METI formulates the roadmap for CCS commercialization

METI formulates the roadmap for CCS commercialization

The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) started discussions to formulate the first roadmap to develop policies for the commercialization of carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS). The ANRE will immediately prepare the supporting system to enable a final investment decision (FID) in FY2026 toward the target of commercializing CCS in FY2030.
The estimation was indicated that about 120 million to 240 million tons of storage per year in Japan is necessary to achieve carbon neutrality in FY2050, and it will be analyzed more in detail.

On 28th January, ANRE established “The CCS Long-Term Roadmap Study Group” and held its first meeting behind closed doors. Dr. Hiroshi Ohashi, Dean, Graduate School of Public Policy at University of Tokyo, chaired the committee. The committee will be held five times and an interim roadmap for the 2030 and 2050 will be compiled by the end of May. It will also be reflected in the Clean Energy Strategy.

FID is required by FY2026 in order to start new CCS projects in FY2030. This is because it will take at least four years to construct offshore facilities and drill an injection well. The responsible office pointed out that the project implementation environment needs to be improved immediately, since it is necessary to make the decision in 2023 and start the trial drilling in FY2024.

Furthermore, in case the storage is done only in Japan, it will be necessary to increase the number of the injection wells by 12 to 24 each year from the project start-up in 2030 to 2050. The total number of injection wells are estimated to be 240-480 by 2050. In fact, the ANRE considers overseas storage. But it will first examine the appropriate level of storage quantity in Japan. It will also aim to the detail study on the domestic storage potential, which is estimated to be 240 billion tons. Discussions between the CO2 emission companies such as the power generators and energy intensive industries, resource upstream industries and CO2 disposal industry such as the trading companies, aim to minimize supply chain costs.