BUSINESS NEWS:
Transitions Initiative, UNSW hub waste, Morrison & Co in NZ schools loan
JOBS AND BIZ NEWS: A group of Australia’s largest industrial companies and their financiers have launched an ambitious decarbonisation plan to help Australia achieve its net zero by 2050 emissions target in a prosperous state.
The Australian Industry Energy Transitions Initiative includes heavy industry supply chains including iron ore, steel, chemicals, oil and gas, and the banks and super funds who lend to them and support them. Signatories to a letter published on Thursday include BHP, BP, Fortescue Metals Group, Rio Tinto, Schneider Electric, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, HSBC, Westpac, Aurecon, Bluescope Steel, Wesfarmers, Cbus, Orica and Woodside Energy.
The initiative outlines a number of decarbonisation pathways which its members said they believed were possible but would require “a significant stretch in ambition” in their statement.
The initiative’s five objectives for transitioning to net zero emissions are:
- Set a strong, clear, enduring framework with a net zero emissions goal to align industry, finance and government.
- Transition to the large-scale, cost-competitive, renewable energy system of the future.
- Accelerate development and demonstration of the emerging technologies needed.
- Drive deployment of low-carbon solutions, reduce barriers and support investment towards the transition.
- Develop integrated net zero emissions industrial regions, supply chains and energy network solutions
University opens microrecycling hub
The University of New South Wales today opened the ARC Research Hub which will study the microrecycling of battery and consumer waste streams.
The hub is a five-year research program to develop innovative technologies to recover materials in batteries and other e-waste that are not part of council kerbside waste collection programs.
UNSW is hosting the hub alongside the University of Technology, Sydney, University of Sydney, Monash University, University of Wollongong, Queensland University of Technology and Deakin University.
The hub will aim to find solutions for some of the 19 million tonnes of waste sent to landfill each year, including 18,600 tonnes of batteries, which contain hazardous chemicals that can leak out in landfill sites.
There is significant demand for the materials contained in used batteries, with demand for battery energy storage systems. (BESS) forecast to grow ten times over the coming decade to help Australia’s National Electricity Market produce 82 per cent of the electricity it uses from renewable energy as part of its goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.
Fund manager secures loan for schools investment
New Zealand asset manager Morrison & Co has signed a $NZ 284 million sustainability loan for the four schools in its NZ Schools Public Private Partnership (PPP) In Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown.
The loan will refinance existing debt facilities and pay for the expansion of Rolleston College in Christchurch and Wakatipu High School in Queenstown. The loan is linked to environmental key performance indicators (KPI) including green building, energy efficiency, waste management, water management and access to clean transport. Social KPIs included access to essential services.
China Construction Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) provided the three-year term loan, and CBA was also the sustainability coordinator Morrison was awarded the Schools PPP in 2017 to design, finance, construct and maintain the 5000-student schools portfolio for 25 years, after which ownership will revert to the government.
The schools have targeted energy consumption reduction and a five-star rating under the GRESB Infrastructure Asset Assessment.