26 April, 2021

Sweden kicks off Biden climate summit's second day

The Swedish Minister for Environment and Climate, Per Bolund, was the first speaker on the second day of the Leaders Summit on Climate, initiated by US President Joe Biden. The theme for the second day was a green shift for industry, and Bolund spoke about the numerous Swedish Green Tech initiatives in the north of Sweden, such as Northvolt and H2 Green Steel, as part of a message about Swedish leadership of the industrial transition.

In his speech, Bolund noted that next year marks 50 years since the first UN Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in Stockholm. Sweden is once again inviting governments, businesses, and youth to a Stockholm+50 in June 2022. (IEU.Monitoring)

Finnish climate panel is pushing the government to reduce emissions in transport, agriculture and waste management

Finland’s Climate Panel has called for more policy measures reductions. Professor Markku Ollikainen, Chairman of the Climate Panel, says that his message to the government was that international climate action is progressing and Finland's emissions have decreased well, but Finland needs tougher measures, especially in the so-called burden-sharing sector, ie transport, agriculture and waste management. "Decisions on transport emissions should be made in the autumn budget debate, and measures are needed for agriculture."

Finland needs to reduce its emissions by 27.5 Mt to achieve to the 2035 emission reduction target [of no net emissions]. Policy decisions already taken, such as at least halving the energy use of peat by 2030, should achieve about 67%. (Helsingin Sanomat)

Denmark progressing towards hitting its climate goal

According to the Danish Energy Agency's Climate Status and Projection, by 2030, Denmark will have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 55%, given policy decisions taken. The last year's political agreements and other developments have reduced the expected emissions in 2030 by 8.2Mt, so that cumulatively there are now reduction measures corresponding to 11.8Mt of the total 20Mt of emissions. Achievements in electricity and district heating and biogas are credited with providing significant reductions. (press release)

St1 buys E.ONs biogas business in Sweden

The Finnish energy company St1 Nordic is entering the biogas industry through the acquisition of the company E.ON Biofor Sverige AB, which has six production and upgrading plants for biogas in southern Sweden, and a 30% market share for biogas for road transport in the country. E.ON Biofor has 35 biogas professionals and its operations are geographically located in the urban areas of southern Sweden as well as in Stockholm. It produces, imports and exports biogas and delivers it to customers through several sales channels. (press release)

Ørsted and Enefit sign MoU to supply large-scale offshore wind in the Baltics

Ørsted and Enefit, the largest wind energy company in the Baltics, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining a vision to become the leading developer of offshore wind in the Baltic countries. As part of the declaration of cooperation, Ørsted and Enefit intend to establish a joint venture that can develop opportunities within offshore wind in the Baltics, including the Liivi offshore wind project in the Estonian part of the Gulf of Riga. (press release)

Volvo Cars establishes new circular business model

In order boost the company's goal of moving to a full circular economy by 2040, Volvo Cars will create closed material circuits for emission-heavy materials such as steel and aluminum as well as remanufacture, repair, recycle and renovate spare parts. Volvo is aiming for an annual saving of SEK 1 billion. (Motor Magasinet)

Nel ASA: Enters into framework agreement with Aibel

Nel has entered into a framework agreement with the energy service company Aibel, to leverage their capabilities to develop and deliver large scale, complex renewable hydrogen projects. Nel has hydrogen filling stations in Norway and other countries. Aibel has 4,000 employees in Norway and Southeast Asia - with its own shipyards in Haugesund and in Thailand. (press release)

What we’re reading

• New US climate strategy opens up old faultlines with Europe (Financial Times, paywall)
• UK public support green taxes to achieve net zero, survey finds (Financial Times, paywall)
• European sustainable ETF flows surpass all others for first time (Financial Times, paywall)
• Scott Morrison, the Murdochs and the crime of the century (The New Daily)

 

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