Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) and Orica have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore potential opportunities for collaboration on emission-reduction initiatives, aligned with Orica and MHI’s shared decarbonisation ambitions.

The collaboration will leverage MHI’s reputation for manufacturing excellence and innovation, as well as Orica’s existing presence and emerging opportunities in the global renewable hydrogen and ammonia markets, the companies say.

The collaboration covers various areas of mutual interest, including:

• Exploring technology deployment opportunities for renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia production near Orica’s facilities in Newcastle and Gladstone, Australia;
• Creating demand opportunities for renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia in the power generation, maritime, industrial and agricultural industries;
• Investigating activities to further reduce emissions from Orica’s existing operations.

Orica says it is building a strong pathway towards achieving net zero emissions by latest 2050, while positioning the business for a lower carbon world. Orica’s continued partnerships and investment in decarbonisation and the production of renewable hydrogen and renewable ammonia will support Orica’s sustainability goals and also support the individual goals of existing and future customers, including in key Asian growth markets such as Japan.

Orica Chief Development and Sustainability Officer, Andrew Stewart, said: “We are delighted to partner with MHI, a company that shares our vision and commitment to a more sustainable future. This collaboration signals another step towards building Orica’s climate resilience and opportunities to support further growth while supporting our customers to achieve their ESG goals. We look forward to working with MHI to explore potential emissions reduction opportunities for our organisations and our customers.”

On the signing of the MoU, Dr Hitoshi Kaguchi, Senior Executive Vice President at MHI responsible for energy transition and the expansion of growth fields, said: “It is a great honour to be able to collaborate with Orica, a leader in decarbonising hard to abate industry and developing low carbon fuel value chain in Australia. We are looking forward to contributing to Orica’s net zero ambition through our reliable technology in the future.”