UAE’s Mensha Ventures inks USD 1 bn green energy agreement with Chinese investors

Good morning, friends. The news cycle shows no signs of slowing down as we head into the weekend, and we have a packed issue for you with updates from around the region. But first…

We’re only five days away from meeting with some of you at the Enterprise Exports and FDI Forum, taking place at the Four Seasons at the Nile Plaza on Monday, 15 May.

We’re proud to announce that our friend Mostafa Bedair, CEO of Giza Seeds and Herbs, is joining us for the forum. Are you? Mostafa Bedair is going to be speaking on how Egypt needs to get the fundamentals right to be able to adapt to emerging industry trends. He is joined on stage for that discussion by Nadia El-Tawil, the investment officer at AfricInvest, and Abdallah Sallam, CEO of Madinet Masr, who will speak on how Egypt can make its products more competitive and how industries need to be open to evolution.

They’re not the only ones: Among the top execs, bankers, and development finance folks speaking at the conference are (in no particular order): Yasmine Khamis, chair of the Orientals Group; Tarek Kamel, CEO of Nestle Egypt; Omar Elsahy, general manager of Amazon Egypt, Khaled Morsy, CEO of DB Schenker Egypt; Mark Wylie, CEO, Beyti; Shady William, managing director of IDG; Mohamed Talaat Khalifa, CEO of Concrete; Hossam Sallab, CEO and vice-chairman of Sallab Group and Royal Ceramica; Kareem Abou Ghaly, chairman and CEO of Pasta Regina; Tarek Hosny, head of investments and projects at Fertiglobe; Helmy Ghazi, deputy CEO of HSBC Egypt; Nada El Ahwal, CSO of Transmar; Hassan Massoud, associate director and head of private equity (Southern Mediterranean), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD); Cheick-Oumar Sylla, director for North Africa and the Horn of Africa at the IFC; Hossam Abou Moussa, partner at Apis; Yassir Zouaoui, partner at McKinsey; and Mohamed El Gebely, team leader at USAID Trade.

Topics and live interviews will include:

• Why exports and FDI are the way forward and what lessons have worked from around the world;
• How to attract foreign partners and figure out what they are looking for;
• What lessons can we draw from white goods, fertilizers, and garments exporters who have increased our exports;
• What are the fundamentals to creating an export and / or FDI strategy;
• What it takes to secure a place in a multinational’s supply chain;
• How industrial clusters could expedite exports, FDI and possibly be an avenue for SME development.

Tap or click here to explore the full agenda.

** Have you confirmed your attendance? Invitations have been sent out over the past few weeks. If you have yet to confirm your attendance and would still like to join us, please reply to the invitation with an RSVP.

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THE BIG CLIMATE STORY- UAE-based VC outfit Mensha Ventures has signed a non-binding agreement with a group of Chinese strategic partners to jointly invest USD 1 bn in green energy infrastructure in the region and Egypt’s Bank of Alexandria inked a financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a USD 15 mn loan to finance green projects.

^^ We have the details on these stories and more in the news well, below.

HAPPENING TODAY- The UAE Climate Tech forum is kicking off today and concluding tomorrow in Abu Dhabi. The event will gather over 1k policymakers, CEOs, experts, and investors to discuss collaboration on innovative technologies and economic potential in advancing decarbonization across all sectors.

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THE BIG CLIMATE STORY OUTSIDE THE REGION- The Church of England will vote against Shell’s board next week over climate concerns: The Church of England’s (CoE) Pension Board said yesterday it will join fellow minority shareholders in a coordinated vote at next week’s annual general meeting (AGM). The vote is aimed at ousting Shell Chairman Andrew Mackenzie and the remainder of the oil giant’s board over “signals” it would backtrack on climate commitments. Shell CEO Wael Sawan said in March the company plans to pare back oil production by 1-2% by 2030 would be “reviewed” in a bid to prioritize the company’s performance and returns.

“Through our vote at Shell’s AGM we are sending a signal about the importance we assign to the low-carbon transition,” chief responsible investment officer at the CoE Pensions Board Adam Matthews wrote in an op-ed to The Telegraph. Shell’s board — which notes it has been working with the CoE on energy transition for almost a decade — says its carbon neutrality target for “2050 or before” remains unchanged.

