Hiroyuki Mori

Hiroyuki Mori, the executive vice president of the Japan Organization for Metals and Energy Security’s (JOGMEC) energy portfolio, has rallied Asian importers of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to harness their collective influence and drive down methane emissions across the LNG supply chain. Under his leadership, JOGMEC has mobilized Japan’s largest LNG buyers, including Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsui & Co, to benchmark emissions data from LNG suppliers. The group, called Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement Toward Net Zero (CLEAN), expanded its membership in October to include all major Japanese utility companies and energy giants like Japan’s JERA and Korea’s KOGAS, which collectively control over a quarter of global LNG demand.

The coalition is the first in the region to document the ecological footprints of individual LNG projects and collect data on methane emissions and reduction efforts in an annual report. JOGMEC’s vision for a more sustainable LNG market has extended beyond Japan to include methane monitoring and reduction projects in Indonesia and Malaysia.

“Through this project, we plan to study effective ways for methane emission reduction and to consider internationally reliable methods of measurement and calculation of methane emissions based on the actual situation in Southeast Asia,” Mori said in the August launch of a partnership with Pertamina, Indonesia’s state energy company, to measure methane emissions in its gas fields. His dedication to advancing transparency and accountability in methane emissions data has positioned JOGMEC as a critical player in the pursuit of a lower-carbon future for the industry.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with LNG supplies will require effort through the entire value chain and close cooperation between producers and consumers,” said Keisuke Sadamori, director general of energy markets and security directorate at the International Energy Agency, at the LNG producer-consumer conference sponsored by CLEAN this year. “Emission intensity is emerging as the critical differentiator among LNG projects, as lower emission profiles are seen as a natural hedge against regulatory uncertainties.”