Malaysia and Japan plan major cross-border carbon capture project, despite climate benefit doubts

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Japan wants to ship its carbon emissions to Malaysia in a first-of-its-kind carbon capture and storage project in Southeast Asia, a widely debated process that critics say is more symbolic than effective in curbing climate change.

Despite these doubts, Malaysia is positioning itself as Southeast Asia’s hub for this alternative technology, a three-step process that captures, transports and buries the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. With about 81% of Malaysia’s electricity generated from fossil fuels, climate activists say carbon capture is a costly distraction from proven emissions-cutting actions, such as the transition to renewable energy.

Japan, one of the world’s top carbon emitters, plans to ship emissions from its highly polluting industries – spanning electric power, oil refining, cement, shipping and steel – to Malaysia over the next few years. If the project succeeds, experts say it could pave the way for other Southeast Asian countries with carbon storage potential, such as Indonesia and Thailand.

Critics say it will slow progress on already outdated global efforts to reduce emissions.

The plan “dangerously shifts the burden of climate change onto Malaysia rather than Japan,” said Rachel Kennerley, a carbon capture specialist at the Washington-based Center for International Environmental Law.

Doubts about carbon capture

The debated process begins by capturing emissions directly from a polluting source, such as a refinery or power plant. This can be done in different ways, such as retrofitting a facility to emit directly into a storage location or building vacuum-type structures to suck up the emissions.

Although Japan and Malaysia have not yet shared detailed plans, carbon dioxide will then likely need to be separated from other gases captured and emitted during industrial processes.

The carbon will then be liquefied and transported in specially designed ships to landfills, likely in depleted gas fields off the coast of Malaysia’s Sarawak state on the island of Borneo.

Once the liquefied carbon is injected into the ground, the site will need to be monitored for leaks.

Some governments and fossil fuel giants like Exxon Mobil and Shell are promoting the strategy as a climate solution that buys countries and industries time to transition to cleaner energy.

The European Union’s first offshore carbon storage facility, which captures Denmark’s emissions and injects them into the seabed beneath the North Sea, is expected to start operating by mid-2026. A Norwegian facility launched last year is testing cross-border carbon shipments.

There is “an almost fantastic theoretical rise” in interest in carbon capture, said Grant Hauber of the American Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. He said it “offers a tantalizing promise that simply won’t deliver.”

While the International Energy Agency sees carbon capture, utilization and storage as a tool to curb climate change, the IEA’s latest net-zero emissions scenario projects it will contribute less than 5% to emissions reductions by 2050.

Malaysia pushes for carbon capture

Malaysia passed a bill last year promoting the carbon capture industry. Without providing details, the Ministry of the Economy, which declined to comment, predicts that this nascent sector could bring up to $250 billion to the economy within 30 years.

Malaysian state-owned oil and gas company Petronas is leading the $1.1 billion construction of what will be the world’s largest offshore carbon storage facility, with operations expected to begin by the end of the decade. Petronas declined to comment.

Rather than investing in proven decarbonization actions, such as solar deployment or grid development, Eqram Mustaqeem, who has campaigned against carbon capture in Malaysia, said: “We are spending huge amounts of money on technology that is not up to the mark and unproven. »

Japan pilots a cross-border project

Fossil fuels generate the lion’s share of energy in Japan, which is among the world’s five largest carbon emitters.

Japan is investing in nine carbon storage sites, including three in Malaysia, to try to reduce its net emissions. It estimates that by 2030, the sites will store 20 million tonnes of carbon per year, or about 2% of Japan’s annual emissions.

Malaysia will likely receive an unspecified amount per tonne of emissions stored. Japan could then subtract these emissions from its total carbon production.

Officials at Japan’s state agencies responsible for the project, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and the Japan Metals and Energy Safety Organization, or JOGMEC, did not respond to requests for comment.

Government documents show that a number of Japanese companies intend to ship their broadcasts to Malaysia.

Carbon capture or “climate colonialism”

Ayumi Fukakusa, of the advocacy group Friends of the Earth Japan, called the idea of ​​exporting emissions to other countries “carbon colonialism.”

Besides doubts about the effectiveness of carbon capture, critics also oppose the idea of ​​managing emissions rather than reducing them.

“Japan continues to pollute and cause climate change, while claiming to ‘clean up’ its emissions by shipping carbon to Malaysia,” said Kennerley of the Center for International Environmental Law. She said it would make Malaysia “a carbon dump for industrial pollution” and harm climate action.

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