CoE joins a list of shareholders looking to hold oil execs accountable for weak climate targets: UK pension funds Borders to Coast and Britain’s Universities Superannuation Scheme — two of Britain’s largest pension schemes, overseeing a combined c. GBP 130 bn of assets — will vote against the reappointment of several incumbent directors at energy giants Shell and BP at annual shareholder meetings unless they commit to stronger carbon reduction targets.

The story got coverage in the international press yesterday: Reuters | The Guardian | AFP | Bloomberg

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WATCH THIS SPACE #1- Bahrain is looking to double its renewable energy target to have renewables account for 20% of the country’s total energy mix by 2035, The National quotes Bahrain’s Electricity and Water Affairs Minister Yaser bin Ebrahim Humaidan as saying. “We are targeting net zero by 2060, 30% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2035… doubling renewable energy targets to achieve 20% of the energy mix by 2035 and doubling the afforestation areas in Bahrain,” he said during the World Utility Congress in Abu Dhabi.

Emissions in the crosshairs: The minister said his country is making progress in several areas where it is targeting net zero emissions by 2060. “We have engaged with several of the large industrial emitters and we have implemented a system of continuous emissions monitoring where we can monitor their emissions remotely, continuously and in real-time,” he said, "and that also enables us to have the ability to immediately detect any violations and take corrective action.”

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WATCH THIS SPACE #2- Egypt plans to invest EGP 81.4 bn in the electricity and renewable energy sector in FY 2023-2024, Planning Minister Hala El Said told the country’s parliament yesterday, according to a statement. 85% of the investment — EGP 69.4 mn — will be allocated to general investments, with no more details disclosed. The country’s share of renewable energy production is expected to reach 11.8% of the total electricity generated in the next fiscal year, up from 8.8% in 2019.

WATCH THIS SPACE #3- EU countries lobby for fast-tracked hydrogen imports: Germany, Austria, and Italy are lobbying fellow EU member states to support a cluster of green hydrogen projects in North Africa in a bid to line up imports to the European market and wean the bloc off of Russian oil and gas, Reuters reports, citing a letter to the EU commission it has seen. The letter seeks to count Africa-based hydrogen projects toward the EU’s Project of Common Interest status in a bid to fast track permits for the projects and grant EU funding to several green fuel projects, the newswire notes. If approved, the proposed bill would establish infrastructure connecting EU-based hydrogen production plants to North African imports.

WATCH THIS SPACE #4- US Democrats push for greater scrutiny on LNG: 44 lawmakers from the US Democratic National Party (DNC) are lobbying the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to increase scrutiny on the country’s light natural gas (LNG) supply chain, Reuters reports, referencing an open letter from DNC members to CEQ chair Brenda Mallory. DNC lawmakers’ plea to revise the country’s LNG strategy comes as the Biden administration works to finalize guidance on greenhouse gas output under US environmental legislation.

REMEMBER- Biden administration has been making headlines for supporting LNG expansion: Back in March, the US Interior Department formally greenlit a USD 8 bn oil drilling venture in Northwestern Alaska despite a prolonged eleventh-hour campaign by climate activists to block the project. The massive Willow oil project has been moving through the administration’s approval process for months, sparking a wave of online activism and spurring activists to send in more than 1 mn letters to the White House in opposition of the project. The project would produce some 600 mn barrels of crude over its 30-year lifecycle and release some 9.2 mn tons of CO2 equivalent annually.

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THE DANGER ZONE- Iraq wants to talk water with Turkey and Iran: Iraq has agreed with downstream countries Turkey and Iran to hold a technical meeting soon to discuss outstanding issues to do with its water supply, the Iraqi News Agency reported. "We held constructive discussions with the Iranian delegation headed by the Energy Minister and the advanced staff in the ministry on the sidelines of the third Baghdad Water Conference, which dealt with all outstanding issues, and we felt an interaction with Iraq's demands,” said Iraqi Water Resources Ministry Undersecretary Raed Al Jashami. He added that his country briefed Tehran and Ankara on the necessity of permanent agreements and ending interim agreements from the past “because the water situation has changed.”

Context: Iran and Turkey have built dams in recent years that have affected water levels in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Iraq, according to The National. Iraq has been exerting efforts to prevent its Euphrates and Tigris rivers from shrinking due to climate change-driven conditions.

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CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

Japan will host the G7 Hiroshima Summit from 19 May to 21 May in Hiroshima. One of the key topics addressed at the summit will be ensuring energy security with the goal of achieving net zero by 2050 based on the Paris Agreement.

