Japanese shipping powerhouse Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) has become a member of the Global CCS Institute, an international think-tank established to promote the use of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies worldwide.

“By joining the Global CCS Institute, NYK will be able to closely monitor the development and expansion of CCS and will aim to contribute to the realization of a decarbonized society by participating in CCS projects in the areas of offshore transportation of compressed liquefied CO2 and the injection of CO2 from offshore facilities into undersea rocks,” the company stated in a release today.

Another Japanese shipping line, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), has got involved in an Australian carbon capture project.

Perth-based Transborders Energy is leading the deepC Store project, aiming to capture carbon emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and other industrial plants in Australia and the Asia Pacific with a view to getting operations underway by 2027.

Earlier this year, MOL decided to invest in Norway-based Larvik Shipping, a pioneer in the shipping of CO2.

Not to be left out, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), the last of the big three Japanese lines, is also pursuing its own carbon capture initiatives. In August last year, K Line started test operations and measurements for what it claims to be the world’s first small scale ship-based CO2 capture demonstration plant. The two-year project, named Carbon Capture on the Ocean, will convert an existing CO2 capture system for an onshore power plant onto a vessel.