Mitsui OSK Lines has invested in a fuels company that makes methanol from renewable electricity.
HIF Global, a Chilean e-fuels company, said the Japanese shipping giant has added to some $220m in funding that it has raised so far this year.
The cash will help finance expansion of e-fuels projects in the US, Australia, Chile and Uruguay.
E-fuels are another name for electrofuels or synthetic fuels. They are produced from hydrogen that is in turn made from electricity and water in an electrolyser.
They can bring well-to-wake shipping emissions down to zero when that electricity is from renewable sources, with recycled carbon included in the case of e-methanol.
HIF Global considers itself the leading company in the space.
MOL is the third Japanese company to invest in HIF so far this year, after energy company Idemitsu Kosan and the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security, or JOGMEC.
HIF global said its partnership with these companies represents a “value chain of collective capabilities” — with the company’s fuel production linked up with MOL’s transport focus and Idemitsu’s position in ports and refineries.
Other investors include Porsche, Baker Hughes and Gemstone Investments.
Cesar Norton, president and chief executive of HIF Global, said MOL’s position as one of the world’s largest shipping companies is key to e-methanol’s global accessibility.
“We welcome MOL to the HIF partnership as we build a strategic value chain delivery capability that supplies decarbonisation and a greener future from low-cost production areas to market centers worldwide,” he said in a statement.
“Together we develop the capability to produce e-fuels and deliver them to our customers on MOL’s fleet of carriers”
An HIF Global spokeswoman declined to state the size of MOL’s investment.
The Japanese shipping giant has been active in investing in green technology ventures.
Its MOL Switch corporate venture capital arm, based in the Silicon Valley, has invested in ammonia technology venture Starfire Energy, H2U Technologies in the hydrogen space and CO2 removal company Heirloom Carbon.
