MAY 29, 2024

Greetings!

In today’s edition:

• Anca reports on how Europe needs to work better together to remain competitive in cleantech.
• A Voices author touts biology for climate solutions.
• Amena looks at nickel as a case study for China's dominance in our latest Data Dive.

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Send your energy photos, story tips and more to news@ciphernews.com.

Illustration by Nadya Nickels.

How teamwork could be Europe's secret sauce on cleantech

BY: ANCA GURZU

The European Union is scrambling not to lag behind in the global cleantech race. One solution? Be a better team player at home.

Industrial policy and competitiveness have shot up to the top of the EU agenda ahead of the European elections in June, as China and the United States have galloped ahead in their efforts to pioneer the clean energy technologies set to dominate future green economies.

Although the EU has some of the world’s most ambitious climate policies and speaks with one voice globally when it comes to international trade, having a coordinated industrial strategy is proving a weak spot for Europe.

Check out the full story to read all about the EU’s industrial challenges.

Highlights here:

Industrial policy remains largely in the hands of the EU’s 27 member countries, creating a fragmented system based on 27 different industrial plans that often place countries in internal competition with one another.

The solution, experts say, is to work to overcome national mentalities in favor of a more coordinated European industrial approach, like more cross-border energy infrastructure, deeper market integration and shared funding for cleantech manufacturing. Such measures could send the investment signals the bloc needs to keep its industry competitive.

“The system wasn’t designed for an EU cleantech revolution,” said Camille Defard, head of the energy center at the Paris-based Jacques Delors Institute, a think tank.

The struggle to coordinate a cohesive industrial policy is unique to the architecture of the EU, which has its origins in the European Coal and Steel Community created after World War II. Back then, the organization established free movement of coal and steel products between six nations.

By having a common management of these two sectors, no single country could make weapons on their own to turn against each other.

After decades of integration, the EU now boasts the world’s biggest single market, has open borders between members and a supranational legislative body (the European Parliament), yet maintains national governance in a number of strategic areas, including industry and taxation.

Overcoming national mindsets is easier said than done, since politicians are elected at the national level.

Read the full article on Cipher’s website. 

Lunchtime Reads and Hot Takes

Steven Chu: ‘Wall Street analysts are totally amoral’ on climate — Financial Times (subscription)

Bill’s take: The former energy secretary from the Obama administration opines on nearly everything about the energy transition, mostly pessimistically. Fascinating. Frustrating. Enlightening. Aggravating. Well worth reading.

US unveils policy to boost carbon offset market integrity — Reuters

Amena’s take: It's all very well to have principles to restore confidence in the scandal-ridden voluntary carbon markets, but implementing and enforcing them is what matters. The proof lies in the pudding.

EU election 2024: What the manifestos say on energy and climate change — CarbonBrief

Anca’s take: Useful to read verbatim from the parties' manifestos. The chart (via Climate Action Tracker) showing how much the EU has improved its climate performance through the Green Deal is also striking!

These Teens Adopted an Orphaned Oil Well. Their Goal: Shut It Down. — The New York Times

Cat’s take: The fundraiser for plugging the well was featured in a newsletter called Gen Dread, which addresses climate anxiety in young people, and which I also learned about in reading this story. How poignant.

Chart: Which sectors are the biggest industrial emitters in the US? — Canary Media

Amy’s take: I’m surprised at how much larger oil and gas systems and chemicals are compared to the others, like cement/concrete and steel, which get more attention.

House Ag panel advances GOP-led farm bill with four Democratic votes — POLITICO Pro (subscription)

Amena’s take: Democrats and Republicans remain divided over funding climate-smart programs. Whether they can reach a compromise before the bill reaches the floor will be critical to the bill's fate in the Senate.

How much worse will extreme heat get by 2050? New report outlines worrisome future — Los Angeles Times

Bill’s take: Amid all the talk about the challenges and disruption of the energy transition, there’s often far too little discussion of the costs and disruptions that will result from delay.

Congress to Fund U.S. Deep-Sea Mining Project — The Wall Street Journal

Cat’s take: A lot needs to happen before funds would be delivered, but the fact that lawmakers are talking about deep-sea mining, which is very controversial, seriously underscores demand for critical minerals.

Many countries pledge to reach net zero by 2050. Few plan for it. — E&E News (subscription)

Amy’s take: Key stat: Out of the 195 countries that have ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, just 72 have submitted actual strategies to achieve the deal’s goals. Yikes.