The first MENA Solar Conference is accepting applications from published researchers specialized in PV technology until next Sunday, 30 April. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority will be hosting the conference from 15 to 18 November, in conjunction with the Water, Energy, Technology, and Environment Exhibition and the Dubai Solar Show 2023. Researchers can submit their papers here.

Check out our full calendar on the web for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.

UAE’s Mensha Ventures, Chinese partners agree to invest USD 1 bn in green energy infrastructure: UAE-based VC outfit Mensha Ventures has signed a non-binding agreement with a group of Chinese strategic partners to jointly invest USD 1 bn in green energy infrastructure in the region, Wam reports. The agreement — signed with firms including the Asia Development and Investment Bank (ADIB), Hoover Investment Group, and Shenzhen Sinomaster Investment Group — should help the UAE reach its renewable energy targets and reduce its carbon footprint, the news outlet notes.

And another agreement with ADIB: On the sidelines of the Annual Investment Meeting in Abu Dhabi, Mensha inked another agreement with ADIB to jointly launch a GCC-focused green tech fund aimed at leveraging Chinese manufacturing to “drive cutting-edge sustainable solutions into the local ecosystem,” according to Wam.

The latest in a string of UAE-China agreements this month: Earlier this week, UAE state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) signed three MoUs with Chinese organizations as part of its target to source 6% of its energy needs from nuclear power by 2050. Earlier in May, Abu Dhabi-based infrastructure investment company Monarch Holding signed an agreement with China-based autonomous and electric air mobility company Ehang Holding to establish a manufacturing facility for electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts.

Egypt’s Bank of Alexandria inked a financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a USD 15 mn loan to finance green projects, according to a statement. The loan agreement was signed under the framework of the first Green Economy Financing Facility which is co-financed by the EU, according to a separate statement. The bank will funnel financing towards small and medium businesses working on energy efficiency and renewable energy in the industrial, commercial and agricultural sectors.

EIB already has interest in Egypt’s renewables: EIC Director Lionel Rapaille met with Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad in February to explore potential climate-centered projects in the private sector, including waste-to-energy, waste management, and environmental and marine conservation projects and potential pathways for developing the local banking industry’s sustainable financing capacity.

The bank is supporting renewables regionally…: The bank said it is in talks with several private sector investors and the Moroccan Agency for Sustainable Energy (Masen) to explore investment opportunities in the country’s green fuel sector last February, with aims to get new green hydrogen production projects off the ground by 2025.

… And beyond: The European Commission and EIB agreed to funnel EUR 18 bn in funding earlier this month under Europe’s investment strategy for partner countries Global Gateway to help bridge global climate financing gaps and support adaptation and mitigation efforts. The new financing package aims to boost investments in the strategy’s priority areas, including climate action and clean energy in partner countries globally.

Egypt is shoring up polysilicon ahead of solar energy expansion: Egypt has completed the feasibility study for a new solar-powered silicone production complex in New Alamein, according to a statement. The project — spanning 200 feddans on Egypt’s North Coast — aims to produce locally-manufactured silicone and derivatives rather than rely on imports.

Securing supply chains: The first phase will produce silicone at a production capacity of 45k tons annually with an investment cost of USD 172 mn. Silicone derivatives — used for insulating materials, construction, and others — will be manufactured in the second phase with an initial production capacity of 60k-100k tons annually depending on the availability of essential local raw materials like silicon, methanol, and hydrochloric acid.

And key materials for solar cells are in the pipeline: The third phase will produce polysilicon — commonly used in the manufacturing of solar cells and electronics — with an initial production capacity of 10k tons annually, according to the statement. This should help keep pace with the proliferation of solar energy projects, it added. The fourth phase will involve setting up a complex for manufacturing products usually imported from abroad like insulating material, adhesives, and rubber.

Who’s in? The project’s shareholders will include the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company, the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, the Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources, the Public Enterprise Ministry’s Metallurgical Industries Holding and the Egyptian Ferro Alloys in partnership with National Initiative of Developing Egyptian Industry (Ebda), Libra Capital and Central Desert Mining Company.

One step forward for Oman’s green hydrogen: Oman’s Energy and Minerals Ministry and the Belgian Energy Ministry signed an agreement for a Green Energy Certificates pilot project for the sultanate's ambitious green hydrogen Hyport Duqm project, Oman News Agency reports.

What we know: The agreement aims to assess the adherence of green hydrogen production projects in Oman to European Union requirements, unlocking Oman’s potential to export green hydrogen projects to Europe in the future.

