This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.
The COP28 climate summit kicked off this week in Dubai amid growing concern the world’s biggest carbon polluters aren’t moving fast enough to slow and reverse emissions that are altering weather patterns and heating the planet. Even so, White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi, who’s joining Vice President Kamala Harris, said the U.S. has a positive message at the international conference. Last year, “was us showing up having passed the biggest climate law not only in U.S. history, but in the history of the world, the Inflation Reduction Act,” Zaidi told Forbes. “We show up now, a year later, essentially, having started to do the work of implementation, the work of building the clean energy solutions we need. Since the IRA was signed we’ve seen over 100 clean energy factories announced.”
With the rise of EV sales, increased installations of renewable power systems and the recent federal push to support a dramatic increase in the production and use of clean hydrogen — particularly to help make lower-carbon steel, cement, aluminum and asphalt — Zaidi thinks the world’s biggest economy will move the needle on its massive CO2 emissions. “We’re actually, on those sort of hard-to-decarbonize plays, further along in this decade than I would have expected we would be a couple years ago. And that’s a great setup for us to chase those emissions down in the next decade and in the decade that follows.”
The race to cut carbon pollution is also attracting some surprising new players. ExxonMobil, the biggest U.S. oil company, isn’t walking away from drilling for oil and gas that are warming the planet but is boosting spending for its new low-carbon solutions unit. Its main focus so far is carbon capture and storage, “blue” hydrogen, which captures the carbon generated from extracting the elemental fuel from methane, biofuels and lithium mining.
“The total capital commitment the corporation’s made to the low carbon effort is $17 billion to be deployed over the next four or five years. I’d characterize that as a starting point,” Dan Ammann, the former General Motors executive who now leads that business, told Forbes. “The limiting factor at this point on how big you can make this business is not the availability of capital. The limiting factor at this point is pulling together real-world projects with real customers with real-world solutions, building those projects and getting them up and running. That’s extremely challenging, but it’s what we think we’re good at.”
So how does he view the skepticism of environmentalists who doubt one of the world’s biggest carbon energy companies can be a powerhouse in low- or no-carbon energy? “I think our actions will speak for themselves. The commitments we’ve made already, the projects we’re pursuing, the customers we’ve signed up. Those are all very tangible proof points.”
The Big Read
Sustainable Solutions And Automation: Meet The 2024 Under 30 In Manufacturing & Industry
Between wildfires, extreme heat and unusual flooding, this year felt like a climate change turning point. At the same time, artificial intelligence and machine learning have dominated the news as companies in all industries push to incorporate these new technologies and the Biden Administration looks to regulate them.
These two trends dominate this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list in Manufacturing & Industry. Young founders are increasingly designing new materials and products that are more sustainable for the long term. And they’re also incorporating robotics and AI-powered software into operations in warehouses and on the factory floor.
Read more here.
Sustainability Deals Of The Week
Batteries: Volvo was the winning bidder for electric bus company Proterra’s battery business as part of Proterra’s chapter 11 bankruptcy process.
Wastewater Treatment: ZwitterCo, which uses a new class of membranes to treat and reuse wastewater, announced it’s opening a new R&D facility in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Solar Boats: Northern Ireland-based Waterways Industrial is now previewing its new boat, the Gridbeater Amphibian, which is powered by its deck materials, which operate as solar panels.
The Big Transportation Story
Not A Plane, Not A Boat — And If The Motors Fail This Fast Electric Seaglider Floats
Electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxis, or eVTOLS, could be an exciting new way to zip around urban landscapes someday and have soaked up billions of investment dollars. But exactly when they go into commercial service and how much rides in the copter-like vehicles will cost isn’t so clear. Instead, Rhode Island-based Regent has raised $90 million to get its 12-passenger electric seaglider, a low-flying plane that operates only over water, into production by mid-decade. The business jet-like vehicle will travel up to 180 miles at speeds as fast as 180 mph.
Read more here.
Other Sustainability News
Electric vehicles made with materials and minerals originating from China will not be eligible for a full $7,500 tax credit, the Biden Administration announced Friday, in a proposal aimed at curbing the Asian nation’s dominance over the EV supply chain.
2023 will be the hottest year on record, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said during the opening of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai on Thursday.
The Biden administration proposed new requirements this week to replace virtually all lead pipes in the U.S. within a decade.
Earlier this week, a Virgin Atlantic flight successfully flew from London to New York using only sustainable aviation fuel.
What Else We’re Reading This Week
The Cybertruck Must Be Huge—or It Will Dig Tesla’s Grave (Wired)
The Salton Sea has even more lithium than previously thought, new report finds (Los Angeles Times)
24 States Are About to Set Climate Targets for the First Time (Heatmap)
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