Nordic Green News – 7 September, 2020

IKEA increases its sustainability investments by €600M over next 12 months

IKEA’s parent company, Ingka Group, issued a press release to say that it will accelerate its sustainability investments, in order to meet IKEAs overall commitment to becoming climate positive by 2030. Over the coming year, the company has committed to invest an additional €600M into companies, solutions, taking its overall investments into sustainability to €3.8B.

 

Ingka Group has already invested in and is collaborating with companies such as:

• RetourMatras, a company that makes it possible to recycle more than 90% of the materials in a mattress,
• Morssinkhof Rymoplast, a leading player in the European plastic recycling industry,
• Winnow, a company that has developed an AI-enabled food waste tracking solution to help reduce food waste in commercial kitchens,
• Aerofarms an indoor urban farming company,
• Terramera working with bio-pesticides, and
• Optoro, a provider of a software platform for reverse logistics for retailers.

 

In a press release, IKEA wrote that it “is fully supportive of global climate commitments, including the EU Green Deal, urging the EU to build its recovery package to support and accelerate the transition towards a climate neutral and circular economy, and the Exponential Climate Action Roadmap* to halve greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms by 2030."

 

Norway wealth fund to test business model of biggest CO2 emitters

Norway’s $1.2 trillion wealth fund will ask carbon emitters in its portfolio for detailed climate-related data in order to understand the risk posed to its investments. “What we want to see is whether they have a business model that can survive in a low-carbon society and to understand how will they address that,” Carine Smith Ihenacho, the fund’s Chief Corporate Governance Officer, told Reuters. “We want scenario analysis, including a two-degree scenario analysis, and we want the company to be open about the assumptions for the analysis,” she said, without naming the companies the fund was contacting. Last month, Norway’s Storebrand Asset Management began divesting from major oil firms, citing their climate lobbying practices.

 

Coke bottles to be 100% recycled plastic in Norway

All bottles of Coca-Cola stock in Norway will be made of 100% recycled plastic in 2021, making Norway one of the first countries in the world where Coca-Cola will implement major changes to the packaging, and reducing the use of new plastics by 4,300 tonnes, All bottles will be made from 100% recycled plastic, the cap and label are the only exception. The transition is part of Coca-Cola's international strategy, 'World Without Waste'.

 

Volvo’s Polestar 2 Outsold Tesla’s Model 3 In Sweden And Norway In August

Tesla’s flagship Model 3 was outsold by Volvo-owned Polestar 2 battery-electric model.  According to Forbes, the Polestar 2 sold 504 units in Norway in August versus 264 Model 3s. The Polestar 2 also outsold the Model 3 in Sweden in August, with 284 deliveries versus the Model 3’s 235. 

 

Vattenfall applies to close German coal power station

The German unit of Swedish utility Vattenfall has applied to shut down a 1.6GW coal-fired power station near Hamburg under the government's retirement scheme for hard coal plants, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

 

Azelio inks letter of intent with India’s Atria Power

Energy storage producer Azelio signed a letter of intent with Atria Power in India to install commercial units planned to store 65MW in energy until 2025. According to Dagens Industri, the deal marks Azelio’s entry into the Indian market, where Atria Power intends to use Azelio’s storage technology to deliver sustainable energy, heating, clean drinking water and cooling to communities in rural India.

 

Finnish company generates Spanish solar energy

The Finnish investment company, Korkia is investing in solar energy plants in southern Spain. Along with their first power station outside Málaga, which has a capacity of 3.7MWh, they are also starting a solar park at Guadix, in the province of Granada.

 

Installation giant's solar CEO: "We will grow by 40% a year"

In Spring, Bravida, a building maintenance giant, acquired 51% of solar energy company Solkraft EMK. Solkraft’s newly appointed CEO, Johnny Petré says he aims to grow by revenues to a billion kronor within five years, far faster than the growth rate of owner, Bravida.

 

Xpecunia completes private placement of SEK 8.4 million to a Swedish investor group

Xpecunia Nordic AB extracts cryptocurrencies using its own solar energy. The company said that sales were increasing rapidly and it intended soon to make additional capital acquisitions to realize the growth plan. The intention is to expand the two own production facilities to the maximum and open a third. 

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