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☆ The business case for green sports stadiums and arenas is growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

A general exterior view of Climate Pledge Arena before the game between the Seattle Kraken and the Carolina Hurricanes on October 17, 2022. Much like the broader world of commercial real estate, arenas, and stadiums have been slowly adopting sustainable practices over the last few decades, from recycling programs to energy efficiency efforts. That led to what has become the Climate Pledge Arena. AMBSE has even created a "playbook" for other stadium operators to follow if they also want to get to zero waste. It's reached a level of critical mass where people have moved past greenwashing, and they're making substantive changes to their business practices," Cannon said.

North America has seen the largest increase in planned hydrogen projects in the past six months, according to the Oxford-based consulting firm. Clean hydrogen is a small but fast-growing area of the transition to lower-polluting energy sources. However, low-emission hydrogen production is currently small compared with where analysts believe it will need to be. Europe’s shrinking share of hydrogen projects is “a direct consequence of the bloc’s slow response to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act and [its] delay in developing concrete regulation for renewable hydrogen,” said Dilara Caglayan, lead hydrogen researcher at Aurora. Only 1% of the one terawatt of planned hydrogen projects have begun construction, while 86% are in the early planning stages of development.

☆ The Swedish rival to Tesla's Semi scores a deal with PepsiCo to deliver snacks in the UK
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Home appliances company GE Appliances began testing an Einride vehicle without a safety driver on board on U.S. public roads in October 2022. Einride said its U.K. vehicles will be driven by human operators. Operating electric trucks to ship goods across countries at scale is a tough thing to accomplish. "So we're looking at a transport system, where the efficiency is 6%," Falk said. "So that means that you are at 94% waste of the potential of the transport system itself.

☆ Low-Carbon Electricity Expected to Cover New Power Demand in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

A surge of clean electricity is set to cover new power demand globally this year, bringing within reach the Paris-aligned sustainable energy goals set by the International Energy Agency. Historically, rising electricity demand has been met by burning more fossil fuels, such as coal and gas, but from 2023 additional renewable energy capacity should be available to supply almost all new power demand, said London-based environmental nonprofit Ember on Wednesday. Last year’s record high of 12.4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases from the global power sector is likely to be the peak. The share of global electricity generated by low-carbon emission sources—including wind, solar, biomass and nuclear—reached a record high of 39%. The nonprofit’s data covers 78 countries representing 93% of global electricity demand.

☆ EPA proposes new tailpipe rules that could push EVs to make up two-thirds of new car sales in US by 2032
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The agency anticipates the new rules would mean EVs could also make up nearly half of all new medium-duty vehicles, like delivery trucks, by model year 2032. One expert told CNN the Biden administration’s proposal is a pivotal moment for the US auto industry and consumers. Six in 10 respondents said they believe EVs help the environment “only a little” or “not at all,” Gallup reported. “Folks who purchase electric vehicles will see a cost savings over the lifespan of the vehicle, because they’re not having to buy gas, having to pay for maintenance,” Regan said. That means much of the US car industry will already be transitioning ahead of the proposed federal rules.

☆ Big real estate landlords are finally starting to decarbonize, creating an $18 trillion market that this Blackstone portfolio company plans to profit from at every turn
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Blackstone portfolio company Legence wants to be a one-stop shop for landlords. A Real Estate Board of New York study found that the total penalties could top $213 million. Its ICS became the strategic planner, its CMTA, which designed the first net-zero school in the United States, designed the upgrades, and its Gilbert Mechanical installed the new heating, cooling, ventilation, and lighting hardware. How to do itIt may still be a challenge to coordinate decarbonization processes, which don't come naturally to large-scale real-estate operators, Boland said. Legence plans to grow the business's geographic scope and increase its depth in current markets, including Colorado and California, Sprau said.

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☆ This concrete chemist-turned-CEO wants to decarbonize concrete. Check out the 17-slide pitch deck his startup Carbonaide used to raise new funds.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Concrete accounts for 8% of global CO2 emissions every year and Carbonaide wants to change that. The startup is headed up by a concrete chemist set on decarbonizing an industry he spent 20 years in. Tapio Vehmas' dad, uncle, and brother work in the concrete industry. So far Carbonaide has run a small pilot where it demonstrated a CO2 emissions reduction of 45% compared with traditional concrete, Vehmas said. We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck 17-slide pitch deck the startup used to secure the funds.

☆ U.S. Treasury to release EV battery sourcing rules next week
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Nichola Groom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Phil Noble/File PhotoMarch 22 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday said it will release guidance next week on sourcing requirements for electric vehicle battery tax subsidies under President Joe Biden's climate change law, the first in a string of highly anticipated rules to determine how broadly the credits can be used. It will also issue guidance on selling tax credits and making them refundable, which allows entities without tax liability to use them. The IRA specifices, for instance, that a $7,500 EV tax credit is only available to North American-assembled vehicles that meet certain local battery production and mineral extraction processing standards. In December, Treasury decided not to issue proposed guidance on battery sourcing rules until March, effectively giving some EVs not meeting new requirements a few months of eligibility in 2023 before battery rules take effect. The other half requires manufacturing or assembly of at least 50% of battery components in North America.

