Japanese oil company Idemitsu has used carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions made on a return VLCC voyage between Japan and the Middle East Gulf.
The trial run was carried out on the 300,500-dwt VLCC Nissho Maru (built 2004), controlled by tanker subsidiary Idemitsu Tanker, which carried a full crude oil cargo.
Idemitsu said it achieved a carbon-neutral voyage, offsetting around 100,000 tonnes of carbon emissions in total.
The carbon credits were purchased by Idemitsu's Singapore-based trading arm, Idemitsu Trading, through the voluntary carbon markets.
Carbon credits are generated through sustainability projects and then sold on the open market. Funds generated from the sales are used to find more projects.
Idemitsu's carbon credits were bought from Verra and Gold Standard-approved projects.
Following the success of the project, Idemitsu said it plans to continue to use carbon credits to help it achieve a carbon-neutral shipping business.
Idemitsu Tanker operates a fleet of 14 time-chartered VLCCs, and manages six VLCCs, two VLGCs owned by Idemitsu.
Idemitsu is not the first Japanese company to use the voluntary carbon markets. NYK Line used carbon credits to achieve a carbon-neutral car carrier voyage between Japan and the Middle East Gulf in 2019.
Trading house Marubeni also used carbon credits to offset emissions on the 21,020-cbm LPG carrier Navigator Triton (built 2015) on a voyage from Navigator's Morgan's Point terminal in Houston, Texas, on 6 July this year.
Also in July, Connecticut-based Penfield Marine, a leading commercial manager and pools operator, carried out a carbon-neutral voyage in conjunction with the Macquarie Group’s commodities and global markets division using the 158,400-dwt Seaways Hatteras (built 2017).
