8 April 2022
Sweden’s foreign consumption to be included in climate targets
Sweden will be the first in the world to set climate targets for the climate impact of consumption. The new goal means that emissions from everything Swedes consume, including what is produced outside the country’s borders, are included in the country’s total climate target of zero net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2045. Consumption accounts for approximately 60% of Swedes’ total climate impact. The new goal has been negotiated in the Cross-Party Committee on Environment Objectives, where all of Sweden’s 8 parliamentary parties are now in agreement. The new goal was handed over to the Government on 7 April.
The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise wants to speed up Norway’s energy plans
The CEO of the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), Ole Erik Almlid, believes it is important for Norway to pick up the pace both to achieve the climate goals and to assist Europe, which will become less dependent on Russian gas. As a result, he calls for faster case processing and announcement of licences for offshore wind both at sea and on land. In addition, the business organisation requires hybrid cables, which make it possible to export offshore wind from the North Sea to Europe. However, when the Norwegian Government presented its plans for offshore wind in February, it was without the hybrid cable many believed necessary to make the development possible. “We are very impatient, the business community is ahead of the politicians”, said Almlid.
NVE to resume processing of onshore wind power licences
In order to ensure enough electricity for climate measures and new industry, the Norwegian Government has asked for NVE (Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Doctorate) to resume its processing of licences for onshore wind power projects. The licensing system will be changed, and wind power will be included in the Planning and Building Act to give the municipalities more say on the matter. The proposal is expected to apply from 2023 or 2024. However, according to NVE, it will take 6-7 years from notification to licence for a larger wind power plant, meaning that new wind power will probably not be put into operation until 2030.
Stark Future reports SEK 250,000 in orders per minute
Anton Wass, CEO of electric motorcycle’s company Stark Future, recently announced that in 3 months, sales of motorcycles are now up to a value of SEK 700 million. The company was launched in December 2021 with the vision of transforming the motorcycle industry in a similar way as Elon Musk has done with Tesla. In one day, 800 electric cross bikes had been pre-ordered to a value of almost SEK 80 million. Wolf is the most popular electric cross, with an electric range of up to 6 hours. The next step is to launch the website and start the sharp sales, which will take place this autumn. The delivery of the Varg (wolf) model is scheduled for 26 May 2023.
IKEA spends SEK 3.5 billion on solar energy
The solar energy developer Enerparc will build IKEA’s upcoming solar energy parks in Germany and Spain, valued at approximately SEK 3.5 billion. Ingka, which is in charge of the project, runs 378 department stores, 58 planning studios and smaller city stores in 32 markets on behalf of IKEA, including in Sweden. The 4 solar parks in Germany and 5 solar parks in Spain will produce about 300 MW and 140 MW, respectively. This corresponds to around 140,000 European households. The solar energy projects are in an early phase and construction is expected to start by the end of 2022.
SaltX and ABB in collaboration on innovative technology for electrical calcination
The energy company SaltX Technology is strengthening its collaboration with ABB to explore new technology for so-called electrical calcination. The companies will jointly investigate the possibilities of using the technology for other industrial processes in order to reduce CO2 emissions in the production of burnt lime, cement and other calcination processes. The two companies are now taking further steps forward to scale up the technology for future commercialisation.
Everfuel builds hydrogen station in Germany
After a European-wide tendering procedure, WSW Mobil has awarded hydrogen company Everfuel its second contract for the construction and commissioning of a hydrogen fuel station in Wuppertal, Germany. The planned hydrogen filling station is estimated to have a daily capacity for refuelling 20 fuel cell buses.
Ørsted and ESVAGT sign agreement on green service vessel for offshore wind
As part of the new agreement, Ørsted and ESVAGT have decided to invest in the world’s first service vessel (SOV) that uses green fuels. The service vessel will be equipped with batteries and ‘duel fuel’ engines that can use renewable e-methanol produced using offshore wind and biogenic carbon as fuel. The new service vessel will reduce annual CO2 emission by 4,500 tonnes. It is the intention that Ørsted will supply e-methanol for the new service vessel and ESVAGT will start building the vessel in the second quarter of 2022.
What we’re reading
- UK to renationalise electricity system oversight (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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