Daily Digest for

South African Cabinet (meetings 22 Jul & 6 Aug 2025) approved publication of the second NDC (GHG target 320–380 mt CO2-eq by 2035), accession to Afreximbank, trade-response measures to 30% US tariffs effective 7 Aug 2025, and reported Giyani water project 90.23% complete (R6 billion spent).

Standard Chartered announces an agreement to sell high-integrity jurisdictional forest carbon credits in coordination with the Government of the State of Acre over the next five years.

• Main action: Standard Chartered will act as the exclusive seller of jurisdictional forest carbon credits from the State of Acre, with potentially 5 million credits coming to market in 2026, sold over a five-year period; credits will be registered in the ART registry using the TREES methodology (approved by ICVCM).
• Background and details: Acre has committed a benefit sharing strategy allocating 72% of net funds to indigenous and local communities (for activities such as sustainable livestock, reforestation, sustainable tourism) and 28% to project management and governance; a main community consultation occurred in May 2025, and an independent assessment by Sylvera of Acre’s ART-TREES programme is underway.

Lyten has announced it will acquire Northvolt’s remaining assets in Sweden and Germany, including Northvolt Ett, Ett Expansion, Northvolt Labs, Northvolt Drei, and all remaining Northvolt intellectual property (IP).

• Acquisition details: Lyten will acquire assets valued at approximately $5B, which include 16 GWh operational battery capacity, >15 GWh under construction, infrastructure and plans to scale to >100 GWh. The transaction is fully equity funded, the parties expect to close in Q4 2025, and Lyten plans to immediately restart operations at Skellefteå (Ett) and Västerås (Labs) upon close and to rehire a significant portion of the previously laid-off workforce (staffing assessed site-by-site).
• Background and related actions: Lyten previously acquired Northvolt’s Cuberg plant (Nov 2024) and announced acquisition of Northvolt Dwa (Gdansk, expected close Aug 2025) and Northvolt’s BESS product and IP (late July). Lyten has raised $625M in equity investment, secured LOIs for $650M financing from the Export-Import Bank of the US, and is pursuing acquisition of Northvolt Six (Quebec, 15 GWh Phase 1); transactions remain subject to Swedish, German, and European approvals.

The UK government has announced the Clean Energy: 2GW Peak Time Flexibility challenge as part of the R&D Missions Accelerator Programme.

• £4 million initial funding allocated for the first year of a five-year challenge aiming to shift peak electricity demand by 2 gigawatts by 2030, equivalent to powering over 1.5 million homes, to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and cut energy costs.
• The programme is led by UK Research and Innovation in collaboration with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, involving AI and digital technologies to improve energy demand forecasting, manage demand, and optimize electric vehicle charging, with participation from Digital Catapult, National Energy System Operator, Ofgem, and National Grid.

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has acquired a 70% stake in the first phase of a hydrogen production project in Lubmin, Germany, from H2APEX Group SCA.

• The project will start with a 100 MW capacity plant producing up to 10,000 tonnes of hydrogen annually, with plans to expand to over 1 GW.
• The project secured EUR 167 million in EU funding under the IPCEI programme, with CIP investing EUR 15 million pre-final investment decision and aiming to jointly finance several hundred million euros by commissioning.

The Zambia Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development released a report with the British Geological Survey outlining Zambia’s critical mineral opportunities ahead of African Mining Week 2025.

• Key minerals include copper, cobalt, manganese, nickel, graphite, lithium, rare earth elements, and columbite-tantalite, with detailed projects and production targets such as increasing copper production to 3 million tons by 2031 and manganese output to 1 million tons by 2027.
• Significant investments include a $100 million cobalt sulfate refinery led by Kobaloni Energy and backed by Vision Blue and Africa Finance Corporation, with multiple mining projects scheduled to come online between 2025 and 2027, highlighting Zambia’s strategic role in global mineral supply chains.

The Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC) has issued recommendations on the draft framework agreement for packaging waste management in Spain.

• The CNMC advises establishing a nationally agreed management model for all public administrations, avoiding complex mixed models, and recommends creating an independent coordination and supervision body to manage conflicts and coordinate SCRAPs. It also suggests using market share quotas calculated by an independent public entity to assign responsibilities and ensuring competitive neutrality in agreement negotiations.
• The CNMC highlights the need to define cost allocation methods, billing forms, and coordination mechanisms among SCRAPs, and proposes arbitration alternatives and qualified majority rules for decision-making within the monitoring commission.