The Ministry of the Environment announced on September 1, 2026, the selection results for its fiscal 2026 “Demonstration Project for a Regional Carbon-Circulation Business Model Centred on Public Facilities” (公共施設を主体とした地域での炭素循環事業モデル実証事業), and revealed that it had selected the “Demonstration Project for a Carbon-Circulation Business Model Centred on a Municipal Waste Treatment Facility in Koriyama City,” proposed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. as the lead implementer. The three joint implementers are Air Water East Japan, Inc., Tobu Gas Co., Ltd., and Nittobo (Nitto Boseki Co., Ltd.).
The project aims to support the introduction of CCU (carbon capture and utilisation) technology to capture and use unavoidable CO2 emissions, alongside efforts to expand renewable energy as a core power source and promote energy-saving technologies, in line with the targets for fiscal years 2030, 2035 and 2040 set out in the Global Warming Countermeasures Plan (地球温暖化対策計画), as well as the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The Ministry of the Environment called for proposals from June 12 to July 10, 2026, for technology demonstrations to build CCU supply chains that use CO2 captured from exhaust gas at public facilities such as waste treatment plants for fuel and chemical products within the local area, and selected one project from the applications received.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, together with Koriyama City and the three joint implementers, aims to realise a “Koriyama model” in which CO2 captured by the “Kawasaki CO2 Capture” separation and recovery system—installed on a trial basis at the Koriyama City Fukuyama Clean Center and operating since May 2026—is circulated as a resource within the local region. The project is scheduled to run from fiscal 2026 through fiscal 2029.
The Koriyama model contributes to regional decarbonisation by building a CCU supply chain that “transports” CO2 captured from the exhaust gas of a municipal waste treatment facility, “produces” synthetic methane using the CO2 as a feedstock, and “uses” the resulting synthetic methane within the local area.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has developed “KCC,” an energy-saving CO2 separation and recovery system that uses a solid absorbent. Compared with conventional liquid absorption methods, the system can utilise lower-temperature waste heat, potentially enabling significant reductions in energy consumption. Based on an agreement signed with Koriyama City in March 2023, the company has been evaluating the applicability of KCC to exhaust gas from waste incineration facilities. The fiscal 2026 demonstration project now selected is the result of this accumulated technical verification work taking concrete shape.
Efforts to use CO2 derived from municipal waste treatment facilities as a local resource are also underway elsewhere. In June 2026, Saga City announced that it had obtained “ISCC PLUS certification” (an international certification scheme using a mass-balance approach for companies and organisations that use sustainable raw materials such as biomass and recycled materials) for CO2 separated and captured from the exhaust gas of its waste incineration plant. The city states this is the world’s first case of ISCC PLUS certification being obtained for CO2 derived from a waste incineration plant.
【Press Release】Selected for the Ministry of the Environment’s “Fiscal 2026 Demonstration Project for a Regional Carbon-Circulation Business Model Centred on Public Facilities”
【Press Release】Selected for the Ministry of the Environment’s “Fiscal 2026 Demonstration Project for a Regional Carbon-Circulation Business Model Centred on Public Facilities”
【Reference Article】On the Selection Results for the Fiscal 2026 “Demonstration Project for a Regional Carbon-Circulation Business Model Centred on Public Facilities”
【Reference Article】World First! International Certification (ISCC PLUS Certification) Obtained for CO2 Derived from a Waste Incineration Plant
【Related Article】DNP and Five Other Companies Demonstrate a Construction-Site Waste Plastic Circulation Model Under a Ministry of the Environment Project, Starting Verification at a Daiwa House Industry Site
