Toyota collaboration on Fukushima recovery aims for carbon neutral biomass fuel

Toyota has entered into an agreement with three towns in the mostly-evacuated Futaba district of Fukushima prefecture, Japan, in order to develop carbon neutral agriculture for biomass fuels. The partnership will see Toyota support the towns with soil decontamination, following the 2011 earthquake that damaged Fukushima nuclear power station and led to the area being abandoned.

The three towns of Okuma, Futaba and Namie will each have roles to play in cultivating crops to eventually produce bio-ethanol in Okuma, according to the partnership. Okuma and Futaba will recover soil fertility on land made unusable since the 2011 earthquake and create a low-carbon agriculture system to provide animal feed. That feed will then be taken to Namie, where a herd of cows sustained by the agriculture in Okuma and Futaba will provide manure as fertiliser for the continued recovery of soil in Okuma and Futaba. 

Toyota’s role in the project is to provide its expertise, after years of research and development in Namie and other areas affected by the Fukushima contamination. Toyota will offer measurement and analysis of soil composition and use drones to monitor how crops grow across the cultivated land, as it is reclaimed in Okuma and Futaba.

The aim is not only to recover the land and decontaminate soil but to eventually build a carbon neutral agriculture methodology, which will not only generate feedstock for cattle but for a bioethanol plant at Okuma. Toyota is already part of the Research Association of Biomass Innovation for Next Generation Automobile Fuels, a six-company alliance including ENEOS, Suzuki, Subaru, Daihatsu and Toyota’s trading arm the Toyota Tsusho Corporation. Established in July 2022, the alliance specifically aims to develop efficient ethanol production in Okuma, for which one option would be using the crops grown as part of this initial project between Toyota and the three towns.