This update is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be construed as a solicitation for the sale of any particular investment nor as investment advice.
Environmental Finance News – 350 PPM Ltd
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Company News
By the end of this month the US will once again be signed up to The Paris Agreement. This is one of more than 100 climate related policies to be reversed by Joe Biden and his administration. This is not only great news for the world’s largest economy, but also for the net-zero movement and economies globally. – see edie article below.
Closer to home, ShareAction, the charity, which campaigns for a responsible investment system, has been working with a group of investors, representing US$1 trillion in assets, to file a climate resolution at HSBC to ensure they back up their net zero ambition claims with a credible fossil fuel phase out plan in line with The Paris Agreement. For full details see ShareAction’s website: The resolution requires 75% of the votes at the HSBC AGM in April to pass. There is great hope that it will follow in the footsteps of the recent ShareAction resolution, which resulted in Barclays becoming the first mainstream bank to commit to net zero by 2050 at the latest. See Marketsmedia article below.
Recent figures from Morningstar, the investment research firm show renewable funds enjoyed very strong growth in 2020 with some experiencing returns of more than 100% with solar funds amongst the best performers. Net zero commitments globally have driven this trend and with the US now on board too, the trend is set to continue.
WES has like all businesses found it a very difficult last 12 months. Some funders for the capital infrastructure requirements to build the project EFW projects have been very cautious and slow to move forward. Where WES had expected to reach financial close in Q3 and Q4 last year, projects have still not reached their goals. However, whilst the originally engaged funders have been slow getting to a financial close WES has also signed up another site for development and working through this opportunity to bring this to an infrastructure fund. They hope to reach financial close on this and at least 1 other project in Q2 this year. WES has also successfully engaged and they are reviewing with these organisations potential project capital funding opportunities. WES has also signed up another site for development and working through this opportunity to bring this to an infrastructure fund. They hope to reach financial close on this and at least 1 other project in Q2 this year. WES has also successfully engaged with a unique modular construction technology, that is backed by a multi-billion dollar company and WES has secured the rights to this technology for their pipeline of projects in the UK. This has also helped discussions with the infrastructure capital providers. Therefore, whilst the last 12 months have been very hard WES is confident, that 2021 will bring the results, they had anticipated previously.
Storelectric has signed a Teaming Agreement with ONEC (a multi-disciplinary engineering company) and Future Power (commercial and management support) to explore the potential for jointly seeking projects in America and Canada. With them, they are currently exploring a couple of active initiatives and are in discussions with a number of Canadian public funding bodies. Regarding Brexit, the government have made a number of announcements from which Storelectric can potentially benefit, including: Recognising the need for large-scale long-duration storage and similar capabilities; infrastructure investment in Northern constituencies; £100m for developing first-of-a-kind plants of large-scale long-duration storage and similar capabilities; infrastructure investment in Northern constituencies; £10bn being wasted on upgrading the Eastern grid to connect the planned new offshore wind farms, which could mostly be saved by connecting offshore wind through Storelectric’s storage. There is increasing recognition of the costs and problems of managing grids with low natural inertia, able to be distributed around grids and especially between renewable generation and grids. This makes Storelectric’s technologies the most affordable way to deliver reliable and resilient Net Zero grids. Lastly, the French online magazine Vu D’Ailleurs, has published an article that features Storelectric and how they can support the energy transition.
A few points from PGP: They have an on-going Q&A with HMRC on EIS application. They have signed Heads of Terms for a waste supply contract for 10 years. Also, they are widening interest from project finance funders, as well as progressing further site options to roll out. They have their first on-line webinar via Linkedin available to listen to. In addition, they have raised additional seed capital towards the target need.
Investment & Research
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Industry Insight
Energy Voice – 15th January 21
Bank of England says prepare for carbon prices to triple to $100
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Markets Media – 11th January 21
Investor Group With $2.4tr Files Climate Resolution At HSBC
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Bloomberg -19th January 21
Energy Transition Investment Hit $500 Billion in 2020 – For First Time
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The Guardian – 8th January 21
‘We didn’t want our pensions invested in anything that was causing harm’
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edie – 22nd January 21
Why Joe Biden’s inauguration provides a timely injection for climate optimism
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The Guardian – 28th January 21
UK electricity from renewables outpaces gas and coal power
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This update is provided for information purposes only. It is not intended to be construed as a solicitation for the sale of any particular investment nor as investment advice.