What they said: “The faster Europe can certify green hydrogen … the more Belgium can play to its strengths as a European energy hub,” Belgium’s Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten said on Twitter, adding that the growing cooperation with Oman and the progression of this pilot project “are essential building blocks to accelerate this.”

About Hyport Duqm: The project — a joint venture between Belgian Deme and Omani OQ — covers an area of 150 ​​sq km that will see a green hydrogen and green ammonia production facility with a 500 MW electrolysis capacity, according to the Deme website. The hydrogen plant will be powered by c. 1.3 GW of combined installed capacity from wind turbines and solar panels at the Special Economic Zone at Duqm’s renewable energy zone.

All part of a green hydrogen push: Oman’s state-owned green hydrogen company Hydrom — owned by Energy Development Oman — signed six binding term sheet agreements in March worth a combined USD 20 bn with several regional and international developers for the production of green hydrogen. Hydrom expects to seal several of the agreements over the next few months.

A solid 1Q for Dewa: State utility provider Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) reported a 10.4% y-o-y increase in net income in 1Q 2023 to AED 763 mn on the back of increased demand on utility services, according to an earnings release (pdf).

Robust topline: Revenues were up 7.3% y-o-y during the quarter on the back of increased demand for electricity, water and cooling services, according to the release. An 11.2% y-o-y rise in revenues in the state utility’s other portfolio of assets also fueled the increase in revenues. Quarterly revenue growth for electricity, water, and cooling services rose by 7.2%, 7%, and 4.6%

respectively.

Big plans ahead: Dewa said it eyes a gross installed capacity of 20 GW and 730 mn gallons per day (MIGD) of desalinated water by the end of 2030. Under the 20 GW target, the company plans to have 5 GW of installed renewable capacity, representing 25% production from renewable sources. The additional 240 MIGD of desalination capacity will be attained through reverse osmosis technology.

What they said: “Our strategies, growth pillars and capital commitments are well positioned to deliver on our energy transition ambitions to achieve the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 and the Dubai Net Zero Emissions Strategy 2050 to provide 100% of the energy production capacity from clean energy sources by 2050, while supporting the strong demand for our exclusive portfolio of products and services,” DEWA Managing Director and CEO Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said in the statement.

Not the best 1Q for Fertiglobe: MENA fertilizers firm Fertiglobe — a joint venture between Adnoc and OCI — saw its adjusted net income plunge 62% y-o-y in 1Q 2023 to USD 135.4 mn, according to its earnings release (pdf). Its revenues fell by 41% y-o-y during the quarter to report USD 694 mn.

Lower natgas prices to blame: The fall in the bottomline and the topline was fueled by lower selling prices during the first three months of the year on the back of declines in European gas prices, demand lags in several key regions due to weather conditions, and the deferral of 100kt urea shipments to Ethiopia, the company said.

Sales are on the rise: Despite the financial results of the quarter, Fertiglobe reported a 9% rise in sale volumes of its own-produced products to 1,363kt. This came on the back of a “disciplined commercial strategy and centralized distribution capabilities” focused on demand centers that provide attractive netbacks.

What they said: “Natural gas prices declined sharply in 1Q 2023 due to a mild winter and resulted in lower marginal costs in Europe, causing deferred buying in several key regions. This, combined with relatively muted industrial demand, led to selling prices well below their levels in the same period last year, impacting our earnings growth in 1Q 2023 on a year on year basis,” Fertiglobe CEO Ahmed El Hoshy said.

Better years to come? Fertiglobe is currently making progress on several initiatives aimed at further supporting freecash generation, including a recent manufacturing improvement plan, Al Hoshy said. Such initiatives are expected to deliver “operational and EBITDA efficiencies over the next 2-3 years,” he added. It also launched an initiative to optimize the fertilizer company’s cost structure with a USD 50 mn target in annualized savings. “We expect to achieve these savings over the next 12 – 18 months. In addition, we expect a positive impact from the recent devaluation of the Egyptian pound on our cost base,” he said.

Scaling up ammonia production: Fertiglobe said it expects volumes of on-spec green ammonia at its facilities in Egypt to “ramp up over the year,” targeting a full investment decision this year on a 100 MW electrolyzer plant it is involved in with Norway’s Scatec, Orascom Construction, and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt (SFE) in Ain Sokhna. The facility is expected to produce up to c.15k tons of green hydrogen as feedstock for production of up to 90k tons of green ammonia per year in the fertilizer’s existing ammonia plants.

