3 April: $1 billion for solar panels WMRR and solar panel recycling
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen this week announced a six week “Made-in-Australia” campaign, which includes a $1 billion investment into loc$1b for solar panelsally made solar panels in the Hunter Valley region.
The investment will be handled by the Solar Sunshot program, an alliance consisting of the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Business Council of Australia, and the Australian Council of Trade Unions – who had all been calling for a bigger stake in global solar and renewables manufacturing supply chains.
The Prime Minister also indicated that the government was preparing to put significant money on the table for its net zero transition plan ahead of the federal budget and the upcoming federal election.
According to WWF Australia, the nation has the world’s highest uptake of rooftop solar panels, but only 1 per cent are made in Australia. The organisation said that with the right investment, Hunter Valley, known as a coal town, could become the centre of renewable-powered manufacturing.
The Waste Management and Resource Recovery Association of Australia (WMRR) also welcomed the government’s shift to onshore solar manufacturing. A new white paper by the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics highlighted the growing problem of solar panel waste, which is forecast to reach 1 million tonnes by 2035.
According to the WMRR’s takeaways, it currently costs $28 to recycle a solar panel in Australia, while it costs $4.50 to send it to a landfill.
“That doesn’t make sense, and wastes valuable resources given each panel contains aluminium, glass, silver, copper and silicon, all of which can be recovered, recycled and reused in new solar panels and for other purposes,” the association said.
It said that the injection of investment can help reduce the cost of recycling solar panels.
New partnership with hydrogen alliance marks a step forward for climate bonds
The China Hydrogen Alliance Research Institute (CHA) and the Climate Bonds Initiative have announced they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding to support ambitious standards for China’s low carbon hydrogen sector.
The partnership will allow Climate Bonds and the CHA to promote new standards and encourage certification in the hydrogen and relevant sectors, deepen research and sustainable finance available, and jointly fund the implementation of high quality and low carbon hydrogen projects in China.
According to the organisation, hydrogen is an efficient, zero-emission, clean energy source that can be transformed into fuel cells and feedstock in shipping and aviation. Using low carbon hydrogen in steel production could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 98 per cent.
The CHA is an alliance of more than 200 members across China, including state enterprises, mandating high level cooperation to develop the country’s hydrogen energy and fuel cell industry. The international not-for-profit Climate Bond was the first foreign NGO to join the alliance in 2021.
Development Victoria flags tender for demolition
Development Victoria has put out a tender for demolition of buildings, fencing, roads, and pathways associated with the future of the Eureka Sports Precinct in Ballarat as part of the regional sports infrastructure program.
Works are due to commence in quarter 3 of 2024, and priority is given to local companies under a “construct only contract”.
Your direct emissions may be fine but how’s the emissions from your investments looking, Apple, Google and Salesforce?
It turns out that most companies that hold up strong sustainability credentials, such as Apple, Google, and Salesforce, still don’t report on “hidden carbon emissions” or scope 3 emissions such as those related to upstream and downstream business activities – and financial investments – over which entities don’t have direct control.
According to a report by a group of non-government organisations (NGOs), total emissions by Apple would rise by 128 per cent, Google by 207 per cent and Salesforce by 206 per cent if financial investments alone were included in their assessments.
According to a recent article in GreenBiz companies such as Seventh Generation, a subsidiary of Unilever and Patagonia, are now taking steps to pull the lever.
Patagonia’s director of treasury, Charlie Bischoff, said in the article that his organisation had “continuously engaged with our banks…pushing them to align with global climate goals just like we do with our manufacturing supply chain partners”.
The company’s chief impact officer, Ashely Orgain, said that corporate sustainability leaders had not considered financial supply chain emissions in the past.
Former global head of sustainability at Salesforce, Patrick Flynn, said financial firms are now the “most important supply chain partner for climate action.”