Japanese shipping firm, Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), announced that it has invested in Australian Integrated Carbon (AIC), an Australian company that offers carbon credits gained from primeval forest restoration initiatives.
The investment is part of NYK’s effort to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships by utilizing the carbon offset technique.
The investment entails participating in projects that reduce and absorb emissions elsewhere or acquiring carbon credits.
“With this capital participation as a foothold, NYK will acquire knowledge of the carbon credit creation business and aim to expand its business in Australia and also expand the project to other regions such as the United States,” the company said in a statement.
While the financial specifics of the sale were not disclosed, AIC announced earlier this year that Mitsubishi Corp had bought a 40% share.
AIC sells credits gained from CO2-sequestrations achieved in the regrowth of Australia’s native forests via a method known as human-induced regeneration.
It incorporates new land-management strategies to aid in the regeneration of native woods that have been destroyed over the years due to logging and overgrazing.
Through its portfolio, the company hopes to reduce global CO2 emissions by 100 million tons in the future. The carbon credits can subsequently be sold through the Australian government’s Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI).
Since 2015, the Australian government has committed more than A$4.5 billion ($3.25 billion) to the establishment of the country’s carbon credit auction market, the size of which had reached 16 million CO2 tons by 2020 and is now one of the largest in the world.
