Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo, President and CEO: Kenichi Hori,) has subscribed to a third-party allotment of new shares by Heirloom Carbon Technologies, Inc. ("Heirloom"), which is developing and commercializing direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove CO2 directly from the atmosphere.
To achieve net-zero emissions on a global scale by 2050, it will be necessary not only to reduce current CO2 emissions, but also to tackle CO2 that has already been emitted. Current estimates indicate that even with the greatest possible efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, it will be difficult to eliminate emissions totaling 2-10 billion tons per year. Various methods and technologies are now being explored to offset this deficit by capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. DAC is seen as having the potential for early commercialization and social implementation because of its advantages in terms of scale, siting flexibility, and other factors.
Heirloom is a leading US company, which has developed its unique DAC technology and has established a commercial plant. Its advantages include a simple process that also enables large-scale commercialization based on limestone, which is cheap and readily available, as well as the ability to optimize the process by automating operations and utilizing digital technology. Heirloom has been operating its Plant in Tracy, California, the first commercial facility in the United States, since November 2023. This plant has the capacity to capture 1,000 tons of CO2 per year. Having secured funding from the US Department of Energy through Project Cypress, Heirloom is building even larger plants with a total capacity of approximately 300,000 tons per year, near Shreveport, Louisiana. Heirloom also plans to reduce costs by further scaling up its operations. The captured CO2 will be stored permanently and safely underground. Heirloom has been generating high-quality carbon credits based on calculated and verified benefits, including long-term storage potential, environmental effects, and CO2 elimination, and selling these credits to companies that are actively working to address climate change impacts, such as Microsoft.
In addition to Mitsui, other Japanese companies that have invested in Heirloom include Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., and Japan Airlines Co., Ltd.
Through its investment in and future collaboration with Heirloom, Mitsui aims to deepen its DAC knowledge and use DAC technology to create a carbon management industry with integrated strengths, by combining this business with other projects it has been implementing globally. Specifically, Mitsui aims to combine DAC technology with its carbon capture and storage (CCS) business for capturing and storing CO2, creating direct air capture with carbon storage (DACCS) business. Moreover, Mitsi will strive to expand its platform for the sale of various credits not only from DAC but other sources, such as forests, and will pursue the manufacture and sale of carbon neutral fuels made from CO2 captured through DAC systems.
