SINGAPORE: China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, has launched a specialised unit to engage in capturing and storing carbon dioxide as well as equity investment in carbon-related assets, the company said.

The new firm, Sinopec Carbon Industry Technology Co. Ltd, has registered capital of 2.5 billion yuan ($352.06 million) with Sinopec Corp holding a 46% stake and Sinopec’s Nanjing Chemical Industries Corp holding 43%, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Other stakeholders included several engineering subsidiaries of Sinopec as well as Sinopec’s oil and gas trading arm Unipec, the latter having set up a carbon trading desk last year.

The firm is based in the eastern city of Nanjing where Sinopec has the strongest reserve of carbon industry know-how, the statement said. Last month, Sinopec put into operation the country’s largest carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) facility in east China and plans to build two more plants of similar size by 2025.

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Sinopec has said it aims to capture and store 3 million tonnes annually of CO2 and utilise 2 million tonnes a year by 2025.

Under a national goal to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060, national energy companies including Sinopec have pledged multi-billion dollar investment in low carbon sectors, such as renewable power generation, hydrogen fuel and carbon capture.