Sustainable Energy Solutions Sweden Holding AB (SENS) today announced a cooperation agreement with the renewable energy project developer Kracht Alpha (KA) for the development of sustainable projects in South Africa. SENS and Kracht Alpha will identify, calculate and implement sustainable energy projects together. By entering into a partnership, Kracht Alpha has the opportunity to leverage SENS' technical competence and capabilities in sustainable energy solutions and SENS gains stronger local knowledge and additional resources to find business opportunities away from Sweden in a relatively small market.
Over the last 15 years, Viking Line has managed to reduce the CO2 emissions of its ships by almost a third. Behind this significant reduction are active environmental efforts, including many different measures. The most impactful measure was the EUR 450 million investment in two climate-smart vessels in the Baltic Sea – Viking Grace and Viking Glory. Powered by liquid natural gas, Viking Grace has reduced nitrogen and particulate emissions by 85% and greenhouse gas emissions by 15% compared to oil-powered vessels. The Glory, which entered service in March this year, emits a further 10% less than the 2013 Grace. Viking Grace's intelligent demand-based ventilation system saves the same amount of energy as its offices and warehouses consume in a year. At the same time, emissions from older vessels have also been reduced as Viking Line has updated its technology for vessels that began their eco-friendly journey in the 1980s by not using toxic bottom paint, recycling waste and using green power in port. Grace and Glory are now ready to start using biogas or synthetic fuels produced from renewable energy sources. Dani Lindberg, Head of Sustainability at Viking Line, says that for them, environmental issues are as high a priority as safety.
Today, Norway and Rwanda launched a High Ambition Coalition on Plastic Pollution together with Peru, Germany, Senegal, Georgia, Great Britain, Portugal, Chile, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Canada, Switzerland, Portugal, France, South Korea and the Dominican Republic. The work of the ambitious coalition began following the adoption of historic Resolution 5/14 by the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, which began negotiations on a new binding international agreement on plastic pollution. Members of the Ambitious Coalition will meet in a few weeks' time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York to discuss the next steps for the Coalition's first negotiation meeting in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on 28 November.
The Mayor and the Mayor of Technical and Environmental Affairs of Copenhagen have identified the lack of state funding as a decisive factor of Copenhagen's failure to meet its CO2 neutrality target. The Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen said they will continue to work towards its ambition to achieve CO2 reductions by 2035. In a memo from the Technology and Environment Authority, it appears that the Amager Ressourcecenter (ARC), which handles waste for several municipalities in the capital region, has dropped its application for government support for special CO2 capture projects. This means that ARC is not expected to have a full-scale CO2 capture plant by the end of 2025, a plant that would account for nearly 400,000 tonnes and is essential for achieving the goal of CO2 neutrality. The Copenhagen Municipality believes that ARC does not meet the criteria for pre-qualification, but the Climate, Energy and Supply Minister Dan Jørgensen disagrees with the municipality's decision, arguing that other municipal facilities have been pre-qualified, which means that state aid is possible. Instead, he points out that ARC's financial situation is clearly not good enough. According to the Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, a working group is being established to find out what is needed to set up a complete plant while a dialogue with the State is held to see if they could provide support in other ways. The efforts to make Copenhagen CO2 neutral will continue, but take longer than planned.
The Danish Energy Agency's energy statement for 1H22 clearly shows that natural gas consumption has fallen by almost 30% compared to the same period in 2021. Fuel consumption in foreign trade in electricity has only decreased by 0.9 per cent, so other energy types have increased. Here, it is mainly oil that has increased by 19.4%. However, wind and solar energy production is good. Compared to 2021, wind production has increased by 28.5% in 2022. This brings the share of wind power in electricity production from 41% in 2021 to 52% this year. At the same time, there is a significant increase of 64% in solar energy. The report also shows a growth in jet fuel consumption of no less than 142.4%. Despite this significant increase, consumption is still below pre-pandemic levels.
Finland's first integrated regional biogas production solution is being born in Kurika, which will open up significant new opportunities to increase the production of renewable energy on farms on a large scale. The project intends to apply for support from the Ministry of Labour and the Economy in a large demonstration project application. If the decision to support is positive, the ecosystem will be completed by 2023. With the liquefied biogas produced by the future biogas ecosystem, the equivalent of 4 million litres of diesel fuel could be replaced annually. The total impact of the biogas ecosystem on the regional economy will be around EUR 8 million per year. The project is jointly owned by Kurikan Kaukolämpö Oy and One1 Oy. Kurikan Kaukolämpö Oy, owned by the municipality of Kurika, is a subsidiary established for the project. One1 Oy is a growing company that invests in biogas and implements renewable energy solutions. Kurika is one of Finland's strongest agricultural towns with great potential for biogas production. The first phase of the plan is expected to generate 40 GWh of energy per year, which means a reduction of more than 8,000 tonnes of fossil CO2 emissions from transport every year.
For the period April to June, Insplorion which produces specialised sensors for hydrogen and other applications reported net sales of SEK 111,000, and made a loss after financial items of SEK 4,963,000, while cash flow from current and invested operations ended up at SEK -5,576,000. Recently, Insplorion accepted two orders for cascade instruments with a total order value of approximately SEK 700,000. The first order involved a life science research instrument, the S2, for a Finnish university. The second order involved the Acoulyte, which was sold to a university in Poland.
During 2Q22, Insplorion continued to advance its hydrogen business and technology, creating value by quickly and specifically detecting the presence and/or levels of hydrogen in different situations, environments or processes.
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.