ConocoPhillips had sought to build up to five drill sites, dozens of miles of roads, seven bridges and pipelines. The Interior Department approved the project with three drill pads after saying last month that it was concerned about the greenhouse gas impacts of Willow. Its Bureau of Land Management last month recommended a "preferred alternative" that includes three drill sites and less surface infrastructure than originally proposed. The decision comes after the Biden administration on Sunday announced new protections for Alaskan land and water. Environmental groups criticized the Biden administration, saying it was trying to have it "both way" on climate change.

Companies Conocophillips FollowWASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The oil industry on Monday cheered the U.S. government's greenlighting of ConocoPhillips' multibillion-dollar oil drilling project in Alaska's Arctic, but court challenges could mire the plans in further delays. President Joe Biden's administration approved a trimmed-down version of the $7 billion Willow project on federal lands in a pristine area on Alaska's north coast. Kristen Monsell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, another group involved in the previous suits, said Monday's approval for the Willow project is "still inadequate in numerous respects." Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, told reporters the state's lawmakers are prepared to defend the decision against "frivolous" legal challenges. Even if Interior could beat back the oil company's challenge, it would probably only mean another delay for Willow, he said.

Alaska's elected officials say the project will create hundreds of jobs and bring billions of dollars in revenue to state and federal coffers. The state relies heavily on revenue from oil production, but output there has declined dramatically from its peak in the 1980s. "I feel the people of Alaska have been heard," U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, a Democrat from Alaska, said on a call with reporters. The Interior Department approved the project with three drill pads after saying last month it was concerned about the greenhouse gas impacts of Willow. "This was the right decision for Alaska and our nation," ConocoPhillips Chief Executive Ryan Lance said in a statement.

☆ Europe is trying to move from planes to trains. Here's how that's going
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Miquel Ros | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Aviation emissions in Europe increased an average of 5% year-on-year between 2013 and 2019, according to the EU. Not surprisingly these moves have set alarm bells ringing in the aviation industry. “For many decision-makers, banning short-haul flights and showing support to the rail industry is an easy win to gain favor with the public, especially in Europe,” Montserrat Barriga, the ERA’s director general, told CNN. “Governments continue ignoring the biggest source of aviation emissions – long-haul flights, that remain unpriced and unregulated,” says T&E’s Dardenne. Better connectivity between intercity rail and airports would also reduce the need for short-haul flights.

☆ About 1 in 5 Americans live in areas where policies encourage a switch to electric heating, cooling, and cooking
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

About 1 in 5 Americans live in areas with policies for decarbonizing buildings, an analysis found. As of this year, one in five Americans — some 72.5 million people — live in areas covered by those policies. But last year, for the first time, US shipments of electric heat pumps consistently outpaced gas furnaces, the coalition's analysis found. Heat pumps both warm and cool a home or building by circulating heat from indoors to outdoors and back again. The state has already surpassed a goal set in 2019 to install 100,000 heat pumps in homes and businesses.

☆ Microsoft and ArcelorMittal back MIT spinout trying to green the $1.6 trillion steel industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The $1.6 trillion steel industry is the backbone of the modern world. That's why massive global businesses, including international steel giant ArcelorMittal and tech stalwart Microsoft , are investing in Boston Metal, a company that spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and developed a new way of making clean steel. "There is no economy, there is no infrastructure without steel," Boston Metal CEO Tadeu Carneiro told CNBC in a video call on Wednesday. The same year they launched a company, Boston Electrometallurgical Corp., to scale and commercialize that technology. He is a veteran of 40 years career in the steel industry, mostly at Brazilian metals giant CBMM.

☆ JFK airport's new terminal will be powered by a microgrid and the largest rooftop solar array in New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new terminal at New York's JFK will be partly powered by a microgrid, batteries, and fuel cells. John F. Kennedy International Airport's $9.5 billion New Terminal One will be partly powered by a microgrid with 11.34 megawatts of electricity from rooftop solar, gas fuel cells, and battery storage. A system that captures waste heat from the fuel cells will chill and warm water. The rooftop solar array — made up of more than 13,000 panels — will be the largest in New York City and at any US airport terminal, AlphaStruxure said. Installing fuel cells, instead of diesel generators, is estimated to reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide, a toxic air pollutant, by 98%, Macias added.

It is planning to develop a CCS hub in northern Alberta, expected to cost C$16.5 billion ($12.3 billion) by 2030. Trudeau told Reuters in an interview earlier this month Alberta was "hesitating around investing in anything related to climate change". Canada is the world's fourth-largest producer of crude, most of which comes from Alberta's oil sands. The oil and gas sector is the country's highest-polluting industry and needs to drastically cut emissions if Canada is to achieve its climate commitments. 'NO TIME TO SLIP'The Pathways Alliance has already said Ottawa's goal of cutting oil and gas emissions 42% by 2030, equivalent to a 35-megatonne reduction, is impossible.

