15 November 2022

Stora Enso and Voodin Blades collaborate to develop environmentally sustainable wind turbine blades

Stora Enso and Voodin Blades Technology GmbH have signed a cooperation agreement to develop environmentally sustainable wooden wind turbine blades. The goal is to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to wind turbine blades and to create a competitive and reliable supply chain. The two companies are currently producing and installing 20-metre rotor blades for 0.5 MW wind turbines and plan to produce 80-metre rotor blades for Voodin Blades.  By developing rotor blades using renewable materials such as wood, Stora Enso and Voodin Blades can make the blades lighter, reducing landfill and dependence on fossil fuels. Complementing its collaboration with Voodin Blades, Stora Enso recently announced a partnership with wood technology company Modvion to establish wood as the preferred choice for wind power towers. 

Press Release 

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland visits South Africa and Namibia

Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland, Ville Skinnery, will visit South Africa and Namibia from 14 to 18 November to promote exports, including meetings with representatives of the South African and Namibian governments, the Central Bank and the business community. The purpose of the visit is to strengthen trade and economic relations with the two countries. In particular, South Africa is Finland's largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa. The country is an economic powerhouse and the continent's largest energy market. It is also a member of the G20 group of leading industrialised countries. And Namibia is one of the most democratic and stable societies in Southern Africa. Namibia has great potential for renewable energy production and aims to become one of the world's leading producers of green hydrogen.

STT

ECOCLIME GROUP implements immediate performance improvements and prepares new growth plans

The new Board of Directors of Ecoclime Group has decided on a number of important measures focused on improving the company's performance and increasing cash flow. These decisions include:

• Focus on improving productivity and profitability of core products.
• A growth plan focused on growth in the housing and industrial markets in Sweden and Germany from 2023 to 2025 will be drafted when the new CEO takes office in December.
• Immediate investment of SEK 3 million in additional drilling equipment, etc., to meet the sharply increased order intake of the subsidiary Team Wessman.
• Ecoclime's project report on growth investments must be improved and clarified in consultation with the company's auditors, starting with the fourth quarter report in 2022.

Di

COP27

U.S. and China, the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters, resume climate talks

Climate envoys from the United States and China have resumed formal negotiations after President Biden and China’s Xi Jinping struck an agreement Monday at the G20 Summit, the White House said, opening up a possible path for greater greenhouse gas cuts from the world’s two largest emitters. (Washington Post)

India publishes long term emissions strategy to reach net zero in 2070

India published its long-term climate strategy on Monday that will steer the world's third biggest emitter towards meeting a net zero target by 2070, focusing on technological solutions such as scaling hydrogen and CCS, reducing household demand, and phasing out its coal production. (Reuters)

Australian climate minister to target World Bank’s response to crisis in COP27 speech

Australia is pressuring multilateral finance institutions, such as the World Bank, to unlock climate finance for developing nations, as it seeks to re-establish itself as an international leader on the climate change after almost a decade of policy stubbornness on the world stage. (The Guardian)

Indonesia to announce just energy transition partnership

Today in Bali, Indonesia is expected to announce a "just energy transition partnership", which the US and Japan led on. A source with knowledge of the negotiations said that the deal was likely to be between $18 billion and $20 billion. Another said that includes private sector finance. This follows the South African model of a package to create green jobs and economic regeneration for coal-dependent areas on the journey to clean energy. (Climate Home)

Rainforest giants Brazil, Indonesia, DR Congo sign deforestation pact

"Representatives from Indonesia, Brazil and DRC announced a tropical forest cooperation and climate action at a side event on November 7, and agreed to sign a Joint Statement today," Indonesia's coordinating minister of maritime and investment affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said in a statement. (New York Times)

Egypt to receive $500 million for energy transition

At COP27, Joe Biden announced “alongside the European Union and Germany, a $500 million package to finance and facilitate Egypt’s transition to clean energy”. Germany is giving €250m, and other European countries are delivering $300m through the European Bank on Reconstruction and Development. (White House)

Chile, Morocco, and India close in on leading Nordic nations in annual climate ranking. Australia bounces off bottom

In a report announced at the UN's annual climate in Egypt, several countries including Chile, Morocco, and India have emerged as consistently performing well across metrics that consider emissions per capita, policy outlook, and energy use as they edge nearer to leading Nordic nations, but no single country was found to be on a 1.5C-aligned pathway. Australia’s ranking improves in this year’s CCPI: it rises by four ranks to rank 55 (out of 63). Despite the progress, it remains among the very low performing countries. (CCPI, German Watch)

What we're reading

• Germany’s gas problem maybe isn’t such a big problem any more (Financial Times
• Timmermans: EU’s 2030 climate goal ‘can now be increased to 57%’ (Euractiv)

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