What's Happening in Sustainability & ESG (Week Recap 20.02 - 26.02) 🌎

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This week’s read time: 8 minutes

Welcome to this edition of Green Digest, where you will get updated about everything happening in the sustainability & ESG space in less than 10 minutes. 🌎We go through tons of articles and data from the most reliable sources, filter & simplify them, and serve them to you in bite-sized chunks every week. 🍀

🌍 In this edition, we’ll cover:

• The US SEC reportedly removed Scope 3 emissions disclosure requirements from its upcoming climate reporting rules 🇺🇸

• EU lawmakers reach an agreement to establish a certification framework for carbon removals 🇪🇺

• Farmers across Europe are protesting against low food prices and cheap imports 🚜

• The UK's net zero economy grew by 9% in 2023, contrasting with the overall economy's 0.1% growth 🇬🇧

• Microsoft signs another agreement to purchase 350,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits 🌳

• and other news 🌍

⭐️ The week’s top news:

🇺🇸 The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly removed some GHG emissions disclosure requirements from its upcoming corporate climate risk rules, including the requirement for US-listed companies to disclose Scope 3 emissions. The omission of Scope 3 reporting could create compliance issues for companies, particularly with the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive's extensive reporting requirements. The final climate disclosure rule is expected to be finalized in April.

🇪🇺 EU lawmakers have reached a provisional agreement on a regulation establishing a certification framework for carbon removals. The framework aims to speed up the deployment of high-quality carbon removals, address greenwashing, encourage the development of carbon removal technologies, and create income opportunities for industries and land managers. The agreement extends the regulation to soil emission reductions and maintains an open definition of carbon removals. The new rules will need to be formally adopted by the EU Council and Parliament before entering into force.

• 🚜 Farmers across Europe are protesting against low food prices and cheap imports, demanding action from the EU. They argue that free trade agreements and deregulation have led to prices falling below the cost of production. The EU has already scrapped over the past weeks a goal to cut farming emissions out of its 2040 climate roadmap, withdrew a law to reduce pesticides, and delayed a target for farmers to leave some land fallow to improve biodiversity. However, the farmers are demanding more, citing that they’re not against climate policies, but they need higher prices for products because it costs more to produce them ecologically.

• The UK's net zero economy grew by 9% in 2023, contrasting with the overall economy's 0.1% growth, according to a report by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The sector produced £74bn in goods and services and created 765,000 jobs. However, the report states that government policy reversals, lack of investment, and competition from the EU and US pose risks to future growth. 🇬🇧

• The EU Council has also adopted a directive to protect consumers against misleading green claims. The directive amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive, protecting against unfair practices like misleading green claims and early obsolescence. It also improves the information available to consumers, including a harmonized label indicating the commercial guarantee of durability. 🇪🇺

• Swiss financial market infrastructure provider, SIX Group, in partnership with Greenomy has launched a solution to help banks assess the sustainability performance of their small and medium enterprise loan customers. The tool will aid banks in monitoring and improving the sustainability of their financing activities, in line with growing regulatory pressures. 📄

🧐 What are companies doing?

• Microsoft and Catona Climate have signed a six-year agreement for Microsoft to purchase 350,000 tonnes of carbon removal credits from agroforestry projects in Kenya. The project, managed by Catona and non-profit Trees for the Future, will support 15,000 local farmers in developing forest gardens, transforming mono-cropped land into carbon sinks. 🟢

• Airbus and TotalEnergies have formed a strategic partnership to advance the development of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and support the decarbonization of aviation. TotalEnergies will supply Airbus with SAF for over half of its needs in Europe, and the companies will collaborate on a research and development program to develop 100% sustainable fuels. 🛩️

• Verizon Communications has allocated the $1 billion from its latest green bond entirely to renewable energy projects, contributing to its clean energy targets. The funds support renewable energy projects in five states, with a capacity of nearly 0.9 GW, split between solar and wind energy. ⚡️

• Walmart declared that it has achieved its goal to cut 1 billion metric tons of GHG emissions across its product supply chain six years ahead of its 2030 target. The goal was set in 2017 under Walmart's Project Gigaton, which engages suppliers, NGOs, and other stakeholders in climate action. 🟢

• Rio Tinto, a global mining and metals company, has signed Australia's largest clean energy deal, purchasing the majority of electricity from a 1.4 GW wind energy project developed by Windlab. The agreement makes Rio Tinto the largest industrial buyer of renewable power in Australia and could reduce its carbon emissions by 5 million tonnes per year. ⚡️

💸 Recent funding rounds, sustainable finance, acquisitions, and private equity:

🔋 Ascend Elements, a provider of closed-loop battery materials solutions has raised $162 million in equity investments to build a new sustainable lithium-ion plant in Kentucky, US. The new facility, named Apex 1, will be North America's first sustainable precursor cathode active material (pCAM) manufacturing facility, producing materials for up to 750,000 EVs per year.

🔋 Thermal battery maker Antora Energy has raised $150 million in a funding round led by Decarbonization Partners, a partnership between BlackRock and Singapore's Temasek. The funding will support increased production of Antora's batteries, which are heated with renewable energy and could be used in industrial processes to reduce carbon emissions.

⚡️ Clean energy provider GeoPura has raised $70 million in an investment round to accelerate the adoption of green hydrogen in the UK. The funds will be used to increase the manufacture and supply of its Hydrogen Power Units (HPU), which replace traditional diesel generators, and to expand its production of green hydrogen.

🟢 Cleantech startup AtmosZero has raised $21 million to commercialize its solution for decarbonizing industrial steam, which accounts for about 15% of industrial energy usage. The company's product, Boiler 2.0, is an electrified boiler that generates high-temperature steam with zero carbon emissions.

🟢 Climate tech startup Clairity Technology has raised $6.75 million in a seed round to scale its Direct Air Capture (DAC) carbon removal solution. The company's system captures CO2 from the atmosphere, requiring less infrastructure and energy than other DAC methods. The captured CO2 is then used in CarbonBuilt's process to produce concrete products, reducing embodied carbon by 70% to 100%.

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