We hope you are all safe and well - for an excellent read on the topic of Mental Health, the WHO just released this paper

In today’s edition:

♻️ Google boosts the circular economy

🛫 Takeoff for low-carbon jet fuels?

⛏ Low-emission mining

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💼 Big Business (1-minute read)

Renewables met all global electricity demand growth in the first half of 2022

Despite being in the midst of a global energy crisis. In the first half of 2022, renewables met all the growth in global electricity demand, halting the rise in fossil fuels. Global electricity demand rose 3% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year, and all of that demand growth was fulfilled with renewables - Wind and solar met 77% of this demand growth and hydro more than met the remainder. Coal declined by 1%, and gas declined by 0.05%; these were offset by a slight rise in oil.

Google's circular economy accelerator

The programme, called “Google for Startups: Circular Economy”, will provide 1-to-1 training and mentoring from Google engineers to startups creating tech-based circular economy solutions from the US and Asia-Pacific The accelerator will focus on startups working on the reduction of material use through novel design for the food, fashion and built environment sectors

Of particular importance… is the focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Up to 90% of all river-borne plastic in the ocean comes from 10 rivers - 8 of which are in Asia-Pacific. Asia is expected to drive 40% of the world’s plastic consumption by 2040. Developing circular economy solutions will help minimise the consumption of raw materials and open up new markets to support further economic development across the region.

Nestle pledges 1bn Swiss francs for coffee supply chain sustainability 

The plan is to support the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices across one-fifth of  Nestle’s coffee suppliers by 2025. In the first instance, Nestle will pilot a new financial support scheme that will pay farmers across Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire and Indonesia for adopting regenerative practices (such as switching from chemical to organic fertilisers) that improve the natural environment on and around farms. The strategy has been created in recognition of the challenges facing coffee-growing communities - forecasts predicting that, by 2050, there will be 50% less land suitable for growing coffee due to climate change.

🤖 Future of Tech (1-minute read)

Is cheap, lower-carbon aviation fuel on the horizon?

The tech company, Honeywell, will roll out a new ethanol-to-jet fuel (ETJ) processing tech that will allow sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to be created with corn-based/sugar-based at lower costs. 

So what? The fuel can be made cheaper than traditional petrol-based jet fuels. The SAF produced from Honeywell’s process can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% on a total lifecycle basis compared to conventional jet fuel. In addition, SAF factories using Honeywell’s tech can be modularized off-site (i.e., built using different pre-constructed elements - like Lego), meaning lower costs and faster installation = easier to-scale production. 

Why are we telling you this? The aviation sector is considered one of the most difficult to decarbonize. Key challenges to SAF adoption have been its cost competitiveness and lack of production-at-scale to meet demand. Honeywell’s technology could be two birds with one stone.

Plastic recycling innovator secures major backing 

The headline: Plastic recycling innovator, Mura Technology, has secured investment to construct multiple recycling facilities and scale its recycling capacity across the US and Europe.

Why’s Mura special? The company’s novel recycling process uses steam to recycle many different waste plastics, including flexible and multi-layered materials, that can’t be recycled using conventional processes. 

The importance: Mura claims it could recycle up to 600,000 tonnes of waste plastic annually by 2030. Although this number is a drop in the ocean compared to the 353 million tonnes of plastic generated annually, it could be a crucial step in boosting recycling levels and lowering pollution rates, as only 9% of plastic waste is currently recycled.

💡 Deep Dive (1-minute read)

Mining in a low-emissions economy

Challenge: Mining is considered a hard-to-abate sector, reflecting the high energy intensity of mining activities, the heavy reliance on emissions-intensive fuels and the requirement for thermal energy in processing activities = the sector accounts for nearly 8% of the global carbon emission.

Emissions hotspots: Today, 40-50% of CO2 emissions come from diesel used in mobile equipment (Scope 1), with another 30 to 35% from nonrenewable electricity (Scope 2).

Opportunities: 

1. Scope 1 and 2: Improve operational efficiency. Investment in upgrading operational efficiency can help generate the same output volume with reduced emissions and/or generate cash flow to invest elsewhere in decarbonisation. Example: FLSmidth launches new approach to mine optimisation

2. Scope 1 and 2: sustainable fuels. Switching to liquid sustainable fuels (biofuels or synfuels) could decrease carbon emissions by more than 70%, even using existing equipment and infrastructure. Example: Komatsu starts introducing its biofuel-compatible mining models to India

3. Scope 1 and 2: sustainable drivetrains. A shift in drivetrains is required to go fully carbon neutral, with hydrogen fuel cells and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) as options.  Example: Anglo American is developing a 300-metric-ton fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) haulage truck; Newmont Goldcorp has the world’s first fully electric mine at Borden

4. Scope 2: green electricity. Switching to a green source of electricity addresses between 30 and 50%  of current emissions output and is a must if electrifying processes is the chosen path to decarbonisation. Example: Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine will have 65% of its total electricity consumption supplied by a combination of solar farms and battery storage.

5. Scope 3: sustainable sourcing. Moving entire supply chains toward greener operations for key inputs into mining such as cement, steel, and lime. Example: Talon metals join DPI Mining's Responsible Sourcing Coalition

Our take: Action on climate change is growing in the mining industry as companies review commodity portfolios, set targets, and engage with stakeholders. Yet moving from intent to action is complex. The challenge of decarbonisation is not just setting targets but developing and executing transformational strategy and managing risks. To meet decarbonisation goals, mining companies must develop asset-level decarbonisation roadmaps and implementation plans - the steps in the image below (from CEFC) will help.

💭 Little Bytes

Quote:  “The fact that this summit [COP27] is going to take place on the front lines of the convergent climate, food and energy crises in Africa offers an opportunity like never before to galvanise action” Mohamed Adow, director of energy and climate think-tank Power Shift Africa.

Stat: Just 1% of the world’s population was responsible for almost a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions growth from 1990-2019 - Nature Sustainability

Watch: Artificially intelligent helmet means firefighters can see through smoke

🗞 In other news…

• Home improvement retailer, B&Q, has partnered with the Woodland Trust to support work that restores nature and creates woodland in England’s Yorkshire Dales. 

• The UK’s largest dairy cooperative, Asla, is launching a new incentive scheme for farmers which will pay them more if they can prove they’re reducing waste, cutting emissions and improving animal welfare. 

• Amazon announces $1bn investment to decarbonise and electrify its transportation network across Europe over the next five years.  

• The world’s biggest re-insurer, Munich Re, will not offer insurance or investment for new oil and gas projects as activists step up pressure on the industry to do more to tackle climate change.

Written by Colin and Ollie - Drop us a message!