废枝变船燃料 香港中华煤气旗下VENEX入选全球可持续交通优秀实践案例Waste branches turned into ship fuel: VENEX, under Hong Kong and China Gas, selected as an outstanding example of global sustainable transportation practices

The sand willows planted to control desertification, and the pruned waste branches, can now surprisingly be turned into environmentally friendly liquid fuel for ocean-going cargo ships. The green methanol project in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, a joint venture under Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) called VENEX, relies on the circular chain of 'desert control – collecting waste branches – producing fuel.' Recently, at the Global Sustainable Transport Summit held in Beijing, it was listed among 36 'Global Sustainable Transport Best Practices' cases, becoming the only Hong Kong company project on the list.

This project uses agricultural and forestry waste to produce green methanol for use as ship fuel. It is currently ramping up production capacity to 300,000 tons per year to alleviate the severe shortage of green methanol in the international shipping industry as it works toward the 'IMO 2050' carbon reduction targets.

Where do the raw materials come from? The answer lies in the desert. The project adapts to local conditions by cultivating shrubs such as saxaul to stabilize the sand. Every few years, the saxaul needs to be pruned, and the trimmed branches are perfectly converted into natural, renewable raw materials for green methanol, providing a continuous supply. The project also collaborates with local communities to purchase biomass waste from farmers and herders. What used to be ecological 'waste' is transformed into 'raw materials' for the green industry, and farmers and herders gain an additional stable source of income, bringing tangible economic benefits to the local area.

According to reports, the 36 cases released at this forum cover 27 countries and regions across 6 continents, encompassing areas such as transportation infrastructure connectivity, green and low-carbon technologies and equipment, digital and intelligent transformation, public transportation and inclusive mobility, green logistics and supply chains, as well as traffic safety and ecological resilience. This marks the second time the conference has globally launched a collection of outstanding practice cases since its first release at the United Nations headquarters in New York in July 2025. As all the selected projects possess innovation, replicability, and promotable value, they have been included in the United Nations Sustainable Transport Action Initiative, becoming significant tangible outcomes.

Mr. Cen Wenhui, CTO and COO of Towngas Group – Green Fuels and Chemicals, expressed joy and encouragement at the project being selected as an outstanding case, and during the forum, he shared the Group's technical advantages and industrial layout in the green methanol business. He stated that the VENEX green methanol project, by converting waste to energy, not only addresses the shortage of renewable marine fuel but also helps reduce carbon emissions in global shipping, aligning closely with the concept of sustainable transportation. He also specifically pointed out: 'The project involves a comprehensive technical transformation of existing chemical assets, avoiding intensive infrastructure construction, and it is believed that it can also provide a replicable green transformation path for other traditional chemical enterprises.'

In fact, the VENEX green methanol project has repeatedly received recognition both domestically and internationally. Following the acquisition of two international certifications, ISCC EU and ISCC PLUS, the project also previously received certification from China’s "Global Sustainable Transport Fuel Assessment System" (GSTC). In the future, VENEX will continue to expand production scale and distribution capacity, actively responding to the national "dual-carbon" strategy and the low-carbon transformation of the shipping industry, contributing more to the development of global sustainable transportation.

[Source: The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited]

[Editor: Xiao Neng]