Latest News
-
South Korea's mountain of plastic waste reveals limits of recycling
South Korea has actually won global praise for its recycling efforts, however as it prepares to host talks for a global plastic waste contract, specialists say the country's method highlights its limitations. When the talks referred to as INC-5 start in Busan next week, dispute is anticipated to centre around whether a U.N. treaty ought to seek to restrict the amount of plastic being made in the very first place. Opponents of such a technique, consisting of significant plastic and petrochemical manufacturers like Saudi Arabia and China, have argued in previous rounds that nations ought to focus on less controversial topics, such as plastic waste management. South Korea says that it recycles 73% of its plastic waste, compared to about 5% -6% in the United States, and the nation might appear to be a design for a waste management approach. The bi-monthly MIT Technology Evaluation magazine has ranked South Korea as among the world's finest recycling economies, and the only Asian nation out of the leading 10 on its Green Future Index in 2022. But ecological activists and members of the waste management market say the recycling numbers do not inform the entire story. South Korea's declared rate of 73% is an incorrect number, since it just counts plastic waste that reached the recycling screening center - whether it is recycled, incinerated, or landfilled later, we do not know, stated Seo Hee-won, a scientist at regional activist group Climate Change Center. Greenpeace estimates South Korea recycles only 27% of its overall plastic waste. The environment ministry states the definition of waste, recycling techniques and statistical estimation vary from nation to nation, making it hard to examine evenly. South Korea's plastic waste generation increased from 9.6 million tonnes in 2019 to 12.6 million tonnes in 2022, a 31%. jump in three years partially due to increased plastic packaging of. food, presents and other online orders that mushroomed during the. pandemic, activists said. Information for 2023 has not been released. A considerable amount of that plastic is not being recycled,. according to market and federal government sources and activists,. in some cases for financial factors. At a shuttered plastic recycling site in Asan, about 85 km. ( 53 miles) south of Seoul, a mountain of about 19,000 tonnes of. finely ground plastic waste is piled up untreated, emitting a. slightly noxious smell. Local officials stated the owner had run. into money problems, but could not supply information. It will most likely take more than 2-3 billion won ($ 1.43. million-$ 2.14 million) to remove, said an Asan local. federal government official. The owner is believed not able to pay, so. the cleanup is low concern for us. Reuters has reported that more than 90% of plastic waste. gets discarded or incinerated since there is no low-cost way to. repurpose it, according to a 2017 study. NO CONCRETE GOALS South Korean government's guidelines on single-use plastic. products have also been criticised for being inconsistent. In. November 2023, the environment ministry alleviated limitations on. single-use plastic including straws and bags, rolling back guidelines. it had enhanced just a year earlier. South Korea lacks concrete goals towards reducing. plastic use outright, and reusing plastic, said Hong Su-yeol,. director of Resource Flow Society and Economy Institute. and an expert on the country's waste management. Nara Kim, a Seoul-based advocate for plastic usage decrease. at Greenpeace, said South Korea's culture of valuing fancy. product packaging of presents and other items needs to change, while other. activists pointed to the influence of the country's. petrochemical manufacturers. Business are the ones that pay the money, the taxes, stated. a recycling industry authorities who decreased to be recognized. since of the level of sensitivity of the problem, including that this. enabled them to wield influence. The environment ministry is. the weakest ministry in the government. The environment ministry said South Korea manages waste. over the entire cycle from generation to recycling and final. disposal. The government has actually made some transfer to motivate Korea Inc to. recycle, including its petrochemical market that ranks 5th. in global market share. President Yoon Suk Yeol stated at the G-20 summit on Tuesday. that efforts to lower plastic contamination must also be made for. sustainable development, which his federal government will support. next week's talks. The federal government has actually altered guidelines to allow companies. like leading petrochemical manufacturer LG Chem to. create naphtha, its primary feedstock, by recycling plastic. via pyrolysis. SK Chemicals' depolymerisation. chemical recycling output has already been utilized in products such. as water bottles as well as tires for high-end EVs. Pyrolysis includes heating waste plastic to extremely high. temperatures triggering it to break down into molecules that can be. repurposed as a fuel or to produce second-life plastic items. But the process is costly, and there is likewise criticism that it. boosts carbon emissions. Business have to be behind this, stated Jorg Weberndorfer,. Minister Counsellor at the trade area of the EU Delegation to. South Korea. You need business who truly believe in this and wish to. have this change. I believe there should be an alliance in between. public authorities and business..
