by Katie Surma (Inside Climate News) A report released Wednesday faults the U.S. and other nations for providing incentives for the mining of rare metals like lithium and cobalt without enacting adequate labor and environmental safeguards. Over the past dozen years, hundreds
Congo
Back TO HOMEEni Bets on Agri-business in Africa to Expand Biofuel Production
by Francesca Landini (Reuters) Eni aims to develop farming ventures in at least 9 countries; Eni replicates upstream-downstream model with agri-business; Eni to decide over new bio-refinery in Livorno by year-end -- Italy's Eni (ENI.MI) is investing in farming in several African
June 01, 2023 Read Full Article
US House Republicans Blast EPA Refusal to Appear at EV Hearing
by David Shepardson (Reuters) The Republican majority on a U.S. House of Representatives panel criticized two Environmental Protection Agency officials who declined to appear at a hearing Wednesday on a proposal by President Joe Biden's administration's to cut vehicle emissions and
May 17, 2023 Read Full Article
Biden-Harris Administration Proposes Strongest-Ever Pollution Standards for Cars and Trucks to Accelerate Transition to a Clean-Transportation Future Hearing May 2-3, 2023; Public Comment DEADLINE TBD
(Environmental Protection Agency) Building on rapid advancements and investments in clean vehicle manufacturing, including investments in domestic manufacturing in the Inflation Reduction Act, EPA’s proposed standards would deliver on President Biden’s agenda to tackle the climate crisis Today, the U.S. Environmental
April 12, 2023 Read Full Article
Transport: You’ve Got to Change Your Habits, They Say
by Philippe Marchand (European Technology and Innovation Platform (ETIP)/Transport Energy Strategies) On the road to 2050, transport is not the easiest sector to decarbonize, or, more precisely, de-fossilize, but it must be done without further ado. ... Still, what if the “if”
December 02, 2022 Read Full Article
How Much Mining Is Needed to Save the Planet?
by Jael Holzman (E&E News/Greenwire) With climate change pushing the U.S. toward more rapid adoption of new technologies, many Republicans and Democrats are in rare agreement on one key point: This country needs a lot more mines. But exactly how much new
October 14, 2022 Read Full Article
Eni Starts Exporting Vegetable Oil for Biorefining from Kenya
(Eni) The cargo that left the port of Mombasa is the first from Africa -- The first cargo of vegetable oil for biorefining produced by Eni in Kenya has left the port of Mombasa, on its way to Gela’s biorefinery. This
October 12, 2022 Read Full Article
Potholes on the Road to Electric Cars
by Lamar Johnson (Politico) ... The Department of Labor plans to add lithium-ion batteries to a list of products whose components are known to be made using child or forced labor, write E&E News' Jael Holzman and David Iaconangelo. ... The department made the
October 07, 2022 Read Full Article
We Need More than Just Electric Vehicles: To Decarbonize Road Transport We Need to Complement EVs with Bikes, Rail, City Planning, and Alternative Energy
by Heather L. MacLean, Alexandre Milovanoffi, Daniel Posen (IEEE Spectrum) China has more EVs than any other country—but it also gets most of its electricity from coal. -- ... EVs come with important weaknesses, and so people shouldn’t count on
August 23, 2022 Read Full Article
Eni Launches the First Production of Vegetable Oil for Biorefining in Kenya
(Eni) The initiative in Kenya represents the first integrated project in the world to bring Africa into the vertical bio-refinery supply chain by providing income opportunities and market access to thousands of farmers in degraded areas. -- Eni completed the construction
July 19, 2022 Read Full Article
Biden Administration Launches $500 Million Program to Transform Mines Into New Clean Energy Hubs
(U.S. Department of Energy) DOE Seeks Public Input on Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Program for Clean Energy Projects That Will Help Revitalize Energy Communities and Create Good Paying Jobs -- The Biden Administration through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a
July 06, 2022 Read Full Article
The Environmental Price of Clean Energy Is Still Too High: Report
by Erin Marquis (Jalopnik) Calculating the cost of clean energy is a dirty job, but Ars Technica is here to do it -- ... This excellent deep dive published by Ars Technica Monday into what it really costs to go green is a stirring
May 02, 2022 Read Full Article
Do We Want All of These Electric Car Mines? If EVs Are Supposed to Be a Social Good, How Do We Deal with Them Needing Mines Nobody Wants?
