The rapid expansion of renewable technologies is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak assessment of global progress towards low-carbon energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in an annual report to the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM).
“The drive to clean up the world’s energy system has stalled,” IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven told the CEM, which brings together ministers representing countries responsible for four-fifths of global greenhouse-gas emissions.
Biofuels are becoming big policy and big business as countries around the world look to decrease petroleum dependence, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector, and support agricultural interests.
It appears that there may be light at the end of the tunnel in the ongoing dispute between China and the EU over aviation emissions by skirting the latter’s provocative Emissions Trading System (ETS).
Malaysia is aiming to introduce B10 biodiesel – a mixture of 10 percent palm biodiesel with 90 percent petroleum diesel – nationwide by the middle of next year, according to the country’s Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
Canadian green technology company W2 Energy is acquiring a 51 percent of Malaysia’s AM Biofuels for USD5.5 million. W2 Energy is expanding its fuel business in Southeast Asia as it executes on its business plan of production, blending and distribution of bio and synthetic fuels.
The private equity arm of investment giant Fidelity International has invested USD54 million in biotechnology company, Richcore Lifesciences. The eight-year old Indian company specializes in biofuel and agricultural industries, among other products and is based in Bangalore.
Thailand's National Innovation Agency (NIA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for the first pilot plant for ethanol production from cassava pulp.
Vietnam will start blending bio-fuels with petrol to power road vehicles from 2014, as the government seeks to push ahead with its commitment to establish green credentials.
Airbus and its parent company, EDAS, signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with Chinese biofuel producer ENN to jointly develop and test aviation fuel made from algae.
New research suggests that the global commercial biogas market will more than double in the next ten years to 29.5-GW. The report, Renewable Biogas, from Pike Research concludes that, in particular, municipal organic waste and wastewater treatment are poised for significant growth across Asia Pacific.
Vietnam’s biogas program for the animal husbandry sector was recently awarded the Humanitarian Award at the World Energy Forum (WEF) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for the positive impact it has had on the lives of tens of thousands of Vietnamese people.
A Thai biofuel company, Energy Absolute, is moving into solar power and financing it with an initial public offering (IPO). Energy Absolute said it will issue 560 million shares to fund a 90-MW solar project.
The US Environmental Protection Agency are in Indonesia next week in an effort to help the country better meet green standards and open up its massive palm oil potential, according to Reuters.
Bio-fuel company LanzaTech is moving into the carbon capture sector following an agreement with Malaysia's national oil company, Petronas. The deal is the first concrete benefit to LanzaTech's third round of fund-raising which saw USD55.8 million raised, mainly from Malaysian investors.
This report by the World Bank spells out what the world would be like if it warmed by 4 degrees Celsius, which is what scientists are nearly unanimously predicting by the end of the century, without serious policy changes.
Companies in Asia reveal expectations that regulations that could lead to rising costs for reporting and reducing GHG emissions will also be the main sources of climate-related business opportunities.
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