-
New Alliance Targets CTV Deliveries for Japanese Offshore Market
Strategic Marine, Mirai Ships, and Ragnar Energy Solutions have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for exclusive newbuild collaborations, aiming to deliver vessels tailored for Japanese offshore markets.The MoU sets out the terms for exclusive collaboration on the design and construction of Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs), a predominant asset utilized during the operational and maintenance phase of offshore wind farm operations, together with supporting role during the construction phases of the offshore wind farm.These vessels are intended to serve Japan’s growing offshore energy market, leveraging local construction expertise and cutting-edge engineering solutions.The collaboration aims to deliver vessels tailored to Japanese offshore market demands while maintaining the highest standards of quality, efficiency, and environmental sustainability.The signing also signifies a unified approach towards net-zero goals established globally and supports Japan in their track towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 46% by 2030.
-
The majority of base metals fall on firmer dollar, risk-off belief
Base metal rates mainly traded lower on Friday, pressured by a stronger dollar and riskaverse belief due to the escalating conflict in the UkraineRussia war. Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME). eased 0.1% to $8,999 per metric load by 0334 GMT, while. the most-traded December copper agreement on the Shanghai Futures. Exchange (SHFE) fell 0.9% to 73,800 yuan ($ 10,184.65) a. load. Escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war rattled risk cravings. throughout monetary markets, while a more powerful dollar - on track for. the 8th straight weekly gain - made greenback-priced metals. more expensive to holders of other currencies. I think the war is a wild card so risk-off pivot will hurt. base metals. The greater dollar is putting pressure on base. metals too, stated a metals trader. There is still no excellent news from China on how they'll. stimulate more, although they are on the ideal track. Bitcoin is. eliminating attention from commodities too, the trader. said. Bitcoin came within a hair of closing above $100,000 for. the first time on Thursday as the election of Donald Trump as. U.S. president spurred expectations that his administration will. produce a friendly regulative environment for cryptocurrencies. Physical copper need showed a small uptick throughout China's. traditionally strong consumption season, as indicated by a. modest decline in SHFE inventories. SHFE copper stocks were last at 130,465 loads,. the most affordable since Feb. 8. LME aluminium fell 0.4% to $2,620.50, while nickel. edged 0.1% greater to $15,725, zinc advanced 0.4%. to $3,003, lead increased 0.5% to $2,009 and tin. was up 0.8% at $28,980. SHFE aluminium fell nearly 1% to 20,520 yuan a ton,. nickel dropped 1.5% to 125,390 yuan, lead. decreased 0.3% to 16,920 yuan, tin was down 0.9% at. 241,240 yuan while zinc rose 0.2% to 25,245 yuan. For the leading stories in metals and other news, click. or
-
Gold surges and euro droops as wider war risks increase
Gold was headed for its largest weekly gain in almost 8 months on Friday and the euro hovered at a 13month low as Russia decreased its limit for using nuclear weapons and fired a hypersonic ballistic rocket at Ukraine. The threat of escalation also sent European gas costs to a 1 year high and pressed investors towards safe havens, underpinning German financial obligation and putting the Swiss franc on course for its very first weekly rise in 2 months. In Asia on Friday, chipmakers led stocks a bit higher after Nvidia touched a record high in U.S. trade on solid profits, with shares in Taiwan and South Korea up more than 1% and the Nikkei gaining 0.8%. Gold was consistent at $2,677 an ounce and up more than 4.5% for the week so far while bitcoin, based on the edge of breaking above $100,000 for the very first time. Assets connected to Adani Group companies stayed under pressure, with dollar bonds nursing losses following chairman Gautam Adani's indictment for scams by U.S. district attorneys. Russia on Tuesday decreased its threshold for using nuclear weapons and over night responded to the U.S. and UK allowing Kyiv to strike Russian territory with western weapons by firing a. hypersonic intermediate-range missile at Ukraine's Dnipro. Those weapons usually bring nuclear warheads, stated. experts at ANZ Bank, noting the attack sent oil rates higher. The exchange suggests the war has actually entered a new stage,. raising concerns around interruptions to provide. Brent unrefined futures are up almost 4.5% on the week. and edged approximately touch a two-week high of $74.44 a barrel in Asia. trade. The euro has been friendless and down for seven of the past. 8 weeks as Europe deals with U.S. tariffs, slowing development, the. collapse of Germany's federal government and pressures in France's. federal government over its 2025 budget plan. There doesn't appear to be anything on the plus side of the. euro ledger just at the moment, said National Australia Bank's. head of FX research, Ray Attrill. At $1.0469 the typical currency is close to breaking support. at last year's low of $1.0448. European stocks are also. headed for a 5th weekly drop in a row, while world stocks. are up 1% today. The dollar index considered a weekly gain of 0.4% and. traded at 107.05. S&P 500 futures were flat. Benchmark. 10-year Treasury yields held at 4.432%, more or less. stable on the week. Markets suggest about a 58% possibility of a Fed cut, down from 83%. a week earlier. Information in Japan showed core inflation held above the main. bank's 2% target in October, keeping pressure for a rate increase. Markets are pricing about a 57% opportunity of a 25 basis point Bank. of Japan rate hike in December and the possibility has actually injected. some volatility and even support for the yen. The yen, down 4% this quarter, was trading firmer at 154.38. per dollar in early morning trade. Together with speculation about (finance ministry). intervention, I think selling on upticks on dollar/yen is quite. decent, said Keita Matsumoto, head of financial institution. sales and options at Citigroup Global Markets Japan in Tokyo. Our investor customers and business customers are rather. sellers of dollar/yen near 155.
