ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter "ITOCHU") announced today that it has been adopted to the “Green Innovation Fund Project / Development Project for Next-Generation Ships / Development of Ammonia Fueled Ship”, a project publicly offered by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), an organization under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, to which ITOCHU applied subsidy for the Integrated Project jointly with four companies: Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Yukikazu Myochin; hereinafter "K-LINE"), NS United Kaiun Kaisha, Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Kazuo Tanimizu, President and Representative Director; hereinafter "NS UNITED"), Nihon Shipyard Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Yoshinori Maeta, President and Representative Director; hereinafter "NIHON SHIPYARD") and Mitsui E&S Machinery Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Ichiro Tanaka, President and Representative Director; hereinafter "MITSUI E&S MACHINERY").

This project implements ammonia fueled ships in society under Japan's leadership at the earliest possible time before 2028 to ensure that Japan's maritime industry can maintain its advantages in terms of zero-emission ships on a long-term basis and in order to achieve this, the parties will develop propulsion systems and hulls, and will own and operate ammonia fueled ships ahead of other countries.

The objective of this project is to achieve development and social implementation of zero-emission ships at the earliest possible time by using ammonia, which is attracting attention from various industries as an alternative marine fuel, in line with the International Maritime Organization's greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction strategy. It is also a part of the “Integrated Project” that consists both the development of ammonia fueled ships and the establishment of international supply chain for ammonia as marine fuel by ITOCHU and other partners.

ITOCHU has positioned enhancing our contribution to and engagement with the SDGs through business activities together with realizing business transformation by shifting to a market-oriented perspective as the basic policy of its Brand-New-Deal 2023 medium-term management plan. With this in mind, it has been active in pursuing ammonia fuel-related businesses. Through these initiatives, ITOCHU will accelerate the establishment of a next-generation fuel value chain and seek to create a decarbonized society.