CCS project. The low-carbon hydrogen, commonly called blue hydrogen, would be produced via a natural gas feedstock and exported mainly to the Japanese market to produce clean energy.
We remind that Royal Dutch Shell plans to reduce its refining and chemicals portfolio by more than half, it said in July 2020 without giving a precise timeframe. The move is part of the Anglo-Dutch company's plan to shrink its oil and gas business and expand its renewables and power division to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sharply by 2050.
Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,396,960 tonnes in January-July 2021, up by 7% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market were 841,990 tonnes in the first seven months of 2021, up by 29% year on year. Supply of propylene homopolymers (homopolymer PP) and block-copolymers of propylene (PP block copolymers) increased, whereas supply of statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers) subsided.
Mitsubishi Chemical with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, is a diversified chemical company involved in petrochemicals, polymers, agrochemicals, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company's main focus is on three business pillars: petrochemicals, performance and functional products, and health care.
MRC