2020-11-02 16:43Press release

Mundus Nordic Green News – 2 November, 2020

Mundus Nordic Green News

UN chief hopes for Nordic climate leadership

Nordic leaders met via a video link last week, with specially invited guest, UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The theme of the meeting was the corona crisis and the challenges facing the world. During the meeting, Guterres said he was relying on the Nordic countries, which have historically been ambitious champions of climate action. “The world needs your leadership more than ever.”

 

Swedish investigation into transport climate targets delayed, facing tough questions

An inquiry into the future of Sweden’s road transport industry was appointed by the government at the end of 2019. It was meant to present its finding by February, 2021. The inquiry, which is led by Sven Hunhammar, is analysing the conditions for introducing a national ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars and proposing a year for when fossil fuels will be phased out in Sweden. Its terms of reference are to look beyond Sweden's borders and analyze the same issues at an EU level. The issues are apparently proving difficult to resolve, and Dagens Industri claims that this means that the inquiry will not report until next summer.

 

Hunhammar told DI that for Sweden to introduce a ban on its own was not relevant. "Denmark has proposed in the Commission that they would ban petrol and diesel cars, but then the Commission responded with a clear no, so it is definitely an issue that must be addressed by the EU,"

 

Other impacts of such a change are becoming clear. According to the Swedish Transport Administration's Director General Lena Erixon, for Sweden to attain its goal of a 70% decrease in the emissions from road traffic by 2030 drastic measures are required. In its’ new plan, the Swedish Traffic Administration Agency calls for massive investments not only in the electrification of transportation but also a push to increase the use of biofuels, given that electrification is a time-consuming process which will not have a large enough effect until 2030. "We need to increase our use of biofuels considerably by 2030. If not, we have to increase the gasoline price to achieve our climate goals," says Lena Erixon, Director-General at the Swedish Traffic Administration Agency. The price-increase is further dependent on the pace of the electrification, Erixon explained. An increase in the gasoline price will strike hard against rural areas and would need additional compensations as Erixon points out: "It may be by creating better infrastructure, or by taxes, for example. We believe that it is important that you look at different compensation measures to achieve acceptance."

 

Swedish companies selling palm diesel

According to the Government's budget, Sweden has a good chance of achieving its climate goals for the transport sector. However, the optimistic calculations are dependent on the new, stricter rules for the so-called "fuel change," where biofuels get mixed into fossil fuels. There is a risk that the shift causes unwanted consequences. Sweden imports the majority of the raw material that is blended into the diesel, which is palm oil and palm oil-related products, from Indonesia. The production of palm oil can place stress on the environment, with the producers accused of cutting down large areas of rainforest to make room for the plantations. The companies that sell the diesel with palm oil-related products excuse themselves with the fact that the European Union has certified the use of them under current sustainability criteria. Karin Lexén, Secretary-General of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, does not think that the argument holds under scrutiny. "We know that the certification has a problem tracing the production chain of the raw material. It is hard to guarantee that the production of palm oil is as sustainable as promised. We also know that the sector has problems with guaranteeing human rights and safe working conditions. The certification has not changed that," she says to Dagens Nyheter.

 

Equinor to be climate neutral by 2050

Anders Opedal, on his first day in his new job as CEO of Equinor announced the company’s ambition to become climate-neutral by 2050. The goal applies to emissions from energy production and consumption. “Equinor will be a leading company in the green shift. It is a good business strategy to ensure long-term competitiveness in a time of great changes in global energy systems and in a world that is moving towards climate neutrality,” he said. However, Equinor's plans for production, development and exploration activity on the Norwegian continental shelf will not change. Equinor expects an average annual production growth for oil and gas of around 3% from 2019 to 2026. In the longer term, Equinor expects to produce less oil and gas than today.

 

Vestas to buy back full ownership of MHI Vestas from Mitsubishi

Vestas Wind Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have signed an agreement through which Vestas will acquire MHI’s shares in the MHI Vestas Offshore Wind joint venture. Vestas is to acquire MHI’s 50% share of the MHI Vestas joint venture and in return will receive 2.5% of Vestas’ nominal shares. MHI will also be nominated to a seat in Vestas’ Board.

 

Norsk Hydro oppose LMEs listing of green aluminium

The London Metal Exchange is facing pushback against its plans to launch a “green aluminium” platform to trade the metal according to the Financial Times. Norwegian group Norsk Hydro and India’s Hindalco Industries from some of the world’s largest producers said they both opposed LME’s idea that it would launch a separate spot exchange for trading low-carbon metal next year. Hilde Merete Aasheim CEO of Norsk Hydro told the Financial Times that a separate contract for low-carbon aluminium risked weakening standards and its own efforts to decarbonise the energy-intensive industry. He worried that the LME’s exchange would “bundle” multiple low-carbon standards together and set a threshold for “green aluminium” that was too low.

 

Ardian buys Nevel

France’s Ardian, a leading private equity firms with USD 100 billion in investment assets, is buying the entire shareholding in Finland’s Nevel Oy, which operates in district heating and offers energy solutions to industry. Nevel is wholly owned by the Finnish Vapo Group and has operations in Finland, Sweden and Estonia with over 130 energy production facilities and over 40 district heating networks. Nevel's sales were EUR 101 million in 2019. Simo Santavirta , Ardian's director of the infrastructure fund said “Nevel fits perfectly into our strategy with a view to sustainable development in the Nordic market. Nevel's business concept is based on developing infrastructure solutions for municipalities, real estate and industry. We have fairly long common goals and we believe that the development in Nevel will further accelerate through this investment.”

 


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 clip the stories of most relevance to international businesspeople and policy experts from the flow of news. We supplement these with our own opinion pieces and commentary, in English. Mundus was founded in 2012 to provide information and analysis to embassies accredited to Sweden. Today, we deliver news, analysis and media monitoring of the Nordic countries to the international community in the Nordics.