• Green Digest
  • Posts
  • What's Happening in Sustainability? (Week Recap 28.02 - 06.03)🌎

What's Happening in Sustainability? (Week Recap 28.02 - 06.03)🌎

Growth in energy-related emissions slowed to less than 1% in 2022, a Provisional agreement reached on European green bonds, and other news ...

This week’s read time: 5 minutes

Welcome to this edition of Green Digest, where you will get updated about everything happening in the sustainability & ESG space in less than 5 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. 🍀

Subscribe to receive the issue every Tuesday and stay updated:

The week’s most important news:

🌎 Despite global energy-related CO2 emissions hitting a record high last year, growth in energy-related carbon dioxide emissions slowed to less than 1% in 2022, thanks to advances in clean energy generation and technologies, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA). The increase marked a sharp slowdown from 2021's 6% emissions growth, despite fears of more significant energy crisis-related emissions growth. Emissions growth from energy combustion of 423 million tonnes was partly offset by a 102 million tonne decline in emissions from industrial processes. By source, emissions from coal grew by 243 million tonnes, or 1.6% in 2022, driven by a wave of coal-to-gas switching as a result of the Russian war in Ukraine, partly offset by a 188 million tonne decline in natural gas-related emissions. Emissions from oil increased by 268 million tonnes, up 2.5%, with approximately half of the growth resulting in a rebound in air travel, partly offset by an increase in electric vehicle sales in the year.

🇪🇺 The European Parliament and the European Council have agreed on the creation of standards for European Green Bonds (EuGB) and voluntary disclosure guidelines for green bond issuers to prevent greenwashing. Under the new standard, issuers using the EuGB designation will need to follow strict investment and transparency criteria, including ensuring that all proceeds are invested in activities aligned with the EU Taxonomy. The proposed rules will now be sent for confirmation by the Council and the European Parliament and will apply 12 months after entering into force

🛩️ Universal Hydrogen, a startup focused on hydrogen distribution and logistics for the aviation industry, has completed a test flight of a 40-passenger regional airliner using hydrogen fuel cell propulsion. The test marked the largest-ever hydrogen fuel cell-powered airplane to fly and the largest airplane to cruise principally on hydrogen. Universal Hydrogen is building a hydrogen logistics network using modular hydrogen capsules that are handled like cargo, eliminating the need for new fueling infrastructure at airports. High-profile strategic investors, including GE Aviation, Airbus Ventures, Toyota Ventures, JetBlue Ventures, and American Airlines back the company.

🇨🇦 The Government of Canada has released new standards requiring large suppliers to disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and set targets to reduce them, starting April 1, 2023. Federal procurements greater than $25 million will induce suppliers to measure and disclose their emissions and adopt a science-based target to reduce GHG emissions in line with the Paris Agreement. The government is also requiring all new major government construction projects to report and reduce their embodied carbon footprint, beginning with concrete, ensuring that total GHG emissions associated with the project’s concrete are at least 10% lower than the regional average.

🏛 The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a Republican-sponsored resolution aimed at blocking a new Department of Labor (DOL) law allowing for the consideration of climate and ESG factors by retirement plan fiduciaries. The DOL’s “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights” rule passed in December and effective as of January 30, allowed fund managers for Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) plans to include ESG considerations in the investment process. If approved by Congress, President Biden has pledged to veto the legislation.

What else is happening? 🧐

  • BMW has launched a pilot fleet of hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen, which will be deployed internationally for demonstration and trial purposes. The launch comes as BMW aims to reduce CO2 emissions per vehicle by at least 40% by 2030. The vehicles can store nearly 6 kg of hydrogen in two 700-bar tanks made of carbon-fibre reinforced plastic, providing the vehicles with a range of over 500 km. 🚙

  • Deutsche Bank has set a new goal of enabling €500 billion in sustainable financing and investments between 2020-2025, up from its previous goal of €200 billion by 2022, and expects its revenues from ESG business to grow to approximately €1.4 billion per year by 2025. The bank also plans to update its policies for financing emissions-intensive sectors, including a new target for at least 90% of its high-emitting clients in carbon-intensive sectors seeking new lending transactions to have net-zero plans in place. 📈

