Shell International and ITOCHU Corporation have announced they will collaborate to accelerate the digitalisation and decarbonisation of ITOCHU's mining sites.
Shell will offer its sectoral expertise in decarbonisation and digitalisation pathways expertise to find solutions that meet the specific needs of ITOCHU, an investment firm headquartered in Tokyo, which manages a Metals and Minerals portfolio that includes mining sites across the globe.
ITOCHU is driven by the overarching goal to promote environmental conservation activities within the mining sector. Shell will work with ITOCHU to identify ways that its products, services and other solutions will help ITOCHU avoid, reduce or offset the emissions from its mining portfolio. One key solution will be Oren, Shell and IBM's digital B2B marketplace, which will provide ITOCHU with digital transformation consultancy as well as access to a wide range of leading digital and technology solutions for the mining sector.
'ITOCHU has recently been recognised for the sixth consecutive year with the SAM Gold Class award from the S&P Global Sustainability Awards, and we will continue to push to further improve the sustainability of our metals and mining portfolio around the world,' said Jun Inomata, Chief Operating Officer of Metal and Mineral Resources Division of ITOCHU. 'We see digital as being a key opportunity to help us drive a lower carbon footprint for our mining operations and Shell's Oren marketplace and consultancy approach will help us accelerate that digital journey.'
'Shell is committed to working with companies, like ITOCHU, that are pioneers who embrace the need to collaborate and to act now to lower the carbon intensity of their businesses,' said Carlos Maurer, Executive Vice President for Sectors & Decarbonisation at Shell. 'Digital technologies - that help optimise energy efficiency and the effective monitoring of greenhouse gases - are also important levers that can be used now to drive the transition to a lower carbon future.'
ITOCHU has agreed to collaborate with Shell on initiatives for its mining portfolio, which are related to sustainable growth and development and for projects that use digital solutions to increase operational efficiency. ITOCHU will team up with OREN to pinpoint digitalisation opportunities and appropriate solutions according to a digital transformation roadmap that will be developed by OREN's mining experts based on the specific insights shared by ITOCHU in relation to its mining operations. ITOCHU will work directly with OREN's sector subject matter experts to conduct digital pilots in key sector markets like Australia and Brazil in the second quarter.
'Digitalisation of operational efforts is a vital enabler for the energy transition for mining companies and a critical first step to turn decarbonisation ambitions into action is to build a digital roadmap,' said OREN CEO Mark Hannan. 'We look forward to joining forces with ITOCHU to not only deliver change but also foster collaboration with Oren's digital suppliers to create innovation solutions to meet their sustainability goals.'
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ITOCHU CORPORATION 