-
Oil increases as intensifying Ukraine war increases supply risk
Oil rates increased on Friday after Russia said it had fired a ballistic missile at Ukraine and alerted of a widening dispute, raising the possibility of tightening up unrefined materials. Brent unrefined futures gained 14 cents, or 0.2%, to $ 74.37 a barrel by 0007 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures increased 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $70.27 per barrel. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Ukraine war was growing into a worldwide dispute after the U.S. and Britain allowed Ukraine to strike Russia with their weapons. Putin, who said Russia responded to using U.S. and British rockets by firing a new type of hypersonic medium-range ballistic rocket at a Ukrainian military center, alerted the West that Moscow might retaliate further. After approval from the administration of President Joe Biden, Ukraine struck Russia with six U.S.-made ATACMS on Nov. 19 and with British Storm Shadow rockets and U.S.-made HIMARS on Nov. 21, Putin said. Russia is among the world's top crude oil producing nations, even with output declines following import bans tied to its invasion of Ukraine and supply curbs by manufacturer group OPEC+. Russia this month stated it produced about 9 million barrels of oil a day. Ukraine has used drones to target Russian oil infrastructure, consisting of in June, when it used long-range attack drones to strike 4 Russian refineries. Swelling U.S. crude and fuel stocks minimal cost gains, with government data released this week revealing crude increased by 545,000 barrels in the week to Nov. 15 to 430.3 million barrels and fuel inventories by 2.1 million barrels to 208.9 million barrels. Some analysts anticipate another dive in oil inventories in next week's information. We will be anticipating a rebound in production in addition to US refinery activity next week that will bring negative ramifications for both unrefined and key items, stated Jim Ritterbusch of Ritterbusch and Associates in Florida. The world's leading crude importer, China, meanwhile on Thursday revealed policy procedures to improve trade, including assistance for energy product imports, in the middle of concerns over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's dangers to impose tariffs.
-
Petrobras authorizes $3.4 billion in extra dividends, $111 billion strategic plan
Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras authorized on Thursday a payout of 20 billion reais ($ 3.4 billion) in remarkable dividends to shareholders, and it decreased the minimum cash level required for its $111 billion tactical plan. Petrobras stated in a securities filing that around 15.6 billion reais of the payment would come out of a capital reserve that held cash financiers had anticipated would be doled out months ago, as extraordinary dividends for the 2023 duration. The dispensation of the 2023 funds settles a matter that rocked Petrobras previously this year, when its shares sank a day after its board in March voted to withhold additional dividends expected for 2023, a choice many viewed as political interference from Brazil's federal government. In a separate securities filing, Petrobras said its board approved on Thursday a $111 billion investment prepare for 2025-2029, in line with what company management had proposed, however with a minimum money level of $6 billion, down from $8. billion in the previous 2024-2028 strategy. In October, Chief Financial Officer Fernando Melgarejo. had actually said Petrobras was thinking about a modification in its minimum cash level and would disperse excess money. to investors. The staying 4.4 billion reais announced on Thursday are. dividends from revenues accumulated this year as much as September,. the business included. The overall payment represents 1.55 real ($ 0.27). per share, according to Petrobras. TACTICAL PLAN Petrobras said in its brand-new tactical plan that its. robust complimentary cash flow supports a normal dividend projection. of $45 billion-$ 55 billion for the next 5 years, and said. there is space for approximately $10 billion in additional dividends for the. duration. Of the $111 billion in investments approved for the. five-year period, $77 billion would be disbursed by Petrobras. for expedition and production activities, topping the $73. billion allocated for the segment in the previous plan. It also outlines about $20 billion for the Refining,. Transportation, Marketing, Petrochemicals and Fertilizers. segment, while projecting production of about 3.2 million. barrels each day of oil equivalent in the duration. Low-carbon initiatives acquired an increase in the brand-new plan,. with $16.3 billion flagged, about 42% more than under the. previous plan, Petrobras said.
