2025.07.04

Oita University (location: Oita City, Oita; President: Seigo Kitano; hereinafter “Oita University”) and PARK24 CO., LTD. (head office: Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo; President and Representative Director: Koichi Nishikawa; hereinafter “PARK24”) concluded a joint research agreement on CO2 emissions that were avoided due to car sharing programs (hereinafter “avoided emissions”) on Friday, July 4, 2025.

As the importance of measures to mitigate global warming increases around the world, initiatives for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 are accelerating in different industries in Japan. The mobility industry is discussing many different issues, such as next-generation mobility solutions, transportation infrastructure and the development of business models aligned with the circular economy concept.

To establish a comfortable transportation environment, PARK24 started the Times CAR car sharing service in 2009, and today it operates 58,772 vehicles nationwide. There are now more than 3.32 million Times CAR members. The popularization of car sharing and the consequent progress in the shift from car ownership to car usage is likely to increase the efficiency of the use of resources and help avoid CO2 emissions from the manufacturing of vehicles owned by companies or individuals. It is expected that this will reduce the environmental impact of society as a whole.

We are pleased to announce that Oita University and PARK24 are starting a joint research project aiming to quantitatively identify the impact of car sharing programs on society, including avoided emissions. Mr. Yuya Nakamoto, an associate professor at Oita University’s Faculty of Economics will take an academic approach to examining PARK24’s data from questionnaires with Times CAR members and about the users’ history of using the service, including lifecycle analyses.

By implementing this joint research project, PARK24 seeks to refine avoided emissions which can be realized through the expansion and popularization of Times CAR’s service network and the consequent shift from individual-based car possession to car sharing, and it also seeks to acquire an operational perspective to enhance the effects of refinements of its services. The results of this project will be applied in the realization of the growth of PARK24’s business balancing economic and environmental value.

By expanding and refining the boundaries of the existing car sharing service lifecycle analysis systems, Oita University will examine the extent to which changes in people’s behaviors resulting from the popularization of car sharing have contributed to avoided emissions and the degree to which they can be expected to contribute in the future.

Oita University and PARK24 will demonstrate their strengths as an academic institution and as a business operator, respectively. Through this joint research project, they will contribute to the realization of a sustainable, circular economy-oriented business model and the reduction of the environmental impact of humanity.

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