☆ We'll need natural gas for years — but can start blending it with green hydrogen today, CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As the planned transition takes shape, there's been a lot of talk about the relationship between hydrogen and natural gas. "Now, what we can start to do today is … start to blend it with green hydrogen," he added. "But it's just difficult to see that you're going to have enough green hydrogen to substitute it like, in the next 10 years." Produced using electrolysis and renewables like wind and solar, green hydrogen has some high-profile backers. "We see green hydrogen as playing probably the most important role in the energy transition," she said.

☆ France's finance minister: Europe needs to invest in its own green technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailFrance's finance minister: Europe needs to invest in its own green technologyFrench Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire discusses the importance of decarbonizing the economy and what the region should do to reconcile growth and climate concerns.

☆ Oil giant Aramco says windfall taxes 'not helpful' and could stifle decarbonization
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Pressuring oil companies through higher taxes is counterproductive at a time when global crude demand is set to outstrip supply, the CEO of Saudi Aramco, the world's largest and most profitable energy company, said during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Asked by CNBC's Hadley Gamble if a windfall tax on oil profits is a bad idea, Amin Nasser replied:"I would say, it's not helpful for them [in order] to have additional investment. They need to invest in the sector, they need to grow the business, in alternatives and in conventional energy, and they need to be helped." "So we need to see the support from the policymakers, and from the capital markets at the same time. Policymakers in a number of countries are calling for windfall taxes on major oil and gas companies, many of which saw record profits in the last year, as supply shocks and years of underinvestment in the sector pushed prices to multi-year highs.

☆ Windfall tax on oil companies 'not helpful': Aramco CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWindfall tax on oil firms 'not helpful' and could hinder investment in decarbonization: Aramco CEOAmin Nasser, CEO of Aramco, says a windfall tax on oil companies is "not helpful” and could stop companies from investing in decarbonizing their existing resources.

☆ Bill Gates' climate investment firm is backing this reusable rocket startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Diana Olick | In Dianaolick | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Stoke Space is developing a clean-fueled, rapidly reusable rocket that can deliver satellites into earth's orbit, while protecting the earth itself by creating fewer emissions. Stoke Space is still in the first stages of testing the rocket and is a long way off from taking satellites into space. But its plans are ambitious and built around the idea of launching more satellites to combat climate change. We started thinking many years ago around how do we deploy more satellites focused on climate problems? In addition to Breakthrough Energy, investors include Spark capital, Toyota Ventures, Point72 Ventures, MaC Venture Capital and NFX Ventures.

☆ How tech groundbreaker Greg Smithies went from Elon Musk's inner circle to tackling real estate's $18 trillion carbon-emissions problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Greg Smithies leads the biggest fund focused on the decarbonization of real estate. Smithies has worked on sustainability issues and with Elon Musk's The Boring Company. But Smithies is no stranger to investment-led decarbonization efforts, having tackled the problem for much of his career. "At the end of the day, software isn't going to solve the climate crisis," Smithies said. But above all, he's focused on the money and the potential savings that low-carbon technology can have on real estate.

☆ Inside climate tech's record-breaking year where the energy crisis, new regulation, and a maturing debt market helped European startups raise $17.5 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Tasmin Lockwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Climate tech was a clear green shoot in a tumultuous 2022 but there will be a delayed correction. But there has been one green shoot: Climate tech. "We've just gotten started when it comes to climate tech," Emitwise's Cozzi said. Many climate tech companies have raised at high valuations, said Magda Lukaszewicz, principal at Balderton Capital. Energy and infrastructure companies are tipped as winners, while pure software plays may see some consolidation, climate tech investors and founders said.

☆ These Hollywood celebs and an NFL Hall of Famer want you to electrify your home to help solve the climate crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

GoodLeap is the largest financier of residential solar loans in the US, with 28% of the market. The former NFL tight end and Pro Football Hall of Famer told Insider he often reflected on whether, in life's final moments, he'd be proud of his choices. Gonzalez, who's also invested in plant-based-food companies like Beyond Meat, told Insider the climate crisis was the most important issue of his — and his children's — lifetime. GoodLeap is the top provider of residential solar loans, with a 28% share of the market. "Part of my work has always been making sure folks who typically are unconsidered are considered," DeBerry told Insider.

☆ Not a 'panacea': UK lawmakers play down hydrogen's role in net-zero shift
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Hydrogen has a part to play in the U.K.'s shift to a net-zero economy but its role will likely be restricted to certain sectors, according to a report from an influential committee of U.K. lawmakers. Some call the resulting hydrogen "green" or "renewable" if the electricity used in the electrolysis process comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar. Big plans, big challengesOver the past few years, major economies and businesses have looked to the emerging green hydrogen sector to decarbonize industries integral to modern life. "Of course, green hydrogen is still an infant industry, its production is currently too cost-intensive compared to fossil fuels," he said. "So it requires an extra effort to make green hydrogen projects ...

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