What's Happening in Sustainability? (Week Recap 13.02 - 20.02)🌎

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 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. 🍀

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Last week’s most important news:

🇪🇺 The European Commission has released proposed rules defining what counts as "renewable hydrogen" in the EU, which will affect producers of the fuel both inside and outside Europe. The new rules are part of the EU's regulatory framework for hydrogen, which includes energy infrastructure investments, state aid rules, and legislative targets for renewable hydrogen. The EU is looking to significantly ramp up investments in clean energy sources over the next several years, with hydrogen being viewed as one of the key building blocks for a cleaner energy future. The proposed conditions for what constitutes renewable hydrogen are stringent and include the principle of "additionality," requiring electrolyzers to be connected to new renewable electricity production. The rules will apply to both domestic and external producers, with a certification scheme for producers to demonstrate compliance and trade renewable hydrogen in the EU single market.

🇺🇸 President Biden has announced a series of actions to develop an electric vehicle (EV) charging network across US highways and support a domestic EV charging industry. The administration's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aims to target 500,000 EV chargers nationwide by 2030, with $5bn over five years for an EV charging network across the interstate highway system. Private companies, including Tesla, GM, Hertz, and bp have also committed to building out and opening up their own charging networks. Tesla plans to make at least 7,500 of its chargers available to non-Tesla EVs by the end of 2024, including at least 3,500 Superchargers. The White House has also announced standards for federally funded chargers, stricter guidelines for domestically made chargers, and tax credits for electric vehicle purchases and charging infrastructure.

🌎 A new report by non-profit organizations NewClimate Institute and Carbon Market Watch, called the 2023 Corporate Climate Responsibility Monitor (CCRM), has found that the climate plans of most major corporations fall short of their “net zero” claims. The report assessed the emissions reduction pledges and plans of 24 global companies from eight high-emitting sectors, selected as the largest three companies in each of the sectors associated with the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign. The study found that collectively, the commitments would only translate to a 36% reduction in the companies’ combined greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions footprint by the long-term target years. The report highlighted the actions of a few companies with initiatives in place to address key emission sources, such as Google’s 24/7 renewable energy monitoring and matching program, Maersk’s investments in alternative fuels and vessels, and Deutsche Post’s fleet electrification and low carbon fuel programs.

🇪🇺 The European Parliament has endorsed proposed rules that require all new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles registered in the EU to be zero-emissions by 2035. The legislation sets interim targets requiring a 55% CO2 emission reduction for new cars and 50% for new vans by 2030, compared to 2021 levels. The proposal also includes plans for the Commission to develop a common EU methodology by 2025 for assessing the full life cycle of CO2 emissions of cars and vans and monitoring by the Commission by 2026. The legislation forms one of the key aspects of the European Commission’s “Fit for 55” roadmap to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

🍀 Chemical company INEOS has raised €3.5 billion to fund Project ONE, a chemical plant to be located in Antwerp, which will be capable of operating with zero carbon footprint if powered by hydrogen. The plant will be the largest investment in the European chemical sector in over 20 years, with an anticipated nameplate capacity of 1450kt of ethylene per year. The cracker that will convert ethane to ethylene will be the most energy-efficient production site in Europe, with a carbon footprint three times lower than the average European steam cracker and less than half that of the 10% best performers in Europe.

What are corporations doing? 👀

• ERM & Salesforce have joined forces to provide organizations with decarbonization services and solutions. ERM will offer end-to-end decarbonization services, including planning, target-setting, and strategy implementation, as well as support for reporting and disclosure requirements. Salesforce's Net Zero Cloud will provide businesses with a 360-degree view of their environmental impact, enabling them to track, analyze and report reliable environmental data to reduce carbon emissions. Together, ERM & Salesforce will help organizations implement comprehensive decarbonization plans to support their sustainability goals and transition to a net-zero economy. 🌎

• DHL Express has introduced GoGreen Plus, an extension of its GoGreen service, which helps customers reduce Scope 3 emissions from their shipments. The service is aimed at enabling shippers to replace fossil fuels with sustainable fuels or clean technologies. The service will be rolled out globally in the coming months after being launched in the UK. DHL is committed to using at least 30% of SAF blending for all air transport by 2030, as part of its Sustainability Roadmap. 🚚

• IKEA has expanded its program to help its suppliers switch to renewable energy sources. The program provides suppliers with bundled framework agreements and Power Purchase Agreements to purchase renewable electricity from the grid. The program has been successful in China, India, and Poland, with renewable electricity doubling to 64% in China in 2022. IKEA will now expand the program to ten new markets, including the Czech Republic, Germany, and Italy. 💡

• H&M Group and Remondis have launched Looper, a joint venture aimed at developing infrastructure and solutions to collect and sort used and unwanted garments and textiles in Europe to enable resale and recycling. Looper will collect garments from across Europe and sort them at the company’s facilities in Germany, providing feedstock for companies engaged in reuse and recycling. Looper aims to extend the highest use of approximately 40 million garments during 2023 by building infrastructure and solutions for collection and sorting, thereby minimizing the CO2 impact and improving resource efficiency. ♻️

• Barclays has announced a new policy that significantly limits its financing activities for some emissions-intensive energy sectors, including ending financing for oil sands companies and projects and accelerating its phase-out of financing for coal-powered generation for clients in OECD economies. ⚠️

What else is happening? 💡

• Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, has suggested that the agency may adjust its upcoming climate risk disclosure rules for public companies. The proposed rules, introduced in March 2022, require companies to disclose information on climate risks facing their businesses and plans to address those risks. Gensler emphasized that the new rules are necessary to protect investors who are already investing based on climate disclosures. The proposals have received significant feedback, with two issues causing concern: a rule requiring climate costs to be reported if they represent over 1% of a financial statement line item, and the requirement to report on emissions in company value chains beyond the company’s control or Scope 3 emissions. 🧐

• The European Commission has also proposed a plan to reduce carbon emissions for new heavy-duty vehicles, including buses and trucks, by 90% by 2040, compared to 2019 levels. The plan also aims for all new city buses to be zero-emission by 2030, with 45% emissions reductions from 2030, and 65% from 2035. The Commission stated that the proposed standards would result in a decrease in demand for roughly 2 billion barrels of imported oil between 2031 and 2050. Trucks and buses account for over 6% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the EU, and more than 25% of GHG emissions from road transport. Achieving the targets in the proposals would require a massive shift towards cleaner energy solutions for the sector. 🚚

• Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to prevent fund managers for state and local entities from considering ESG factors in investment decisions. He also aims to stop government entities from requesting ESG information from suppliers and prohibit the use of ESG factors for issuing bonds. DeSantis has been against ESG initiatives and previously prohibited fund managers from incorporating ESG factors in state pension funds. This anti-ESG movement is part of a bigger trend among Republican politicians in the US. ⛔️

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

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