Reporting and opinion by Mathew Carr
Jan. 11, 2025 — Cutting transport emissions in a company’s supply chain is notoriously difficult, because ships and jets still mostly use crude-oil based fuels.
On Friday, an unusual collaboration between Japanese companies was formed to make it easier.
TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd., MOL — a shipping company, and ITOCHU Corporation, a trading house, agreed a framework to create so-called “Environmental Attribute Certificates” (EACs).
These credits are somewhat like carbon credits, in that they can be linked to cuts in “bad emissions” such as those created by burning fossil fuels or to increased use of “good emissions” such as sustainable fuels (the emissions are “good” because the fuels might be produced via processes that absorb CO2 out of the atmosphere — they might be close to climate neutral). The EACs could also be issued by a company restoring habitats, for instance. (See docs, notes for more info).
I applaud this collaboration … yet it’s a shame when politicians give up their obligations to set strong climate policies globally … and companies have to come up with tricky programs like this one to fill a glaring policy gap.
How it works (see the source docs, links below):
- MOL purchased “air transport (air travel and freight)” EACs issued by ITOCHU to reduce GHG emissions associated with its employee air travel (Scope 3 Category 6, GHG Protocol).
- ITOCHU purchased “maritime transport (sea freight)” EACs issued by MOL to reduce GHG emissions associated with its use of maritime transport (Scope 3 Category 4, GHG Protocol).
- This transaction was executed through the platform provided by 123Carbon in the Netherlands. Operating under an audit framework, the platform centrally manages the issuance, transfer, storage, and retirement of EACs. It seeks to ensure traceability and reliability of transactions while maintaining high transparency, in accordance with global standards.
Source doc
MOL, ITOCHU Sign MOU for Strategic Partnership to Promote Use of Environmental Attribute Certificates
– Toward Decarbonizing the Transportation Sector: Japan’s 1st Collaborative Model Bridging Shipping and Aviation –
January 09, 2026
TOKYO-Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President & CEO: Takeshi Hashimoto) today announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a strategic partnership with ITOCHU Corporation (ITOCHU; President & COO: Keta Ishii) to advance decarbonization in the transportation sector through the use of Environmental Attribute Certificates (EACs, Note 1).
Through this MOU, both companies will collaborate in marketing, public relations, sales, and other areas to promote the adoption of EACs, helping companies using transportation services reduce their Scope 3 emissions (Note 2). By forming a cross-industry partnership between shipping and aviation, this initiative represents a new model for decarbonization in Japan (Note 3).
As part of this initiative, both companies, in their capacity as users of maritime and air transport, have engaged in mutual trading of EACs to reduce their respective Scope 3 emissions as follows:
[Transaction Summary]
- MOL purchased “air transport (air travel and freight)” EACs issued by ITOCHU to reduce GHG emissions associated with its employee air travel (Scope 3 Category 6).
- ITOCHU purchased “maritime transport (sea freight)” EACs issued by MOL to reduce GHG emissions associated with its use of maritime transport (Scope 3 Category 4).
This transaction was executed through the platform provided by 123Carbon (Note 4) in the Netherlands. Operating under a robust audit framework, the platform centrally manages the issuance, transfer, storage, and retirement of EACs. It ensures traceability and reliability of transactions while maintaining high transparency in accordance with global standards.
Reducing Scope 3 emissions-which represent a significant share for many companies- is an unavoidable challenge in advancing climate change response. One of key barriers is the difficulty of ensuring traceability, given the complexity of supply chains. MOL will leverage its strengths in marine transport through the use of low-carbon marine fuels, while ITOCHU will draw on its expertise in adopting sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Through this collaborative effort in the shipping and aviation sectors, the two companies will establish a framework to support transportation service users in reducing their Scope 3 emissions. Together, they are committed to advancing decarbonization across the broader transportation supply chain through this partnership.
The MOL Group has identified “Build business models that enable net zero emissions” as one of actions in its “MOL Group Environmental Vision 2.2” In February 2025, the group launched a carbon insetting & book and claim program called the “BLUE ACTION NET-ZERO ALLIANCE” (Note 5). Collaboration across the entire transportation supply chain is essential to achieving net-zero, and the strategic partnership with ITOCHU represents a concrete example of stakeholder co-creation under this program.
(Note 1) An environmental attribute certificate (EAC) is a mechanism that enables companies to issue and utilize certificates certifying reductions in indirect GHG emissions (Scope 3) across their supply chain activities.
(Note 2) Scope 3 refers to indirect emissions-those arising from other companies’ activities related to a company’s own operations-excluding Scope 2 emissions, which result from purchased electricity, heat, and steam. Scope 3 is further classified into 15 categories.
(Note 3) As of January, 2026, according to MOL research
(Note 4) 123Carbon is Netherlands-based environmental technology company providing a digital platform to drive decarbonization in transportation and logistics.
123Carbon HP : 123Carbon.com
(Note 5) Please refer to the following MOL Service Site.
BLUE ACTION NET-ZERO ALLIANCE (Carbon Inset/Book and Claim Program) | Services | Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) Solutions
MOL Group 5 Sustainability Issues
MOL Group identifies “Sustainability Issues” (Materiality) as our key issues for sustainable growth with society through realization of the Group Vision.
We anticipate this initiative to contribute especially to the realization of “Environment -Conservation for Marine and global environment-” and “Innovation -Innovation for development in marine technology-.”
Notes
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0973082625001255
