Mitsubishi Corporation (MC) is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire a 40% interest in Australian Integrated Carbon Pty Ltd (AIC), which is engaged in the sale of carbon credits. The credits are obtained through CO₂-sequstrations achieved in the regrowth of Australia’s native forests through a process called human-induced regeneration.

 

Human-induced regeneration is an established methodology in Australia. It employs new land-management practices to facilitate the regeneration of native woodlands that have been lost over the past few centuries due to clearing and overgrazing. The amount of CO₂ stored in the regenerated forests is officially certified as Australian Carbon Credit Units by the Australian Government. AIC aims to capture global CO₂ emissions by 100 million tons through its growing portfolio.

 

Since 2015, the Australian Government contributed over 4.5 billion AUD to establish the country’s carbon-credit auction market, the size of which had reached 16 million CO₂ tons by 2020 and is today one of the largest in the world. The government is encouraging human- induced regeneration activities because in addition to being more feasible and cost-competitive than other decarbonization methods, they benefit farmers through revenue diversification, soil improvement, and biodiversity conservation. These activities are considered vital to achieving Australia’s climate targets as set down under the Paris Agreement.

 

While MC remains committed to its own efforts to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, it is equally proud to support forest-regeneration and other large-scale, CO₂ sequestration projects that are dedicated to the decarbonization of our planet.

 

MC is excited about leveraging this investment in AIC to learn more about competitive forest-regeneration projects and help their growth throughout Australia and other parts of the world. This investment falls in step with MC’s key sustainability objectives, which include “transitioning to a low-carbon society” and “growing together with local communities.”