Global Climate News

The UK government awarded nearly £52 million to 25 businesses to reduce their carbon emissions. Projects include heat pumps, carbon capture, and expanding recycling capacity. Notable recipients include Heinz (£2.5M grant, £5M investment), Hanson Cement (£5.6M grant), and Novelis (£14M grant). Total project value is £154 million.

Researchers at UC Davis and Stanford University found that building materials like concrete and plastic can store billions of tons of CO2. They calculated that if 10% of the world’s concrete aggregate production were carbonateable, it could absorb a gigaton of CO2. The study suggests that storing CO2 in buildings, combined with decarbonization efforts, could help achieve emission reduction goals. The research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant.

The Canadian government invested over $11 million in clean fuels and alternative fuels projects. The funding supported initiatives aimed at advancing technologies and initiatives to strengthen Canada’s clean fuels and alternative fuels sectors, including biomass collection, transportation, processing, and hydrogen production.

US-based Consumers Energy and Ashcor USA Inc. have agreed to repurpose millions of tons of coal ash from the retired J.H. Campbell Generating Complex in Michigan. Ashcor's RAM™ technology will transform the ash into a cement substitute, reducing CO2 emissions from cement production. The project is expected to begin operations before January 1, 2027, and last for two decades.

California's industrial permitting process, particularly for clean industrial projects, is long and complicated. The state's industry is the second largest emitter (23% of total emissions), and streamlining the permitting process is crucial for meeting California’s climate goals and supporting new clean industrial technologies. Recommendations include strategic site selection, proactive community engagement, utilizing third-party validation, hiring expert consultants, and leveraging state resources like GO-Biz.

The EU has implemented the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) to reduce carbon emissions. A study using French firm-level import data found evidence of carbon leakage, where firms shifted sourcing to non-ETS countries to avoid carbon taxes. The CBAM aims to address this leakage by extending the carbon tax to imported products, which could significantly increase emission reductions but also raise prices for consumers.

The Wood Mackenzie report, “Hydrogen: 5 Things to Watch in 2025,” highlights hydrogen’s potential in decarbonizing industries, transportation, and power generation. The report emphasizes hydrogen’s versatility across applications, including green hydrogen for heavy industry and hydrogen fuel cells for transportation. It also addresses challenges like infrastructure investment needs, while pointing to growing international collaboration and policy incentives as solutions.

India is aiming to produce 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030, and potentially 10 million tons by the same year. The country's National Green Hydrogen Mission, supported by industrial clusters like Mundra Port, focuses on reducing production costs to less than $2 per kilogram by leveraging renewable energy and optimizing energy demand. Mundra Port, near the world’s largest renewable energy park (30 gigawatt Khavda facility), integrates hydrogen production with industries such as chemicals, cement, and fertilizers, facilitating both domestic use and export.

US-based Carbon13 has partnered with Third Derivative, a climate tech ecosystem, to support the development and scale-up of climate-critical technologies globally. This collaboration will focus on accelerating the growth of climate tech startups, particularly in heavy industry decarbonization, leveraging Third Derivative’s network and Carbon13’s venture-building expertise.

Germany-based Capsol Technologies signed a cooperation agreement with Holcim Group to deliver a CapsolGo® carbon capture demonstration campaign at a cement plant in southern Germany. Holcim aims to decarbonize its global portfolio, committing to deliver 8 million tons of fully decarbonized cement per year by 2030. The CapsolGo® unit will be delivered in Q2 2025, with testing commencing in late Q2 2025 for a 4-month project.

US-based National Cement Company of California Inc, a subsidiary of the Vicat Group, has signed a cooperative agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the development of the Lebec Net Zero (LNZ) project. The agreement commits up to \\$500 million, covering up to 50% of phase 1 costs, to finance a CO2 capture, transport, and storage system at the Lebec cement plant in California, aiming for a 950,000 metric tons annual CO2 emission reduction.

US-based Vicat's subsidiary, National Cement Company of California Inc., has finalized a cooperation agreement with the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, for the Lebec Net Zero project. The DOE will fund 50% of phase 1, up to $500 million, for carbon capture, transport, and storage. The project aims to reduce emissions by approximately 950,000 tons of CO2 annually.

MIT researchers have conducted a study on circular economy adoption in the construction sector, surveying stakeholders across North America, Europe, and Asia. The study found that developers are willing to pay 9.6% higher costs for significant carbon reduction, while identifying barriers like lack of standardization and logistics complexity. The research team has also developed 'Pixelframe', a modular concrete reuse system that enables building components to be disassembled and reused multiple times, which recently received a MassCEC grant for commercialization.

McKinsey's post-COP29 analysis reveals that while urgent climate action is needed, progress is hampered by financing challenges, geopolitical uncertainties, and regulatory ambiguity. The report highlights the need for companies to refresh sustainability strategies, expedite cost-competitive climate technologies, and execute with operational rigor.

The UK and Saudi Arabia have announced multiple climate-focused partnerships. These include Manchester-based GIM's launch of graphene-enriched carbon fiber production with NEOM, establishment of a Joint International Institute for Clean Hydrogen, Carbon Clean's collaboration with Aramco on carbon capture technology, and a partnership between Next Generation SCM and City Cement Company for sustainable concrete production. The projects collectively represent significant investments in clean technology, with expected creation of thousands of jobs across both countries.

Research has highlighted CALF-20, a metal-organic framework material, as a super-stable adsorbent for carbon dioxide capture and storage in cement plants. The study presents an eight-year overview of research on this material's flexibility, stability, processability, and tunability for gas-related applications.

China's Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center has released price data for 50 key industrial and agricultural products across 9 categories, showing significant price movements in coal, steel, chemicals, and energy products. Coal prices declined across all types by 1.8-2.5%, while gasoline prices increased by 1.8%. The data covers major industrial inputs including metals, chemicals, petroleum, coal, and agricultural products, providing insights into China's industrial commodity markets and energy sector trends.

The EU implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) in October 2023, applying carbon pricing to both domestic and foreign producers selling in the EU. The policy aims to prevent carbon leakage and encourage global decarbonization. While initially impacting trade flows minimally, CBAM is expected to significantly affect trade and production patterns in the long term, particularly in sectors like iron and steel. The EU plans to use CBAM revenues to fund decarbonization support for developing countries.

The European Union has implemented the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) regulation which came into force on May 17, 2023. The system requires importers to surrender CBAM certificates corresponding to the embedded CO2 emissions of imported goods. The regulation applies to cement, electricity, fertilizers, iron and steel, aluminum, and hydrogen imports, with a transition period starting October 1, 2023 and full implementation from 2026.

The Netherlands Emissions Authority (NEa) has proposed changes to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) implementation starting January 2026. The current threshold of €150 for CBAM goods imports is deemed too low, creating disproportionate administrative burden for small importers. NEa has suggested switching to a weight-based threshold system, as analysis shows more than half of current importers under CBAM would report less than 10 tons of CO2 annually. The mechanism applies to cement, iron, steel, aluminum, fertilizers, and hydrogen imports.