Morocco and the UK signed a strategic framework for cooperation on climate action, clean energy, and green growth, Maghreb Arab Press reports. The framework will ensure the automatic inclusion of climate impact in the planning and work carried out by Morocco’s public and private sector as part of the kingdom’s fast and responsible energy transition.

Spain wants to boost renewables in Tunisia: Spanish Secretary of State in charge of Trade Xiana Mendez met with Tunisia’s Economy and Planning Minister Samir Saied to discuss cooperation in renewables, ways to combat climate change, mobilization of water resources, and environmental protection, according to a statement.

There’s already investments in place: Saudi investment group Swicorp and Spanish infrastructure group Acciona signed the technical and financial offer and lease commitment to build a 75 MW wind farm in Tunisia last month. The project is estimated to cost TND 500 mn (c. EUR 149 mn) and will break ground at the end of 2025 with a construction time of 18 months.

ALSO- UAE, Hungary talk renewables: UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed and Hungarian counterpart Péter Szijjártó discussed boosting bilateral ties between their countries, according to a statement. Cooperation in several fields including renewable energy, investment, economy, and trade were on the agenda.

Zhero has a North African green hydrogen plant in the pipeline: London-headquartered renewables firm Zhero — co-founded by former Acwa Power executive Paddy Padmanathan — has started work on four green hydrogen plants, Zawya reports, quoting comments made by Padmanathan on a webinar organized by Project Finance International. Two of the plants are located in Northern and Southern Africa and the other two are located in the US, and will have a 100-200k yearly production capacity. Padmanathan did not disclose the African countries where the plants are based, nor did he give a timeline on the projects’ completion. Two of the four projects currently in the works will be focused on green ammonia production, with the remaining facilities planned to focus on green hydrogen generation, he noted.

Orascom and BluEV to electrify Egypt’s light transportation: Orascom Investment has signed a strategic partnership agreement with BluEV through which the two companies will convert two and three-wheeled vehicles to electric models, Zawya reports. Using Orascom’s resources and BluEV’s digital platform that manages smart battery replacement stations, this partnership aims to enable light transportation drivers to switch to e-vehicles. BluEV stations sell light e-vehicles with installment plans and their conversion centers can convert traditional motorcycles into e-bikes.

And they’ll include perks: By registering on the platform, clients can rent rechargeable smart lithium-ion batteries or exchange used batteries with fully-charged ones at BluEV’s stations, which saves charging time, according to Zawya.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• Morocco dropped 16 places in a ranking of 62 countries rating their attractiveness for mining policies. The kingdom plummeted from 2nd place due to investors’ concerns over the uncertainty of enforcing regulations. (Report, pdf)
• 16 companies from India, China, Italy, and France have signaled interest in submitting bids for an 80 MW solar energy project in Algeria’s El Guerrara municipality. The submission of tenders and the opening of bids for projects that are planned to produce from 80 to 220 MW each are scheduled for 29 May.(Attaqa)
• Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Water and Electricity Company has opened registration to participate in its Q2 Clean Energy Certificates auction which will take place on 14 June. (Statement)
• UAE renewables player Masdar signed an agreement with Austrian oil and gas group OMV to jointly explore opportunities of collaboration in renewable energy and green hydrogen initiatives. (Twitter)

Adani companies lose endorsement of UN-backed climate group: Three Adani Group companies have lost the endorsement of the UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) for failing to conform to the group’s green-focused standards and policies, Bloomberg reports, citing an internal report by SBTi. The expulsion from the UN group’s list of “companies taking action” will likely thwart b’naire company owner Gautam Adani's ambition to raise some USD 800 bn to fuel the expansion of his green energy firm, Bloomberg writes.

Adani pushes back: The Indian company has called on SBTi to justify the exclusion and said it hopes the UN-backed group will reassess and review its decision, Bloomberg reports. Adani said that “none of these companies [Adani Green, Adani Transmission Ltd and Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd] is involved in the exploration, extraction, mining and/or production of oil, natural gas, coal or other fossil fuels,” and that all three of its subsidiaries are “working on preparing their low carbon transition plans” after committing to SBTi.

