MHI sets terms of its 1st green bond

Japanese engineering major Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) is set to issue a $239 million (JPY 25 billion) green bond on November 24 as it aims to raise funds to support the decarbonization challenge.

MHI revealed its green bond issuance plans at the end of October saying the funds raised would target investments in existing or new renewable energy and clean energy businesses and projects related to wind power, hydrogen, and geothermal power systems.

“Eventually, we aim to contribute to achieving ‘ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all’, which is the 7th Sustainable Development Goal defined by the United Nation,” the company said.

At the end of October, MHI signed a deal with Vestas Wind Systems to expand their partnership in sustainable energy.

Under the deal, Vestas will acquire MHI’s shares in the MHI Vestas Offshore Wind (MVOW) joint venture, and MHI will acquire 2.5 percent in Vestas and be nominated to a seat in Vestas’ Board of Directors.

The company has also been engaged in projects involving hydrogen building on a strong track record in developing hydrogen production systems and rocket engines that use hydrogen as a liquid fuel.

At the moment MHI Group is taking part in a feasibility study for a project targeting transition to 100% hydrogen firing by 2025 at part (440 megawatts) of a natural-gas-fired GTCC power plant in the Netherlands.

The engineering firm is also part of the Challenge Net Zero Carbon Innovation initiative, under which Japanese companies and organizations will promote and support worldwide innovative actions taken to achieve a decarbonized world in line with Paris Agreement goals.

What is more, Japan has pledged to become a net-zero nation by 2050, as revealed by the country’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the end of October.

MHI is also one of the founding partners of the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, a research and development institute to promote decarbonization in the shipping industry.

The center is headquartered in Copenhagen and is targeting the development of new fuels and technologies for achieving zero carbon in the shipping industry, which currently accounts for roughly 3% of the world’s carbon emissions.