April 4, 2021

COMPANIES IN NEWS >> #WorldBank #AppleInc #SinoPec #LegalAndGeneral #Betteries #Volkswagen #Tesla

IN SHORT

While the World Bank is looking at doing more on climate change, India gives another two years to coal plants to take climate change actions. Apple has renewable storage plans, Sinopec and Legal and General work towards net zero. US invests in sustainable water and EV battery upcycling gets a shot in the arm. Volkswagen and Tesla look to make a transaction.

THE BYTE…

World Bank has a new Climate Change Action Plan

World Bank has announced a new Climate Change Action Plan according to which it will help developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and provide them with resources to move towards more environment friendly fuels. The institution plans to align its financing flows with the 2015 Paris Agreement completely by 2025. 

Indian coal power plants get another two year extension to comply with anti pollution rules

The Indian Ministry of Environment has extended the deadline for coal power plants to comply with anti pollution guidelines by two years again to December 2022. The guidelines were introduced in 2015 with an original deadline to comply by 2017. Coal Power Plants have resisted retrofitting their units and complying with the guidelines citing financial stress.

Renewable Energy Storage Project planned in California

American multinational technology company, Apple Inc plans to build a renewable energy storage facility based on batteries in California. The facility will be located near a solar power plant that provides energy for all of Apple’s facilities in the state. The storage facility with a capacity to store 240 megawatt-hours of energy will enable continuous supply of renewable energy.   

Sinopec targets to become carbon neutral by 2050

Beijing based oil and gas company, China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation or Sinopec, plans to become carbon neutral by 2050. The company will focus on natural gas in the near term and on hydrogen in the long term in order to drive its energy transition.

Legal and General’s Workplace Pensions and Mastertrust lay out roadmap to net zero emissions

British financial services and asset management multinational company, Legal and General’s Workplace Pensions and Mastertrust units have come out with their roadmap to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 across their auto enrolment default investment options.

USD 27.5 million investments for decarbonising water infrastructure in the US

The US government has awarded $27.5 million to 16 projects across 13 states. The funds are to be deployed towards developing projects that will help decarbonise the water infrastructure using new water treatment and wastewater treatment technologies. These technologies can then be used by the industry, municipalities and utilities among others.

German start-up raises Euro 2.1 million in funds

Berlin based start-up Betteries which offers batteries as a service, upcycles used electric vehicle ion batteries. The company recycles used EV ion batteries that still have 70 per cent of usable storage capacity but are discarded from EVs into multi-purpose batteries.

Volkswagen’s China J-V will buy green car credits from Tesla

Auto maker, Volkswagen’s joint venture with Chinese auto maker, FAW, will buy green credits from Tesla in order to comply with local environmental rules.

Also in the news…

BNP Paribas partners with Clarity AI on sustainable investments; HSBC joins Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials; Paris Saint-Germain joins UNFCC’s ‘Sports for Climate Action’ Campaign; NN Investment partners launch a sovereign green bond fund

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