VTT and Mitsubishi Electric establish core technology for Direct Ocean Capture in International Shipping News 10/06/2026 Achieving long-term climate targets will require not only deep emissions reductions, but also scalable carbon dioxide removal (CDR) solutions. Mitsubishi Electric and VTT are now taking a significant step forward by advancing Direct Ocean Capture (DOC) technology from early-stage development toward pilot-scale validation. As global climate targets become increasingly ambitious, interest in scalable CDR solutions continues to grow. DOC is emerging as a promising approach for addressing residual emissions by removing CO₂ from the atmosphere–ocean system, complementing conventional emissions reduction strategies. Seawater contains much higher concentrations of inorganic carbon per unit volume than air, making DOC a potentially efficient and scalable pathway for CO₂ removal and capture. Since initiating their collaboration in late 2024, Mitsubishi Electric and VTT have rapidly progressed the development of an electrochemical DOC solution. The collaboration has successfully moved the concept from early-stage research toward technology validation and future demonstration planning. “This is exactly the type of long-term, high-impact challenge that can translate research into real-world breakthroughs,” comments Antti Arasto, Vice President at VTT and project lead of the collaboration. “Through strong commitment and focused development efforts, we have achieved significant technological progress in a short time. Our collaboration with Mitsubishi Electric has now advanced DOC to a stage where further technology validation can be pursued, supporting future scale-up and field implementation activities.” “This achievement represents a significant milestone toward the real-world deployment of a promising new solution,” says Seiji Oguro, Executive Officer, Vice President, Sustainability Innovation Group, Mitsubishi Electric. “This success was made possible by ou