Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei, a part of the Asahi Kasei Group, has established a ‘Care for Earth’ investment framework as a new initiative for carbon neutrality by investing $100 million worldwide in early-stage startups that aim to solve issues in environmental fields such as hydrogen, energy storage, carbon management, and bio-based chemicals over the 5-year period up to fiscal 2027.
The company wants to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050, and to do that, it said it aims to reduce its own GHG emissions and to contribute to reducing GHG emissions throughout society while creating new businesses through the newly established investment framework.
It added that the framework is also expected to help the company advance the transformation of its material sector portfolio through participation in business ecosystems for carbon neutrality.
To note, Asahi Kasei said that since 2008, it has advanced corporate venture capital (CVC) activity in order to create new businesses by investing in startups and performing joint developments with them, and since 2011, the activity has facilitated investments in over 50 startups in the US, Europe, China, and Japan.
Takashi Morishita, General Manager of Corporate Venture Capital at Asahi Kasei, commented: “Our CVC team is excited for the opportunity to accelerate investments in early-stage startups hard at work to make a difference for our planet. We are seeing a lot of passionate people leading these decarbonisation initiatives and it feels good to help them on their way. The ideas and technology being innovated now will be an invaluable asset in actualising a carbon-neutral society.”
The Asahi Kasei Group pointed out it aims to further contribute to a sustainable society while achieving sustainable growth of corporate value by leveraging its accumulated technologies and expertise while accelerating investment for Green Transformation (GX).
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