by Raphael Orlove (Jalopnik) ... 1st Gear: Here’s Another Fun ‘Wait Do We Actually Want These Lithium Mines’ Article -- Every day I feel like there’s a new article about lithium mining coming home. Just the other day, Bloomberg was wringing its
December 22, 2021 Read Full Article
The Race to Secure Clean Energy Materials
by Ben Gelman (Axios) Minerals used in power generation technologies ... One persistent theme in analyses of the transition to cleaner energy is the scramble to obtain supplies needed for renewables projects, electric vehicle batteries and other low-carbon tech. The big picture: "A typical
December 06, 2021 Read Full Article
Italy’s Eni Works Sub-Saharan African Countries into Renewable Diesel Feedstock Supply Chain
by Ron Kotrba (Biobased Diesel Daily) The CEO of Italian energy and renewable diesel company Eni S.p.A., Claudio Descalzi, has signed two memorandums of understanding (MOU) in recent days with two Sub-Saharan African nations, the Congo and Angola, on joint development
October 12, 2021 Read Full Article
Eni Supports Energy Transition and Decarbonization in the Republic of Congo
(Eni) Eni, Republic of Congo sign MoU on joint development of bio-refining agro-feedstock sector; Eni delegation led by CEO Descalzi met President Sassou Nguesso to discuss agricultural programs and gas valorization also with reference to access to energy for domestic
October 06, 2021 Read Full Article
Felix Leach and Kelly Senecal on Racing Toward Zero: The Untold Story of Driving Green
by Tammy Klein (Transport Energy Strategies) For this video podcast, I spoke with Dr. Felix Leach, Associate Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford University and Dr. Peter Kelly Senecal, Co-Owner and Vice President, Convergent Science on their just-released book, Racing Toward Zero: The
August 09, 2021 Read Full Article
Lakes Could be ‘Tapped’ for an Environmentally Friendly Biofuel
by Robert Lea (AZO CleanTech) New research suggests that a carbon-neutral biofuel could be created from methane extracted from lakes. -- ... A team of environmental scientists from the University of Basel, Switzerland, suggest that methane stored in lakes could
May 21, 2021 Read Full Article
Barasso: Innovation, Not Regulation, Is the Best Way to Improve Our Country's Mobility
(Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources) Today (March 16, 2021), U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), delivered the following remarks at a full committee hearing on transportation technologies. ... “Too
April 06, 2021 Read Full Article
How Green Are Electric Vehicles? In Short: Very Green. But Plug-in Cars Still Have Environmental Effects.
by Hiroko Tabuchi and Brad Plumer (New York Times) Here’s a guide to the main issues and how they might be addressed. -- ... But a lot depends on how much coal is being burned to charge up those plug-in
April 05, 2021 Read Full Article
The Geopolitics of Critical Minerals Supply Chains
by Jane Nakano (Center for Strategic & International Studies) As clean energy technology becomes the latest frontier for geoeconomic rivalry, the security of supply chains for rare earths and critical minerals—essential materials for clean energy—has become a global strategic issue. The
March 17, 2021 Read Full Article
Auto Industry Peers into an Electric Future and Sees Bumps Ahead
by Steven Mufson (Washington Post) ... (T)he question is not, ‘Can we sell to the wealthy?’ It is, ‘Can we get the everyday household in mainstream America to buy an EV?’ and we’re still a long way away from that.” Meanwhile,
February 12, 2021 Read Full Article
Where’s Your Lithium from? EU’s New Green Deal to Track Critical Materials
by David Thorpe (Future Fuel Stratgies/The Fifth Estate) Renewable electricity generation and storage requires huge quantities of mined raw materials. In Europe, most of these elements are currently imported and unsustainably produced. So the European Commission has hatched a new plan for
October 15, 2020 Read Full Article
Exclusive: Tesla Expects Global Shortage of Electric Vehicle Battery Minerals - Sources
by Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) Tesla Inc expects global shortages of nickel, copper and other electric-vehicle battery minerals down the road due to underinvestment in the mining sector, the company’s global supply manager for battery metals told an industry conference on Thursday, according
May 03, 2019 Read Full Article
Bank Of America: Oil Demand Growth To Hit Zero Within A Decade
by Nick Cunningham (OilPrice.com) By 2030, oil demand could hit a peak and then enter decline, according to a new report. For the next decade or so, oil demand should continue to grow, although at a slower and slower rate. According to
February 06, 2019 Read Full Article
With Rise of Electric Vehicles, a New Foreign Energy Dependence Looms
by James Osborne (Houston Chronicle) Forecasts say that electric vehicle sales are about to take off worldwide and increase demand for the raw materials that go into batteries. -- Energy Secretary Rick Perry earlier this month said he would put more federal
January 28, 2019 Read Full Article
Agri-Tech Can Turn African Savannah into Global Food Basket – African Development Bank
(African Development Bank Group) The African Development Bank is championing a new regional and global effort to transform the African Savannah from a “Sleeping Giant” to the cradle of the continent’s green revolution. “This sleeping giant needs to wake up,” the Bank’s
