20 October 2021

Stora Enso sets ambitious sustainability goals for 2030 and 2050

Stora Enso Oyj is shifting its sustainability goals from minimising negative environmental impact to becoming a net positive contributor within climate, circularity, and biodiversity, offering 100% regenerative solutions by 2050. This means that it aims to provide renewable and fully circular products and solutions to help reduce climate impact and support the restoration of biodiversity. Additionally, Stora Enso is committing to new sustainability targets for 2030, highlighting two main points in a press release.

• Reduce Scope 1 (direct emissions from production) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased heat and electricity) by 50% by 2030 from the 2019 base-year, aligned with the 1.5-degree scenario.

• Reduce Scope 3 (emissions along value chain) by 50% by 2030 from the 2019 base-year.

Stora Enso has set the targets to outline its commitment to transparency and circular material flows that minimise waste and combat climate change (Press release).

Ørsted enters agreement to sell 50% of offshore wind project

Ørsted has entered an agreement to sell 50% of their shares in the 900 MW Borkum Riffgrund 3 offshore wind project to Glennmont Partners. The total transaction value is expected to be DKK 9 billion and covers the sale of 50% of the offshore wind project in the German part of the North Sea. As a part of the agreement, Glennmont is obligated to finance half of the payments spanning over the project delivery time, while Ørsted will be responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of Borkum Riffgrund 3, spanning over 20 years (Press release). 

Standstill in Swedish wind power investments

Swedish wind power investments came to a standstill, with no new investments made in wind power during 3Q21, according to statistics from the Swedish Wind Energy Association (SWEA). Although the Swedish electricity market is turbulent, with an increased demand and fluctuating cost of electricity, investors of wind power are laying low. Factors such as the uncertainties in the supply of expert labour and future costs for wind turbines as well as difficulty in locking-in electricity prices for long-term agreements are accredited to the standstill according to Daniel Kulin, Strategic Analyst at SWEA. Additionally, only half of the licence applications for wind power projects are processed, of which only 40% are approved by the County Administrative Boards in Sweden. SWEA will present the statistics to actors in the wind power sector at the VIND 2021 conference today (Press release, Nyteknik).  

Energy Minister flags increased electricity prices during Swedish winter

Anders Ygeman (S), the Minister for Energy and Digital Development said he expected increased electricity prices in Sweden during a press conference. Despite high production rates of Swedish electricity, there is a shortage of electricity in the country, which Ygeman attributes to a high production rate in the north of Sweden and a high consumption pattern in the south of Sweden. To this end, the government is pushing for increased offshore wind power, where there are pending applications for offshore wind power projects that corresponding to three times the total existing production of Sweden. [Editor: this presents an interesting contradiction with the previous story] (Svt, Expressen).  

Renewcell and Kelheim Fibres collaborate on circular fashion

Renewcell and Kelheim Fibres have signed a Letter of Intent for a long-term collaboration to create a circular economy for textiles in Europe. Together, the two partners will develop a commercial production of up to 10,000 tonnes of Renewcells’ textile material Circulose annually, to manage waste and reduce the need for virgin materials (natural resources that are extracted in their raw form) (Press release).  

Scottish offshore wind farm now producing with Vestas turbines

Kincardine Offshore Windfarm, the largest offshore wind farm, is expected to generate over 200 GWh of green electricity per year to Scotland’s electricity grid and will power the 50,000 Scottish households that are connected. Cobra Wind, a subsidiary of Cobra Group, is responsible for the delivery of the Kinkardine project and opted for a total of six Vestas turbines, installed 15km off Aberdeenshire’s coast at water depths between 60-80 metres (Press release).      

Nobia wins two tenders for electric buses in Stockholm

Nobina wins two tenders and gains an extended trust from SL to run and develop the public transportation in the Huddinge-Botkyrka-Söderort and Nacka-Värmdö regions. The two contracts entail 530 buses, which is largely represented by electric buses and marks the first time that electric buses are introduced at a large scale in Stockholm. Both contracts are set to start in April 2023, worth SEK 12.7 billion during the 10-year contract period (Press release).

Hexicon granted four new water areas offshore South Korea

Two South Korean provinces have decided to grant Hexicon’s Korean joint venture, CoensHexicon, the permission to measure wind conditions in four water areas offshore South Korea which entails a prioritised right to establish wind power in the areas. The development of these areas has been ongoing for over a year and an approval from the local authorities has been obtained by the CoensHexicon joint venture in cooperation with Korean partners. The two first confirmed water areas cover a total of 320 square kilometres at water depths ranging between 60-95 metres (Press release). 

Renewable fuel introduced at Gatwick Airport

42 easyJet aircraft will depart from Gatwick airport with a fuel mix that includes 30% renewable aviation fuel from Neste, marking the first time that renewable aviation fuel has been used on aircrafts departing from the airport. 39 of the 42 aircrafts will fly to Glasgow for the COP26 summit from 31 October to 12 November 2021. Neste’s fuel is certified and produced from 100% waste and residue raw materials, such as used cooking oil and animal fat waste. Upon use, the 42 aircrafts are expected to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 70 tonnes (Press release). 

Danish breakthrough for recycling polyurethane plastic

Danish researchers have successfully recycled polyurethane plastic to its original components. The new recycling method builds on chemical recycling processes that covers different techniques to upcycle plastic waste for use in products with the same quality as the original. Consequently, the researchers claim large savings of oil used in the manufacturing processes and a reduction of CO2 emissions as a result of not needing to burn the plastic. Additionally, the new method provides a green alternative to recycling as the chemical recycling process occurs in low temperatures and with the use of hydrogen that can be sustainably produced (Teknisk fokus). 

What we’re reading

• Boris Johnson defends UK switching to green power by 2035 (BBC)
• Amazon, Ikea and Unilever pledge zero-carbon shipping by 2040 (BBC)
• Create global price for carbon, WTO boss urges international leaders (Yahoo)
• Australia’s Coalition government in turmoil over policy on eve of COP26 (ABC)

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