The Japanese government is set to launch offshore “blue carbon” research aimed at capturing carbon dioxide through cultivated marine plants and storing it in the deep sea to accelerate decarbonization, sources reported.

The government believes these plants will play a crucial role in mitigating climate change, as CO2 is highly soluble in water and marine vegetation absorbs dissolved CO2.

Coastal and ocean plants, such as mangroves and kelp, are known to absorb and store more carbon than terrestrial vegetation.

“Blue carbon” refers to carbon captured by marine ecosystems through photosynthesis and subsequently stored in the deep sea, while “green carbon” pertains to carbon stored in terrestrial ecosystems like forests.

The Environment Ministry plans to commission the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, major oil distributor Eneos Corp., and other entities to study the behavior of seaweed when submerged at significant depths and assess the environmental impacts of such carbon capture and storage projects.

Although CO2 emissions in Japan have decreased primarily due to the expansion of renewable energy and the restart of nuclear reactors, the government recognizes the need to enhance carbon capture efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Japan currently relies heavily on forests for CO2 capture, with approximately 45 million tons absorbed in fiscal 2023. However, the absorption capacity of these forests has been declining due to aging trees.

“If we can demonstrate a technology that enables CO2 fixation on the seafloor, it could become a significant source of CO2 absorption,” a senior official from the ministry stated.

Japan aims to capture 1 million tons of CO2 by fiscal 2035 and 2 million tons by fiscal 2040 through blue carbon initiatives, compared to about 34 tons absorbed by coastal plants in fiscal 2023.

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