Japan intends to work together with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to advance carbon capture technology.
The initiative is part of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s strategy to achieve a net-zero Asian community.
As the war between Russia and Ukraine goes on, crude oil and other energy prices are soaring, causing economies around the world to look to other alternatives.
Particularly, emerging economies in Asia may be prompted to consider the cheaper coal power, which, however, is notoriously more carbon-intensive.
In this case, Japan is counting that higher interest in coal power would also come to mean a surge in demand for carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions, which would help curb emissions while still meeting the demand for the fossil fuel.
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This can help promote more sustainable energy practices in Asia and at the same time also provide new business opportunities for Japan by establishing Japanese CCS as the standard for the region.
And now the aim of Japan is to “join forces with like-minded countries in Asia” or member-states of ASEAN to help advance carbon capture, according to Kishida.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister’s idea is to potentially form a union that could be called the ‘Asia Zero Emissions Community,’ an announcement he’d made back in January 2022.
Carbon recycling and utilization to make chemicals and even fuels were also cited as potential opportunities.
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