16 February 2022
Finnish Climate Change Panel not satisfied with Government’s climate actions
The Finnish Climate Change Panel recently published its assessment of the sufficiency of the climate actions taken by the Government. Although the Panel remains confident that Finland will be able to meet its goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035, the Panel argues that the Government should further its ambitions and introduce measures that reduce carbon emissions by roughly one million tonnes of carbon-dioxide equivalents to guarantee that Finland’s target is actually met. Further emission reduction could, for example, be achieved in agriculture, transport separately heated buildings, and energy and manufacturing facilities not covered by emissions trading.
Swedish Governments wants changes to biofuels fiscal regime
Sweden’s Government will apply to the European Commission for a tax exemption on clean biofuels for 10 years from 2023, said the Minister for Energy, Khashayar Farmanbar (S). “We want to secure reasonable prices for biofuels for a long time,” said Farmanbar. At present, Sweden has had an exemption from levying energy taxes on clean, highly mixed biofuels one year at a time. “We have noted that the Commission has changed its environmental guidelines and has removed the explicit ban that has existed in the past against providing state support for crop and food-based fuels'' said Farmanbar. The Government considers that the changed guidelines strengthen Sweden's chance to obtain a continued tax exemption.The application is part of an attempt to secure long-term stable prices for biofuels and good conditions for Swedish domestic production and jobs.
Additionally, the Government also announced that subject to parliament’s approval, it wants to make diesel cheaper for foresters and farmers by lowering the tax by SEK 2/litre. The reduction will continue for one year, starting on 1 July, and is estimated to cost the state SEK 700 million in lost tax revenue.
Finnish Taaleri Oyj secures financing for biocoal plant project
Taaleri Oyj recently announced it had secured financing support for their EUR 20 million biocoal plant project in Finland. The Center for Economic Development, Transport, and the Environment have awarded a EUR 3.4 million grant in support of the project from the European Regional Development Fund while the Climate Fund has granted a capital loan of EUR 5 million to the biocoal plant project. The production of the plant is about 60,000 tonnes of torrefied (dry) biomass per year and the facility will use by-products from the forest industry and forestry as raw materials. It will use 250,000 m3 of biomass, which will mainly consist of bark and thinnings. Construction of the plant will begin in 2022 and is estimated to be ready for production in 2023.
World’s largest PtX plant for aviation to be located in Denmark
The world’s largest plant for the production of CO2-neutral fuel for aircraft will be constructed at the Port of Vordingborg. The port is currently finalising a lease agreement with the company Arcadia eFuels for the location of the plant. The plant will use electricity, CO2 and water in the Power-to-X process of producing climate friendly aviation fuel. The new PtX plant will help the Danish Government’s ambitions of domestic flights running solely on green fuels.
Sandvik completes acquisition of engineering company Gerling GmbH
Sandvik has completed the previously announced acquisition of the German Gerling GmbH, an engineering company in precision pipes, active in the rapidly growing hydrogen market. The offer includes innovative engineering solutions for control and regulation technology of high-pressure systems for filling stations for hydrogen. In 2020, the company had sales of approximately SEK 90 million.
Nel ASA reports revenue of NOK 248 million in 4Q21
Nel ASA has reported an all time high revenue of NOK 248 million in 4Q21, which is an increase of NOK 19 million during the same period in 2020. The company had an order intake of NOK 418 million in the period ending the 4Q21 with a record order backlog. The pipeline of potential orders continues to grow and stands at a record-high amount of more than USD 12 billion, represents more than 22 GW of installed electrolyser capacity and over 1000 projects.
“The projects are getting significantly larger, the customers will be more diversified and the geographical market will broaden. Nel has scaled up to be ready to accommodate this unprecedented pipeline and is effectively addressing all growth segments with over 90 own employees developing the pipeline from leads to executions”, said André Løkke, Chief Executive Officer of Nel.
SENS secures financing through loan of SEK 17 million
SENS has undergone a transformation of its operations and is entering an expansion phase where the company chooses to secure the financing of the expansion through a convertible loan of SEK 17 million.
From our sponsor
BASF and NEVEON co-operate on mattress recycling
BASF and foam specialist NEVEON are working together to further develop the recycling of mattresses. The aim is to establish a closed product loop for discarded mattresses, which are mainly thermally recycled or disposed of in landfills. BASF and NEVEON want to change this and return mattress foams to the product life cycle. As early as this year, the two companies plan to obtain the first pilot quantities of recycled mattress foams made from collected used mattresses. The next step will then be to transfer the recycling to a larger scale in subsequent years.
What we’re reading
- Biden-Harris Administration Advances Cleaner Industrial Sector to Reduce Emissions and Reinvigorate American Manufacturing (White House)
- Australia boasts $830bn pipeline of wind, solar, hydrogen and storage projects (RenewEconomy)
- FFI and Woodside shortlisted for massive NZ green hydrogen project (RenewEconomy)
- Aviva Investors chief warns over rush into ‘overpriced’ green stocks (Financial Times)
About Nordic Green News
The Nordic countries are some of the most dynamic and successful economies in the world. They are also leaders in sustainability, from renewable energy, biofuels, carbon capture and storage and the hydrogen economy, circular economy business models and battery development, the Nordics are pioneers in policy design, technology development and consumer uptake. Mundus Nordic Green News is covering this transition for the international community. Every day we curate the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. Mundus Nordic Green Indices summarise the meta-data from our daily coverage to enable easy tracking of trends. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary.
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