-
Trump 2.0 will not reverse Biden's critical minerals push: Andy Home
Donald Trump has explained the Inflation Decrease Act (IRA) as a green rip-off and pledged to repeal it after he returns to the White Home in January. This is bad news for sectors such as electrical automobiles (EV). and wind power, which have been major recipients of the Biden. administration's signature $369 billion energy transition. legislation. But a few of the brand-new green offer money has likewise been channeled. to the U.S. industrial base, such as the $75 million allocated. for an upgrade of Constellium's aluminium rolling mill. in West Virginia. Will this too be clawed back? It seems not likely because when. it pertains to restoring U.S. commercial capacity and cutting the. nation's vital minerals reliance on China, there is. exceptional cross-party consensus. Indeed, it was then-President Trump who in 2020 declared the. country's unnecessary reliance on foreign foes for vital. minerals a nationwide emergency. Trump in his 2nd presidency is not likely to reverse the. drive to metallic self-sufficiency. He may even prove to be an. accelerator. PURCHASING AMERICA Both the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of. Defense (DOD) have actually pumped billions of dollars into restoring. U.S. metals capability. The DOE has largely channeled funds to EV battery inputs. such as lithium, manganese and graphite. The DOD has actually sprinkled the money far more widely, targeting a. spectrum of mystical components varying from antimony to. zirconium, consisting of an unknown vital product. incongruously described as vital both for the defense of. human lives and ammo product packaging. The Biden administration boasts that thanks to government. largesse business have revealed $120 billion in investment in. domestic battery and critical minerals capability. Yet the majority of that financial investment has been concentrated on the. downstream part of the supply chain. Seventeen new U.S. battery plants have been announced since. the individual retirement account entered impact in July 2022, increasing pipeline. capability by 68% through 2030, according to research house. Criteria Mineral Intelligence. When it comes to purchasing the metals required to provide. those gigafactories, the majority of the projects receiving federal. funds are those aiming to enhance existing recycling capability. New primary smelting projects stay noticeable by their. lack. Century Aluminum has been awarded a potential. $ 500 million to build a new aluminium smelter however there has been. no update given that the original statement in March. Even the DOD's high-priority unusual earths processing venture. with Australia's Lynas Rare Earths has actually encountered. trouble. Earthworks at the Seadrift website in Texas have actually been put. on hold due to problems getting a wastewater license, Lynas said. in its newest quarterly report. STUCK IN THE GROUND New smelting capacity needs new mines to provide it and. that's where the U.S. minerals investment boom is still. having a hard time to construct momentum. The majority of the funds committed to the mining sector have actually been. directed at lithium, both for new mines such as Lithium. Americas' Thacker Pass and numerous tasks. experimenting with direct extraction technology. South32's Hermosa zinc-manganese project in Arizona is. a non-lithium stand-out, receiving both DOD and DOE funds. and the very first mine to receive the Fast-41 accelerated. allowing procedure. Many others, nevertheless, stay bogged down in the nation's tortuous. permitting procedure. The Biden administration has actually struggled to reconcile its. desire to produce the metals required for the green energy. transition with its ecological qualifications. Big copper projects such as the Pebble mine in Alaska and. the Twin Metals task in Minnesota have been exterminated. Trump has already guaranteed to reverse Biden's 20-year restriction on. mining in the Superior National Park in Minnesota in about 10. to 15 minutes of taking office. That in itself won't be a thumbs-up for the Twin Metals. job, which would still need to get state allowing. sign-off, however it's an indication that the Trump administration will not be. hobbled by the green-on-green cabinet conflict that. characterised the last four years. CONCENTRATE ON CHINA A new Trump administration is also likely to take a much. tougher line on crucial metal imports from entities connected to. China. Talon Metals has actually been allocated funds by both the. DOD and DOE to advance its Tamarack nickel project in Minnesota. and explore for more resource in the state. It's a difficult time to be in the nickel business, however, as a. mining boom in Indonesia has crushed prices and required many. existing operators out of service. Most of Indonesia's nickel capacity is managed either. straight or indirectly by Chinese entities, which has not. stopped U.S. carmakers such as Ford from signing up with the. Indonesian nickel rush. Price has actually surpassed politics when it pertains to protecting a key. metal for EV batteries. Depending upon the structure of the joint endeavor between. Ford, Vale and China's Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, the nickel from. the brand-new plant in Indonesia might even count as IRA-compliant and. receive federal EV subsidies. Such sourcing ambiguity seems unlikely to make it through the Make. America Great Again focus of a new Republican administration. Undoubtedly, every indication so far is that Trump 2.0 will double down. on the U.S. minerals self-sufficiency drive, even if it suggests. accepting that not all of the IRA funds are a green fraud. The viewpoints expressed here are those of the author, a. writer .
