Mundus Nordic Green News – 29 September, 2020

Preem’s bombshell makes big waves

For outsiders looking in, the levels of passion on display in Sweden over Preem’s announcement yesterday that it was withdrawing its application to upgrade its refinery is perhaps confusing. But few in Sweden fail to appreciate the significance. With a high level of political drama, and proponents from both the green camp and the pro jobs/economy camps crossing swords, Preem has made a commercial decision to abandon its’ 4 year quest to improve the economics of its oil refinery and signalled that it wants to invest instead in biofuels.

 

Dagens Industri, Sweden’s leading business daily, observes that corona has created both structural challenges for oil companies and a political drive to build back better. Its editorial says “The pressure on the industry has been great for a long time and local and national politicians around the world have been very clear that fossil fuels should be removed … [Sweden’s] green credit guarantees of SEK 50 billion [announced last week] will be used to enable green investments. That fossil fuels are a dead end has never been so clear as now.”

 

Dagens Nyheter, the nation’s leading paper, with a liberal, market-based philosophy said “Preem's message is a historic decision in an already historic issue. They justify the decision not to expand the oil refinery in Lysekil by saying that there are no longer any finances in the project. This is … a sign that time is running out for fossil fuels. The decision a relief to the government.” In DNs view, investments in fossil fuels are too risky and have no future. In this context, In this context, “Preem's decision not to push through an expansion that would increase emissions by one million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually and make the refinery … Sweden's single largest emission source is completely logical and economically reasonable.”

 

Svante Axelsson, the National Coordinator for Fossil Free Sweden, who in his position would have had clear insights into the business and political calculus declared that he was not surprised. This comes just days after radicals criticized him for supporting the status quo, in writing an opinion piece that warned against “simplified messages about closing down the cement industry, refineries, stopping the use of biofuels and imposing a flight ban".

 

Neste oil refinery in Finland also to close

Across the Baltic Sea, another announcement crept out two weeks ago. Neste announced that it was to investigating closure of its Naantali refinery. In a press release, Neste said. “Change in the energy sector is happening faster than expected. The forthcoming operation and maintenance investments at the Naantali refinery would not be sensible or sustainable in a situation where there is a large amount of global overcapacity in oil refining. The time for this news is not the best, and it is very unfortunate for many of us.”

 

The company will begin the change to a port and import terminal through negotiations with personnel representatives in the Petroleum Products Business Unit. If implemented, the plans will mean a maximum of 470 job losses. Peter Vanacker, CEO of Neste said, "Neste's goal is to become a global leader in renewable and circular economy solutions and achieve carbon-neutral production by 2035. The planned change will support the construction of the Porvoo refinery, which is to be developed towards renewable and recycling-centred processing of raw materials.

 

Swedbank Robur launches another fund in line with the Paris Agreement

Swedbank Robur announced last week that the funds Access Edge Global, Emerging Markets, USA, Japan and Sweden will be managed in line with the Paris Agreement. Today, Swedbank Robur launched another new fund - Access Edge Europe. All Access Edge funds benefit investments in companies with low greenhouse gas emissions and aim to have about 50% lower carbon footprint than their benchmark index. Furthermore, the funds invest approximately 10% of the holdings in companies that the fund company deems to contribute to solving the climate crisis. In addition, the funds exclude manufacturers of fossil fuels and producers whose turnover from the production of electricity from oil, gas or coal exceeds 5%. Linnea Zanetti, Manager of Swedbank Robur said “We feel that the growing awareness and knowledge of the climate issue, has led to an increasing demand from customers to find alternatives to save with the climate in focus. This development is completely in line with Swedbank Robur's own climate strategy.”

 

Denmark announces long-term strategy for global climate action

The Danish government launched its long-term strategy for a global climate effort "A green and sustainable world". The strategy is the first overall strategy for Denmark's global climate efforts ever, binding together Denmark's efforts, and is translated into annual ambitious, multi-stranded and integrated global action plans with concrete results. Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said Denmark must be a "green superpower". Climate ambition in Denmark must play together with diplomacy, technology and green Danish exports and development aid in a new way.

 

Nordic battery developers push forward

Northvolt is further strengthening its balance sheet, raising €600m, with the money coming from a number of well-known companies and profiles, including Spotify founder Daniel Ek, Cristina Stenbeck, and Norrsken VC among others. The existing shareholders such as Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, Scania and Volkswagen are also investing.

 

Across the border in Norway, Morrow Batteries believes that southern Norway is by far the cheapest location to manufacture batteries in Europe, and in addition, it is strategically located with regard to logistics and transport to Europe. Terje Andersen, CEO of Morrow Batteries observed “We can learn from the others and place the Nordic region on the map as a green, cost-effective quality supplier of batteries. They are not competitors. This is a race, but it takes many initiatives and many factories to get up and forward.”

 

Eurocommercial invests heavily in solar energy with Soltech subsidiary, Swede Energy

Eurocommercial, a leading European real estate investors with shopping centers in Belgium, France, Italy and Sweden and assets over €4 billion is installing solar energy at all of its shopping centers in Sweden.

 

Eolus sells 68 MW of wind power to Commerz Real AG Group

Eolus has signed an agreement with Commerz Real regarding the sale of three wind farms in southern Sweden with a total installed capacity of 68 MW. The preliminary purchase price is €82.5 million.

 

PostNord Denmark increases biodiesel usage

PostNord in Denmark is now testing fossil-free biodiesel HVO100 on two thirds of its trucks. This will reduce the cars' CO2 emissions by up to 90%, thus contributing “massively“ to PostNord's green transition.

 

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