Green Markets #9
Financial news in environmental markets.
Green Markets is a weekly series dedicated to highlighting events of interest or developing trends within environmental markets. The emphasis is on news that could impact investable opportunities in public stock markets.
Notable Events
The Biden administration is introducing 100% border tax tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China. This new policy is estimated to impact $18B worth of imports. In addition, tariffs on solar cells were raised from 25% to 50%, and tariffs on steel/aluminum products went from 7.5% to 25%.
China has already stated it would take retaliatory actions.
Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian state-owned O&G firm, has signed several MOUs with several U.S based companies to explore low-carbon energy solutions:
Aeroseal is an energy efficiency solutions company focused on developing technology to improve gas pipelines, specifically leak mitigation detection.
Spiritus is a direct air capture (DAC) company working on new technology that can lower energy requirements for carbon sequestration.
Rondo is working on the deployment of battery technology that could reduce operating costs and emissions at Aramco’s facilities.
Japan is likely to restart a unit at the Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear power facility in October. This would mark an initial restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant.
Japan recently passed a new law to bolster the development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology in the country. New provisions include a fleshed-out permit system for carbon capture, increased liability for emitters, and a new subsidy system.
Several technology giants (Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Salesforce) have formed the Symbiosis Coalition, a pledge to contract up to 20M tons of nature-based removal carbon credits by 2030.
ClearBlue, an analytics firm in the VCMs, and Kita, a pioneer in the carbon insurance industry, have announced a joint partnership in evaluating carbon projects and mitigating their associated risks through insurance solutions.
New Green Funding Initiatives
The Green Climate Fund, the largest climate fund in the world, is expected to commit up to $2.3B to 40 different investment opportunities in 2024.
Governments, international organizations, and private sector donors recently pledged $2.2B in new financing to expand access to clean cooking across Africa by 2030. Funding sourced from the voluntary carbon markets will be a key contributor.
The Ocean 14 Capital Fund, dedicated to investing in sustainable marine startups, just received another €40M, bringing its total commitments to €160M. The fund has increased its goal to raising €200M after already passing its €150M goal. Notable investors include Nestle Purina, HQ Capital, and The Green Earth Impact Fund.
I like Aqua Metals and American Battery Technologies for battery recycling. I like Dragonfly Energy for APS units for diesel trucks to not have to idle, and they are developing a battery system for methane leak mitigation. I haven’t researched the details yet.