European grid investments must double — Eurelectric — Montel News

Anca’s take: The report, released by the EU power lobby group Eurelectric at their summit in Greece, warns about the urgency to modernize the bloc's grids or fail to properly integrate renewables.

More of what we're reading:

• How China Pulled So Far Ahead on Industrial Policy — The New York Times

• Is Net Zero by 2050 Still Possible? Yes, But It’ll Cost 19% More — Bloomberg
• Where heat waves might cause blackouts: Look up your area — The Washington Post

We denote ‘(subscription)’ when publications don’t provide any complimentary articles, but many others may ultimately allow you to read only a limited number each month before subscribing. We encourage those who can afford it to support the journalism you love most!

How biology can help clean up mining, emissions and more

Illustration by Nadya Nickels.

BY: NICOLE RICHARDS

Richards is the CEO of Allonnia, a startup aiming to use biotechnology to address environmental problems. You can reach her at contact@allonnia.com.

The solutions to many urgent environmental concerns like global CO2 emissions, water contamination and mining waste already exist in nature.

The answer lies at the microscopic level, using biological processes that have been around for millions of years. The challenge is identifying, harnessing and scaling these solutions to combat the full magnitude of human-made environmental crises.

A brief refresher from an introductory biology class: The term ‘biotechnology’ incorporates a range of potential solutions derived from microorganisms, or specific proteins or enzymes, that occur naturally throughout our world. These microbes (short for microscopic organisms) can be deployed to solve a range of environmental problems.

Some of the most promising natural processes include solubilization (dissolving substances), metabolization (using compounds for energy) and breaking bonds (separating molecules with enzymes).

We now have the technology needed to develop tangible solutions from these natural processes. For example, we can use biology to break down harmful chemicals that leak into groundwater from nearby landfills or eat up CO2 emissions and turn them into useful biomass or byproducts.

The biggest remaining roadblock is scale: making effective and economical natural solutions widely available.

Read the full article on Cipher’s website.

Nickel illustrates China conundrum on critical minerals

Source: International Energy Agency: Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2024 • IEA shows figures for top three countries in 2023 and projections for 2030 and 2040. DRC = Democratic Republic of the Congo.

BY: AMENA H. SAIYID

Nickel offers a case study of the complex challenges the world faces in ramping up the use of minerals needed to drive the global clean energy transition.

Demand for nickel stems from its use in electric vehicle batteries as an alternative to the far more common lithium. Nickel mines are also a source of cobalt, another mineral critical to batteries.

Nickel stands out as the one key mineral that is not refined mostly in China (and instead in Indonesia), according to the International Energy Agency’s latest outlook on minerals critical to the energy transition.

But don’t let geography fool you. Although a plurality 37% of the world’s nickel refining occurred last year in Indonesia, Chinese companies were responsible for more than 80% of that supply and 40% of the raw mining, according to IEA. For its part, Indonesian firms hold just 10% of the nickel mining in the country. Plus, more than a quarter (28%) of nickel refining does, in fact, also occur within China.

China monopolizes the mining and refining of various minerals key to the battery production supply chain and beyond, including graphite and cobalt.

The high concentration of lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth mineral refining in any single country is concerning for IEA, which fears “a risk of significant shortfalls in supply, if for any reason, supply from the largest producing country is interrupted.”

This is the latest in a series of Data Dives charting China’s dominance in clean energy. Check out our others at this link.

The geographic dominance of Indonesia is expected to increase. By 2040, IEA projects Indonesia to expand its nickel refining share to 59%, while China’s drops to 8%. Chinese share of Indonesian nickel refining is expected to drop over the next nine or so years to 54% as Western investments increase, according to a Benchmark Mineral Intelligence forecast.

AND FINALLY...
Wind + hydro

Cipher reader and Wexus Technologies co-founder Chris Terrell snapped this photo while flying over The Dalles and Columbia River on the way to Bend, Oregon. Check out all that hydro and wind power production!

Each week, we feature a photo that is somehow related to energy, the thing we all need but don’t notice until it’s expensive or gone. Email your ideas and photos to news@ciphernews.com.

Editor’s note: In addition to supporting Cipher, Breakthrough Energy also supports and partners with a range of entities working to tackle climate change, including nonprofits, corporations, startups and research firms. For more information on Cipher’s editorial policy, click here.