Tokyo Gas expects demand for carbon-neutral LNG to continue growing because it offers a practical solution for decarbonisation. The company recently secured a deal to provide customers with 70 Mcm of carbon-neutral city gas. The company will supply 800,000 cubic metres of carbon-neutral city gas to the Yakult Central Institute starting on April 1 under a five-year deal ending March 2026. The Yakult Central Institute plans to shift to carbon-neutral gas to reduce its CO2 emissions by 11,500 tons, marking the first decarbonisation effort by the Japanese beverage industry.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has identified carbon-neutral LNG as one of the possible measures to decarbonise the country’s industrial sector, which accounts for 60% of its energy consumption. METI also proposed to co-inject more than 1% of hydrogen-based synthetic methane into city gas by 2030. The methane injection is expected to expand to 90% by 2050. The proposal said that the methanation could provide promising means to decarbonise the city gas supply by 2050 as part of Japan’s climate target.
Tokyo Gas received its first carbon-neutral LNG cargo of 70,000 tons from Shell in 2019. The shipment is part of a deal whereby Shell purchases carbon credits from nature-based projects to compensate for CO2 emissions from its gas exploration and production. Tokyo Gas is also part of a Japanese Alliance aimed at promoting the trade of carbon-neutral LNG.
