Mitsui & Co., Ltd. ("Mitsui", Head Office: Tokyo; President and CEO: Kenichi Hori) has selected Planet Savers Inc. ("Planet Savers"), a company developing Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to capture CO₂ directly from the atmosphere, to be the sixth recipient of a grant from the Mitsui & Co. Co-creation Fund ("the Fund"), as outlined below.

Climate change is causing increasingly frequent heatwaves and torrential rainfalls, the spread of infectious diseases, and instability in agriculture and fisheries, and is having serious impacts on economies and food security worldwide. While various efforts are underway across multiple sectors to reduce emissions of CO₂, a major greenhouse gas, there remain sectors where reductions are difficult due to structural constraints, such as limitations on electrification or transitions to alternative fuels. In addition to reducing emissions, addressing the problem of the CO₂ that has already been released into the atmosphere is also essential. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that achieving the 1.5°C reduction target will require the direct capture and removal of approximately 85 million tons of CO₂ per year by 2030, increasing to around 1 billion tons per year by 2050. Among the various carbon capture and removal approaches under consideration, DAC is seen as particularly promising due to its scalability and the ability to mechanically and accurately quantify the volume of CO₂ removed.

By leveraging world-leading synthesis technology for CO₂-adsorbent zeolites possessed by the University of Tokyo, Planet Savers is developing a DAC system that is expected to achieve significant cost reductions, particularly in energy consumption and adsorbent costs. The company's DAC technology is fully electrically driven and does not require thermal input, resulting in a water-free and highly sustainable process. In addition, as the technology offers unique advantages in dry and cold regions, where other approaches often face challenges, it is demonstrating strong potential for future deployment.

Under the Fund, Mitsui will co-create with Planet Savers from the development stage of its DAC system. Mitsui will also support the utilization of CO₂ captured with DAC in applications such as agricultural facilities, while looking ahead to scaling up deployments to meet the needs of large CO₂ users. Through these initiatives, Mitsui aims to contribute to the social implementation of DAC technology and to the creation of sustainable futures via the capture and utilization of CO₂.

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