[World] Amazon on path to reach 100% renewable energy five years ahead of schedule

On April 20, 2022, Amazon announced that it has secured 37 new renewable energy projects totaling 3.5 GW of capacity, expanding the company’s renewable energy portfolio by nearly 30%.[1] The projects put the company on a path to reach 100% renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of the original target of 2030. The projects are located across the U.S., Spain, France, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. The projects include three wind farms, 26 solar farms, and eight rooftop solar installations. Twenty-three of these projects will be located in the U.S., spread out across 13 states. This includes a 500 MW solar farm in Texas, Amazon’s largest renewable energy project (by capacity) announced to date. The new projects also include a 300 MW solar project paired with 150 MW of battery storage in Arizona and a 150 MW solar project paired with 75 MW of battery storage in California. Amazon now has a total of 310 renewable energy projects, which, once operational, are expected to produce 42,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy annually.

[1] https://press.aboutamazon.com/news-releases/news-release-details/amazon-extends-position-worlds-largest-corporate-buyer-renewable

[World] Exxon to exit Russian oil and gas operations

Exxon Mobil Corp. announced on March 1, 2022, that it will cease operations at Sakhalin-1, a major oil and gas project in Russia.[1] According to the press release, Exxon will not invest in new developments in Russia, given the current situation. Reuters reported that Exxon is also removing employees from the country who are U.S. citizens.[2] “ExxonMobil supports the people of Ukraine as they seek to defend their freedom and determine their own future as a nation. We deplore Russia’s military action that violates the territorial integrity of Ukraine and endangers its people,” the company said.

Exxon Neftegas, a subsidiary of Exxon, operates the Sakhalin-1 project on behalf of a consortium of Japanese, Indian and Russian companies. The consortium includes Russia's Rosneft, which holds a 20% stake in the project. The project is comprised of three oil and gas fields near Sakhalin Island. According to Exxon’s website, the Sakhalin-1 project represents “one of the largest single international direct investments in Russia.” It pumps about 220,000 barrels of oil per day and is the company’s last project in Russia. In a statement, Exxon said the process to discontinue operations will be closely coordinated with other members of the project to ensure safety. The company did not provide a timeline for ceasing operations.

[1] https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/News/Newsroom/News-releases/2022/0301_ExxonMobil-to-discontinue-operations-at-Sakhalin-1_make-no-new-investments-in-Russia

[2] https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/exxon-mobil-begins-removing-us-employees-its-russian-oil-gas-operations-2022-03-01/

[World] 23 Governments launch Mission Innovation 2.0 to achieve Paris Agreement’s goals

On June 2, 2021, during the Innovating to Net Zero Summit in Santiago, Chile, 23 governments[1], including the U.S. and Japan, launched Mission Innovation 2.0, the second phase of the Mission Innovation initiative.[2] The Mission Innovation initiative was launched alongside the Paris Agreement at the 2015 COP21 conference to make clean energy affordable by accelerating investment, collaboration, and innovation. Since 2015, member governments, collectively responsible for over 90% of global public investment in clean energy innovation, have increased clean energy innovation investments by $18 billion.

As a part of the initiative, each member will develop National Innovation Pathways to describe their plans to encourage innovation to meet their climate and energy goals up to 2030. Mission Innovation 2.0 will initially focus on three “missions” to scale up “clean” hydrogen, zero-emission shipping, and renewable power systems in various locations. First, the Clean Hydrogen mission will be led by Australia, Chile, the U.K., the U.S., and the European Union, and aims to make clean hydrogen cost-competitive by reducing costs to $2/kg by 2030 by increasing research. The mission also intends to develop at least 100 geographic hubs for hydrogen production, storage, and end-use by 2030. Second, Denmark, the U.S., and Norway, together with the Global Maritime Forum and the Maersk McKinney Moller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, will lead the Zero-Emissions Shipping mission, with the goal of zero-emissions ships making up at least 5% of the global deep-sea fleet by 2030. Third, the Green Powered Future mission, led by China, Italy, and the U.K., aims to demonstrate that power systems in various locations will be able to integrate up to 100% renewable energy by 2030. These missions will be underpinned by a new “global Innovation Platform” that will strengthen confidence and awareness in emerging technologies and maximize national investment impacts.

[1] Austria, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Morocco, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the European Commission (on behalf of the European Union)

[2] http://mission-innovation.net/2021/06/02/decade-clean-energy-innovation-mi-6/#_ftn1

[World] Report: Japan needs steep emissions reductions to reach decarbonization goals

On March 4, 2021, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published its Japan 2021 Energy Policy Review, which provides energy policy recommendations to help Japan achieve its clean energy transition.[1] In October 2020, the Prime Minister of Japan announced that Japan will aim to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. However, despite making substantial progress in the last decade, Japan remains reliant on imported fossil fuels. Japan’s energy supply carbon intensity is among the highest of IEA member countries, according to the report. The IEA report makes several recommendations for reaching Japan’s 2050 carbon neutrality goal. The IEA says that Japan should develop several scenarios for decarbonization to prepare for the case that some low-carbon technologies are not deployed as quickly as expected. Japan should also establish market-based methods to encourage investments in efficient and low-carbon technologies. The IEA recommends that the government encourage investments in the electricity network and system operations to facilitate the large-scale deployment of variable renewable electricity sources. In the light of the January 2021 energy crisis, the IEA recommends advances in electricity and gas market reforms, including making the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission a more independent regulator. For nuclear, the IEA report recommends investing human and financial resources to accelerate the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s safety reviews of nuclear reactors.

[1] https://www.iea.org/reports/japan-2021

[World] BP targets 50GW of renewables by 2030

On August 4, 2020, BP announced a new long-term strategy to pivot away from fossil fuels and achieve its goal of being net-zero by 2050.[1] BP first announced its intention to become net-zero by 2050 in February 2020 following the appointment of Bernard Looney as BP’s new CEO.[2] Under the new strategy, BP set a target of 50 GW of renewable by 2030 and an interim goal of 20GW by 2025, up from 2.5GW in 2020. BP will also ramp up its spending on low-carbon energy resources to about $3-4 billion per year by 2025 and $5 billion annually by 2030. As of 2020, BP spends about $500 million annually on low-carbon energy. It also plans to cut its oil and gas production by 40% by 2030. BP also stated that it will not launch new oil and gas exploration efforts in countries where it does not already have a presence. However, the company is not ruling out new wells in countries where it already operates.

[1] https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/from-international-oil-company-to-integrated-energy-company-bp-sets-out-strategy-for-decade-of-delivery-towards-net-zero-ambition.html

[2] https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/press-releases/bernard-looney-announces-new-ambition-for-bp.html