MOL completes carbon offset voyage with car carrier

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) has announced that one of its car carriers completed a carbon-offset voyage for the ocean transportation of completed cars from Japan to Europe by using voluntary carbon credits.

The initiative was conducted as a pilot case to study the specific use of carbon credits in ocean shipping to compensate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which, said MOL, ‘are difficult to reduce using currently available technology’.

Cars from Mazda Motor were loaded on the MOL-operated Beluga Ace, and the vessel departed the Port of Hiroshima on April 18, arriving at the Port of Bristol, UK, on 28 May.

CO2 emissions during the voyage between Japan and Europe reached about 4,000 tonnes including all processes from production through consumption of fuel oil. The calculation method of the volume was verified by the third-party verification body Bureau Veritas. The entire process, from calculating CO2 emissions including the verification process to compensating all CO2 emissions with carbon credits, was also certified by the third-party certification body Climate Neutral Commodity.

MOL used carbon credits generated from afforestation and reforestation projects in Ghana and China. Both projects are certified by the international carbon credit standard management body Verra, and the credits were generated within the past five years.