-
Couche-Tard chairman states no hostile takeover quote for Seven & i, Nikkei reports
Alimentation CoucheTard is ruling out a hostile takeover quote for Japan's. 7 & & i, the Nikkei company daily quoted the. Canadian suitor's chairman and cofounder, Alain Bouchard, as. stating. In an interview with Japanese media carried out in Canada on. Thursday, Bouchard stated a hostile bid was not amongst aspects. being thought about, indicating the company's objective to secure. a friendly acquisition deal, the Nikkei reported. Couche-Tard, which competes with Seven & & i in the North. American filling station market, in August made an initial quote to. take control of the Japanese retail giant. It later on raised its deal. to $47 billion, in what would be the largest-ever foreign. takeover of a Japanese company. 7 & & i, which operates more than 80,000 7-Eleven. convenience stores worldwide, is caught in a three-way. tug-of-war in between Couche-Tard, Seven & & i's starting household,. which is proposing a management buyout, and business management. who say their development strategy can improve worth. Asked whether Couche-Tard could raise its bidding price. even more, CEO Alex Miller, who also participated in the interview, said:. The current proposed cost is appealing for all stakeholders..
West African nations call for companies to be able to balance out carbon
A group of 10 West African countries has actually weighed into a dispute over whether companies around the globe should be allowed to utilize carbon offsets to cut emissions, arguing they are important to bring in funding for environment and preservation efforts.
While some scientists and technical consultants have criticised offsets as undermining efforts to rein in climate modification by allowing the continued emissions of greenhouse gases, others see them as a necessary tool to enhance essential finance.
In a letter to the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi),. the world's top business climate target verifier, the 10. nations called on its trustees to ensure offsetting is. consisted of within net-zero guidance to business.
The letter, signed by Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast,. Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal and Togo,. stated recent reports questioning the credibility of balancing out. emissions were the work of misguided activists.
There is growing debate over the ethics and effectiveness of. offsets, also called carbon credits, to excuse some business. emissions. Offsets are generated by buying projects that. lower or avoid carbon emissions and can be traded.
The letter's primary author informed that the lack of. certainty in the SBTi's assistance was harmful business. confidence and slowing funding.
The SBTi is, appropriately or wrongly, the gatekeeper that can. unlock financing from corporations around the world that wish to. contribute to environment action ... at the very same time as (and not. rather of) taking action to decarbonise their evaluation, said. Ousmane Fall Sarr, coordinator of the West African Alliance on. Carbon Markets and Environment Financing.
The SBTi's existing guidance just enables really minimal use of. renewable energy certificates which a business can use to lower. so-called Scope 2 emissions, those related directly to the. energy it utilizes.
However SBTi's board of trustees stated on April 9 that, topic. to particular guidelines and guidance, it would enable them for Scope 3. emissions, those related to their supply chains,. circulation and item use. This was invited by both. companies and developing nations that are relying on carbon. balanced out projects to generate money.
Unpredictability remained, however, because the board had not. followed SBTi's typical treatment for policy setting. SBTi has. said it is reviewing the scientific research study and disputing the. problem before making a last call.
In a statement to , it said it invited feedback from. all stakeholders, and would open a public consultation as soon as its. research study was total.
' NO ALTERNATIVE'
The SBTi, formed by a union of non-profit organisations,. is seen as a key player in international efforts to scale up the market. for voluntary carbon credits by attending to quality issues and. ensuring they provide the advantages they claim.
The United States added momentum on April 28 by unveiling. its own standards for voluntary carbon credits.
In their May 24 letter, the West African nations advised. the SBTi board of its promise in April, which is still on its. site. To us, carbon markets is climate financing, the letter. stated. There is no alternative. We are at a turning point.
With climate financing still far below needed levels, the. letter said balanced out incomes were vital to supporting bad. neighborhoods, motivating preservation, making the shift to. clean energy and adapting to the conditions of a warmer world.
The OECD has stated poor nations' real climate investment. needs could total $1 trillion per year by 2025.
Ousmane stated the absence of clarity on offsets would likewise hold. up nation efforts to compute and upgrade their nationwide. environment plans ahead of the COP29 United Nations environment top. in November in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Countries must upgrade these nationally identified. contributions before next year's COP30 summit in Brazil, however. are being encouraged to submit them this year.
(source: Reuters)