Happy Tuesday. One week to go until our climate fintech playbook goes live. We’ve been blown away by the innovation in this space!
In today’s edition:
⚡️ Tesla’s supercharger network
⚙️ World’s first fossil-free steel
🌾 Carbon – the next cash crop?
Big Business (2-minute read)
World’s biggest shipping firm Maersk in £1bn green push
The world’s biggest shipping company, Maersk, is investing $1.4bn (£1bn) to speed up its switch to carbon neutral operations, ordering eight container vessels that can be fuelled by green methanol as well as traditional bunker fuel . The new vessels will help to ship goods from companies including H&M Group and Unilever, while saving more than 1m tonnes of carbon emissions a year by replacing older fossil fuel-driven ships. Big steps… towards decarbonising the global shipping industry, which is responsible for 3% of the global emissions. With organisations looking to decarbonise their supply chains – Maersk are positioning themselves to fulfill demand for green shipping.
Tesla opens up U.S supercharger network to non-Tesla drivers
Tesla has pledged to open its massive charging network to other car brands later this year, marking a major inflection point in the electric vehicle (EV) economy. But why…
- Unlock revenue – more people charging on Tesla’s network means more income from the small commissions charged for each recharge.
- Accelerate electrification – fear of running out of battery is a major barrier to EV adoption. By extending their network to all EVs, Tesla will reduce range anxiety”
- Funding – opening up the network makes Tesla eligible for the new $7.5 billion in EV infrastructure funding from the US government.
Of course, this move will likely boost competitors’ EV sales. But EV charging revenue is too juicy and low-hanging a fruit that Tesla would be foolish not to pick.
Airbnb opens up free accommodation to 20,000 Afghan refugees
As tens of thousands of Afghan refugees resettle around the world, where they stay will be the first chapter in their new lives. Airbnb will offer free accommodation for 20,000 refugees through their ‘people in crisis’ initiative. They have previously offered free stays to people affected by the Mexico City earthquake, Californian wildfires and Australian bushfires.
🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)
World’s first ‘fossil-free steel’ produced in Sweden
The global iron and steel industry accounts for 5% of total global CO2 emissions, with coal providing 75% of the industry’s energy needs. Swedish company, SAAB, has produced steel without relying on any fossil fuels for the first time. Instead of using traditional fuel such as coal or coke to power the steel-making process, SAAB used “100% fossil-free hydrogen”. The steel was produced as part of SAAB’s Hybrit Project which aims to create a fossil fuel free value chain for iron and steel making. The next step is to develop the technology so the steel can be produced on an industrial scale – which SAAB believes can happen by 2026.
IKEA’s hot new product
Ikea is aiming to make buying wind and solar power as easy as buying a sofa, with the company announcing it will begin selling affordable and accessible renewable electricity directly to its Swedish customers. Renewable electricity produced from IKEA’s solar plants and wind turbines will be offered to customers through partnership with energy supplier Svea Solar (how does it work?). Customers will be able to buy both wind and solar power through an app, which will also track their usage.
But why? The aim is to lower the fossil fuels that consumers use at home, as home energy use associated with IKEA’s products and appliances accounts for 20% of the company’s total carbon footprint. The move also allows IKEA to step into the utilities industry and tap into an ever growing market of green electricity.
💡Start-up Spotlight (1-minute read)
U.S. farmers make their living growing crops from the soil. Now, some are getting paid for putting something back into their fields: carbon.
Startups and Big Agri companies (like Cargill Inc.) are working together to support farmers adopt practices that sequester carbon to develop farming-driven carbon markets. (What’s a carbon market?)
How it works:
- Farmers adopt sustainable farming practices that increase soil carbon sequestration by reducing the time there’s no plants growing in the soil. This is done by using cover crops or not harvesting arable crops (aka crop rotation)
- Farmers access a platform like Nori where farmer-generated carbon credits can be validated then sold. They sign a contract committing them to sequester carbon for a minimum of 10 years.
- An organisation needing to offset their own greenhouse gas emissions access the marketplace and buys a certified amount of carbon recorded using blockchain technology.
What to watch out for:
- Monitoring… Is done by analysing everything from soil samples to farming practices. It’s a costly process preventing some farmers from accessing carbon markets. As monitoring tech develops, expect farmer participation to grow too.
- Maintenance… If the practices disappear, are the credits refunded? How permanent soil carbon storage is compared to methods such as mineralisation, which can lock carbon away underground forever by converting it into rock.
- Monocultures… of high performing carbon sequestering crops – planting the same crop in the same place each year can have knock on effects on soil health and biodiversity.
💭 Little Bytes
Quote: The only hope we have to heal our planet and to provide opportunities for billions is together through partnerships… that can pave the way for others to follow.” Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO and Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All.
Stat: Blue whales have started returning to the coast of Spain after 40 years
Watch: Scientists using blankets to prevent a glacier from melting
🗞 In other news…
- Connecticut passes ‘clean slate law’ to erase low level felonies from criminal records after a specified period of time to promote reentry into society.
- Dutch Ad Watchdog Tells Shell to Pull ‘Carbon Neutral’ Campaign
- Copenhagen’s New Hotspot Is a Trailblazer for Sustainability
- Lidl to trial ‘eco-labels’ on products this autumn
- Nike closes office for a week to give employees a mental health break
🎣 Gone Phishing
Three of these stories are true, one we made up, can you guess which?
- China places limits on how long children can play video games
- Cows fly over Swiss fields
- Kourtney Kardashian announces makeup line made from recycled egg shells
- Scientists accidentally discover the northmost place on earth