REFRESHER- Adani reportedly using green funds to invest in fossil fuel: Green-branded investment funds are being used by some of the world’s top fund managers to invest in fossil fuel companies, according to UK think tank Common Wealth. Investing in Adani’s renewables activity ultimately funds the growth of the group’s fossil fuel-based businesses, despite Adani’s claims that its subsidiaries have different mandates, according to Climate Energy Finance Director Tim Buckley. Earlier this year, the value of Adani Group sank by USD 70 bn in the wake of another damning report issued by short seller investment firm Hindenburg Research Company.

Adani Green’s possible plans for our neck of the woods: Adani Group reportedly plans to invest in renewables projects with 10 GW capacity in Morocco to supply green ammonia to Europe. The wind and solar plants would be Adani’s largest clean energy project outside of India, and would more than triple Morocco’s already installed renewables capacity of 2.8 GW. The Indian giant has similarly signed agreements with the Egyptian government for green hydrogen developments.

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Glencore to build Europe’s largest battery recycling plant: Swiss-based Glencore is launching a joint study with Canada’s Li-Cycle to build the largest European plant for recycling batteries in Italy by 2027, the Financial Times reports. The plant will add to Glencore’s portfolio of copper, nickel, and cobalt mines, extending its access to the raw materials essential for EVs.

The details: Glencore — which owns a 10% stake in Li-Cycle — intends to repurpose the Canadian company’s zinc and lead smelter in Sardinia to recycle discarded portable electronics, scrap from battery manufacturing, and old EV batteries to extract lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The plant will have a processing capacity of 50k-70k tons of shredded batteries which will undergo hydrometallurgical processes to extract the raw materials — enough to recycle batteries from over 600k used cars.

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Turkmenistan’s two main fossil fuel plants produced 4.4 mn tons of methane in 2022 — the equivalent of the UK’s total carbon emissions that year, The Guardian reports, citing satellite data compiled by energy analytics firm Kayrros. Turkmenistan’s western fossil fuel plant on the Caspian coast produced nearly 2.6 mn tons of the greenhouse gas alone, with the country’s eastern fuels plant releasing some 1.8 mn tons in 2022.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

• China has halted 32 coal production operations in Inner Mongolia to conduct safety checks prompted by a deadly landslide last February. The closed operations have a combined annual capacity of over 28 mn tons. (Bloomberg)
• Tesla plans to invest USD 375 mn to build a new lithium refinery in Texas, to secure a domestic supply of lithium hydroxide used in batteries for 1 mn of its EVs annually. (CNBC)
• Lafarge Egypt has used 20k of eco-friendly ECOPlanet cement in the construction of Egypt’s Iconic Tower in the New Administrative Capital, which helped reduce the project’s overall carbon emissions by 60%. (Zawya)
• Europe’s largest asset manager Amundi and HSBC Asset Management both filed a joint shareholder resolution for the second year in a row for Japanese electricity generator Electric Power Development (J-Power) to upscale the company’s climate disclosure and action strategy. (Reuters)
• India’s Oil Ministry is looking to phase out diesel-powered vehicles by 2027, and is recommending a ban on combustion engine motorcycles, scooters, and rickshaws by 2035. (Reuters)
• Sweden might not meet its 2030 CO2 emissions target, after the government decided to reduce the amount of biofuel that should be added to diesel and gasoline down to 6% until 2026. Currently diesel must include 30.5% biofuel and petrol should include 7.8%. (Reuters)

YouTube is turning a buck from ads on videos that are spreading misinformation about climate change, Euronews reports, citing a new report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation and the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The report found 200 climate disinformation videos on the platform that had ads by major brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, and Hyundai running on them.

What kind of misinformation is being propagated? The videos’ content ranged from outright climate denial, skepticism about the models and work of climate-focused organizations, the denial of a link between carbon generation and global warming, to conspiracy theories associating climate science with “communist”, “anti-white” and “anti-Western” agendas. The content scrutinized by the study collectively garnered some 74 mn views as of late April, Euronews noted.

Google’s failure to combat disinfo: The presence of ads on the videos cited in the report — found by searching terms like “climate hoax” and “climate scam” — is in direct violation of Youtube's policy banning adverts on content “contradicting authoritative scientific consensus on the existence of and causes behind climate change.” The reports also found that nearly 63% of “popular climate denial articles still carry Google ads,” the news outlet writes. In 2021, YouTube’s parent company Google said it would ban “ads for, and monetisation of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.”

Problems with the terms of service: Youtube has a very narrow definition of what it considers climate disinformation, according to the report. “We need more robust, coordinated and proactive strategies to deal with the scale of the threat to platforms,” the news outlet quotes the researchers as saying.