ESG News in Brief (8/1/2023 - 13/1/2023)

International Enterprises

Democratic lawmakers create sustainable investment caucus to address ESG investing

U.S. DOE Awards $118 Million to Accelerate Domestic Biofuel Production

The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), on behalf of the Australian Government, has announced conditional funding of A $176 million for eight grid-connected electrochemical energy storage projects in Australia

Two leading energy groups, RWE and PPC, have joined forces to help accelerate the Greek energy transition. Through their joint venture company Meton Energy S.A., RWE Renewables (51%) and PPC Renewables (49%) have taken the final investment decision for five photovoltaic projects.

Boston Metal,a company developing technology to fully decarbonize steel production, announced Monday that it has raised $120 million to expand green steel production at its pilot plant and support the construction of a commercial plant that will use its zero-emission technology to produce high-value metals. Boston Metals is commercializing Molten oxide electrolysis technology (MOE), a power metal production platform that can be used in green steel, as well as high-value metals such as tin and niobium. The one-step technology uses renewable electricity, converts all iron ore grades to steel through an energy efficient process, and selectively extracts valuable metals from complex, low-concentration materials currently considered waste, resulting in a process with zero carbon dioxide emissions that does not require process water, hazardous chemicals or precious metal catalysts and is cost competitive with traditional production methods. Other new investors in the funding include Microsoft's Climate Innovation Fund and SiteGround Capital.

Fosun International Limited ("Fosun International") (HKEX: 00656) was informed by The Asset, the renowned international asset management and investment magazine, that Fosun has garnered the Platinum Award at The Asset ESG Corporate Awards 2022. This year, Fosun International was accredited with the Platinum Award by The Asset for the first time after being presented with the Gold Award for four consecutive years. The Asset also awarded Fosun International Best Investor Relations Team Award.

Two Democratic lawmakers announced the launch of the Congressional Sustainable Investment Caucus on January 25, which will aim to inform policy related to environmental, social and governance investing.The caucus, also known as the CSIC, will be co-chaired by Mr. Casten and Rep. Juan Vargas, D-Calif.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $118 million in funding for 17 projects to accelerate the production of sustainable biofuels for America’s transportation and manufacturing needs. The selected projects, located at universities and private companies, will drive the domestic production of biofuels and bioproducts by advancing biorefinery development, from pre-pilot to demonstration, to create sustainable fuels that reduce emissions associated with fossil fuels. Funding for this opportunity supports President Biden’s goals to deliver an equitable, clean energy future, and put the United States on a path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. Projects selected as part of this funding opportunity will contribute to meeting DOE’s goal to achieve cost-competitive biofuels and at least a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030.

grid-connected electrochemical energy storage projects in Australia. The eight projects have a total investment of $2.7 billion and a capacity of 2.0GW/4.2GWh. According to the author's rough calculation, the cost per W is about $1.35, equivalent to 9.16 yuan /W, or 4.36 yuan /Wh. This price is equivalent to about three times the current domestic bidding price of 1.5 yuan /Wh.

Darren Miller, ARENA's chief executive, said inverter technology for large grid-connected energy storage projects could keep the grid stable without the need for coal and natural gas generators. With the high quality of proposals ARENA received, ARENA and the Australian Government saw the potential to leverage the capacity of the entire grid.

All eight energy storage projects will be fully funded by 2023 and operational by 2025.

ESG jobs in Hong Kong could command salary premiums of more than 30 per cent as companies strive to meet their sustainability targets and tackle climate change.With increasing demand for ESG and sustainability expertise in Hong Kong, local talents can expect salary increments of over 30 per cent when switching jobs, while those relocating to the city from overseas can expect even higher salary increases and potential expat benefits, according to recruitment agency Hays.

As MSCI has successively disclosed the ESG rating results of securities companies in 2022, the overall performance of domestic securities companies' ESG has surfaced. Compared with the previous year, the ESG practice of many securities companies has further gained international recognition. According to statistics, the A-level lineup has been expanded, and a total of 4 domestic securities companies have been rated as A-level, which is the highest rating obtained by Chinese securities companies at present, among which Haitong Securities and CICC have been upgraded to A-level for the first time. MSCI ESG ratings of five other domestic securities firms, including CITIC Securities and First Venture, were improved. However, the score of the domestic securities industry on relevant ESG issues is at a backward level. For example, as many as 11 securities companies have not been recognized by MSCI in terms of "privacy and data security", and only one has a higher score than the average of the peers.

Recently, Professor Wang Weiguang from the Hydrology Institute of Hohai University published an academic paper entitled "Climate driven vegetation green further reduces water a availability in drylands" on the top journal Global Change Biology (IF: 13.211) in the field of ecology and global change. The research results will help to understand the current land-atmosphere interaction mechanism more comprehensively and provide effective reference for future climate change impact assessment.