Energy

• [New] China will formulate an action plan for peaking carbon emissions before 2030 to ensure its development based on efficient use of resources, strict protection of ecological environment and effective control of greenhouse gas emissions.
• [New] Established areas like logistics and healthcare have further emerged, while sectors such as renewable energy infrastructure - although still in its early stages - has gained momentum, in part thanks to the EU's objective of achieving 30% renewable energy in overall consumption by 2030.
• [New] Iron ore giant Fortescue Metals has big ambitions to turn Western Australia into a green hydrogen centre, with plans to build a massive 40 GW of renewable capacity in the Pilbara, with which it says it will manufacture green hydrogen.
• [New] One of the most ambitious projects in Western Australia is the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, which plans to invest more than $50 billion to create 2 6GW of renewable energy, much of which would be used to manufacture green hydrogen for export to Asia.
• [New] The European Union has made hydrogen a key plank in its aim to eliminate its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with plans to install 40 GW of electrolyzers this decade - equipment to produce emissions-free hydrogen using water and renewable power.
• [New] Cross-sector collaboration on reskilling American workers could help prepare them for new jobs in sectors, such as renewable energy and buildings, that are likely to expand as the clean-energy transition progresses.
• [New] Putting innovation onto a fast track could help the United States capture the opportunities associated with burgeoning markets for low-carbon technologies such as vehicle electrification; carbon capture, use, and storage; hydrogen and sustainable fuels; and advanced materials.
• [New] Increased renewable energy generation, coupled with overall decreased energy use, resulted in a remarkable decline in carbon emissions in 2020, putting the U.S. on a path to achieve its target 26-28% reduction in emissions by 2025.
• [New] Demand will be particularly strong for liquefied natural gas, which offers supply security to developing and emerging economies in the Asia Pacific region as they seek to decarbonise while meeting growing demand for energy.
• [New] In Texas, a blackout caused by a supply crunch of gas paired with freezing power plants and pipelines has been blamed on a sliver of wind power that may have been impacted by freezing turbines, but has otherwise performed as the grid operator has forecasted it to.
• [New] A nationwide HVDC network built to support wind and solar resources could reduce carbon emissions by as much as 80% by 2030, without increasing electricity costs for consumers.
• [New] Singapore aims to halve the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it generates from its 2030 peak by 2050, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions as soon as viable in the second half of the century.
• [New] IBM will procure 75% of the electricity it consumes worldwide from renewable sources by 2025, and 90% by 2030 to achieve its net zero goal.
• [New] Developing technologies, including hydrogen units and flow batteries, could begin to address some of the shortcomings as the U.S. approaches 2035, the year the Biden administration says carbon emissions should be eliminated from the power supply.
• [New] The Nikolskoye GDS and the gas pipeline branch will create the conditions for bringing gas to the Ilyinsko-Podomskoye village in the Vilegodsky District of the Arkhangelsk Region.
• [New] Energy Transfer will acquire gas gathering and processing assets in the Arkoma basin in Oklahoma and Arkansas, as well as the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and North Louisiana, the release states.
• [New] Luxembourg estimates its annual costs for green hydrogen, including finding reliable renewable energy sources and developing infrastructure, at between €37m and €138m, depending on high or low demand by 2030.
• [New] Ethanol can and should play a central role in the effort to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
• [New] IFC's support will help Pasabahce Egypt upgrade its glassware production facility outside Cairo, and introduce efficiencies to cut its natural gas and electricity consumption by more than half, it added.

Last updated: 21 February 2021