  • Citi has announced new interim targets for financed emissions reductions in key carbon-intensive sectors, including auto manufacturing, commercial real estate, steel, and thermal coal mining. The new targets, which apply to Citi’s loan portfolio, include goals to cut emissions intensity by 31% in light-duty auto manufacturing, 41% in North American commercial real estate, and 90% in absolute emissions from thermal coal mining by 2030. ✅

  • JetBlue has partnered with climate tech company CHOOOSE to enable customers to estimate the carbon emissions of their flights and contribute to the purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to address them. Customers can access a platform to input flight data, determine the estimated emissions, select the proportion of the carbon footprint to be reduced, and contribute to a fund dedicated to covering the cost premium of SAF compared to conventional jet fuel. 🍀

  • Divert, a food waste-focused impact technology company has announced a $1 billion infrastructure development agreement with energy infrastructure company Enbridge to support the development of wasted food to renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities across North America. The agreement will accelerate the expansion of anaerobic digestion facilities to sustainably convert wasted food into clean renewable energy, with plans to scale its facilities to be within 100 miles of 80% of the U.S. population over the next eight years. The expansion has the potential to offset up to nearly 400,000 metric tons of carb👀on dioxide annually. 🌎

  • Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has launched a global Center for Climate & Sustainability Policy & Regulation, aimed at helping clients navigate the evolving climate and sustainability-related regulatory landscape. The center will bring together BCG's international team of experts to provide clients with integrated advice on the implications of evolving climate and sustainability policy and regulation across geographies. 💡

Where is cash flowing? 👀

  • BlocPower, a climate tech startup, has raised over $150 million to finance the growth and development of its platform focused on decarbonizing buildings in low-income communities. The fundraising round included $24 million of Series B corporate equity and $130 million of debt financing, bringing BlocPower's total capital raised to over $250 million. The company utilizes proprietary software for analysis, leasing, project management, and monitoring of clean energy projects, with a focus on urban areas in the U.S. ⭐️

  • Novata, a private markets ESG-focused technology platform, has raised $30 million in a series B funding round, less than a year after its commercial launch. Novata's platform provides private market investors with a solution for ESG measurement, data collection, and benchmarking, enabling reporting on ESG data. The funding round was led by Hamilton Lane and included participation from the Ford Foundation, S&P Global, and Novata's founders. Microsoft also joined the investor consortium through its Climate Innovation Fund. 📈

  • Ares has acquired a controlling interest in Current Trucking, a fleet electrification solutions company, and plans to invest up to $250 million to support the company's expansion into new markets and broaden its turnkey fleet electrification solution capabilities for medium and heavy-duty electric trucks. Current Trucking deploys electric vehicles in the Class 3-8 truck segment, utilizing a "Trucks-as-a-Service" model to deliver an end-to-end solution including EV truck procurement, charging infrastructure, and operations & maintenance. The investment will enable the company to accelerate the electrification of commercial fleets, ports, and logistics facilities nationwide. 🚚

More interesting news💡:

  • Macquarie Asset Management's Green Investment Group has launched VORN Bioenergy, an investment platform for biomethane projects, as the EU aims to significantly increase investment in the space over the next few years. The EU's REPowerEU plan includes a target to produce 35 billion m3 of biomethane by 2030, requiring the construction of 5,000 new biomethane plants and approximately €80 billion in capital investment. Macquarie has secured the environmental permit for its first project in Italy, with construction expected to begin this year, and is exploring opportunities in emerging growth markets including Spain. 🇪🇺

  • IKEA has announced that it will switch from fossil-based to bio-based glues in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The use of glue for board production accounts for 5% of the company's total value chain climate footprint. The company aims to reduce fossil-based glue usage by 40% and the climate footprint from glue by 30%, and to have most board-producing factories in its supply chain using glues with lower climate footprints by 2030. IKEA has been working on this initiative for over 10 years and hopes that it will inspire others to follow suit. ♻️

  • ERM, a sustainability advisory firm, has acquired NINT, a sustainable finance and ESG advisory firm based in Latin America. The acquisition brings specialized services in sustainable debt and ESG advisory, sustainable finance research, and program management to ERM's portfolio. This acquisition is part of ERM's recent series of ESG consulting and advisory acquisitions, which aim to strengthen the value they can bring to clients worldwide. 🌎

That’s it for this week. Thanks for making it to the end, your attention span is absolutely impressive 💪.

If you enjoyed reading this newsletter, don’t forget to subscribe and share it🍀