October 31, 2018 Read Full Article
How Renewable Energy Could Fuel Future Conflicts
by Madison Freeman and Morgan Bazilian (Georgetown Journal of International Affairs) Renewable energy technologies promise to help our world avert some of the worst impacts of climate change. However, some of the minerals and metals they require could contribute to conflict. In
October 12, 2018 Read Full Article
Despite Cleanup Vows, Smartphones and Electric Cars Still Keep Miners Digging by Hand in Congo
by Scott Patterson and Alexandra Wexler (Wall Street Journal) Apple Inc., Volkswagen AG and about 20 other global manufacturers found themselves on the defense when Amnesty International reported two years ago that the cobalt in some of their batteries was dug up
September 14, 2018 Read Full Article
The Future of Electric Vehicles Lie in the Sourcing of Lithium and Cobalt for Batteries
by Vishnu Rajamanickam (Freight Waves) ... But unless the manufacturing process and the raw material sourcing is regulated and stabilized, it would be hard to sell EVs to the larger middle-class populace. This is because the on-road price of an electric vehicle is
August 06, 2018 Read Full Article
The Hidden Costs of Cobalt Mining
by Todd C. Frankel and Lena Mucha (photos) (The Washington Post) In Congo’s sun-scorched and dusty south, thousands of miners scour underground tunnels hunting for cobalt. Many of them work by hand. That’s why they are known as creuseurs — French
March 07, 2018 Read Full Article
Mines Linked to Child Labor Are Thriving in Rush for Car Batteries
by Thomas Wilson and Jack Farchy (Bloomberg) Output at Congo’s artisanal mines probably rose at least half; Metal vital to many electric vehicles has tripled in 18 months -- The appetite for electric cars is driving a boom in small-scale cobalt production
February 21, 2018 Read Full Article
We’ll All Be Relying on Congo to Power Our Electric Cars
by Thomas Wilson (Bloomberg) Congo supplies much of the cobalt needed for electric vehicles Political conflict, disputes, law changes put supply at risk -- The cars of the future will depend increasingly upon supplies of an obscure metal from a country in the
October 29, 2017 Read Full Article
The Cobalt Pipeline: Tracing the Path from Deadly Hand-Dug Mines in Congo to Consumers’ Phones and Laptops
by Todd C. Frankel (The Washington Post) ... This remote landscape in southern Africa lies at the heart of the world’s mad scramble for cheap cobalt, a mineral essential to the rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that power smartphones, laptops and electric
September 30, 2016 Read Full Article
GRFA Supports Adoption of National Policies to Reduce Emissions
(Global Renewable Fuels Alliance/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Bliss Baker, president of the Global Renewable Fuels Alliance, recently sent letters to the national leaders of 24 countries that highlighted biofuels as part of their Intended Nationally Determined Contribution plans at the recent
April 19, 2016 Read Full Article
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada Visits the BioCube™
(BioCube™) The BioCube Corporation was delighted to have The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada visit the BioCube™ at the GLOBE 2016 Conference in Vancouver last week. Held every two years in Vancouver, BC the GLOBE Series of
April 04, 2016 Read Full Article
Portable Biodiesel Refinery on Display at GLOBE 2016
(Exchange Magazine) Visitors to the GLOBE Innovation Expo will get an up-close look at a made-in-B.C. portable biofuel refinery built inside a standard 20-foot shipping container. BioCube has successfully deployed its refinery on remote sites in The Congo, in India,
March 03, 2016 Read Full Article
Hyacinths and Sawdust Used to Combat Africa’s Cooking Pollution
by Anna Hirtenstein (Bloomberg/The Washington Post) A brew made from sawdust and water hyacinth flowers may help reduce the millions of lives lost across the developing world from the fumes of ramshackle cooking equipment. Those are the ingredients being used by Green
November 17, 2015 Read Full Article
To Avoid Worst Consequences of Climate Change, Solutions Must Include Land Use Sector
(Union of Concerned Scientists) A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) finds that reducing emissions from the land sector must be part of a global climate solution in order to close the “emissions gap,” the difference between the
February 06, 2015 Read Full Article
Spanish Biofuel Producer to Invest 150 Million Euros in Congo
by Robert Mbakou (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Spain’s Biocongo Global Trading will spend 150 million euros ($201 million) developing 60,000 hectares (148,000 acres) of palm oil plantations and two processing plants in Congo Republic over the next five years, according to a
February 28, 2012 Read Full Article
Chinese Company to Grow Biofuel Plant in Congo Republic, Xinhua Reports
(Bloomberg) A Chinese company plans to produce jatropha ... in the Democratic Republic of Congo,...Greater Kingdom Group, has asked for 10,000 hectares in each of the provinces... READ MORE
January 19, 2011 Read Full Article
Carbon2Green Will Produce Biodiesel
(MarketWatch) ...Carbon2Green is currently conducting a pilot project in the Bandundu region of DRC and wants to achieve a funding enabling it, by the end of the year, to proceed with the hiring of over 300 people and planting nearly