Japan sees CCS technology - which removes CO2 emissions from the atmosphere and stores them underground, and which a host of Japanese companies said on Thursday they were working on - as essential to achieving its goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
That strategy is being mirrored by governments across the world.
The ministry has estimated that Japan will be storing 120-240 million tonnes of CO2 a year in 2050. To hit that target it will need to increase annual CO2 storage by 6-12 million tonnes every year from 2030, while it also aims to dramatically cut CO2 separation and recovery costs.
The ministry also wants legislative frameworks in place to allow companies to launch full-scale CCS operations from 2030, it said in a document agreed by a panel of energy experts on Thursday.
Japan's biggest oil refiner Eneos, JX Nippon Oil & Gas Exploration, and Electric Power Development said on Thursday they will form a joint venture to accelerate preparations for the commercialization of domestic CCS.
They said they aim to implement the country's first full-scale CCS supply chain by 2030.
Itochu, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Inpex and Taisei also said they will study options for a large-scale CCS value chain, including ship transportation of CO2 emitted from materials and other industries.
Idemitsu Kosan, Hokkaido Electric Power and Japan Petroleum Exploration will also start a joint study for implementing carbon capture, they said.
(Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; editing by John Stonestreet)
