Window for climate change action narrowing: IPCC
The window of opportunity to address climate change is narrowing rapidly, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) latest report. "Climate-resilient development pathways" are being progressively constrained by every increment of warming, in particular beyond 1.5°C, the report from the IPCC working group 2 finds — the group looks at climate impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. "Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future," working group 2 co-chair Hans-Otto Portner says. The IPCC's working group 3, focusing on climate change mitigation, is due to release its report in April, while the IPCC is due to publish its sixth assessment report just before the UN's Cop 27 climate conference in Egypt in November. "The world faces unavoidable multiple climate hazards over the next two decades with global warming of 1.5°C. Even temporarily exceeding this warming level will result in additional severe impacts, some of which will be irreversible," the report says. Moves to limit global warming to 1.5°C would substantially reduce the threat to humanity and ecosystems, but cannot eliminate them, the IPCC says.
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ACT to partner with LR, Wartsila, and UECC on CNSL
ACT to partner with LR, Wartsila, and UECC on CNSL
London, 28 March (Argus) — Dutch supplier ACT Group is collaborating with classification society Lloyd's Register, Finnish engine manufacturer Wartsila, and Norwegian shipping firm United European Car Carriers (UECC) on the development and evaluation of cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) as a biofuel in marine biodiesel blends. ACT confirmed the launch of a CNSL-based biofuel called "FSI.100", which has gone through extensive engine testing with various blend combinations. The CNSL-based biofuel has now received approval from engine manufactures to be blended as a 30pc component with marine gasoil (MGO) to form a marine biodiesel blend for the purpose of further sea trials. ACT confirmed that the FSI.100 product will benefit from lower acidity, and there is potential for the product to be compatible for blending with fuel oil. CNSL is an advanced biodiesel feedstock, making it a more appealing and price competitive option to buyers compared with other biodiesel feedstocks. The development follows a report by Lloyd's Register fuel oil bunkering analysis and advisory service (FOBAS) that pointed to a correlation between engine fuel pump and injector-related damage in vessels and the presence of "unestablished" CNSL in the utilised marine fuels. By Hussein Al-Khalisy Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Australia to delay mandatory climate reporting to 2025
Australia to delay mandatory climate reporting to 2025
Sydney, 28 March (Argus) — Australia's biggest companies will likely face mandatory climate reporting from 1 January 2025, six months later than originally planned, according to a bill the Australian federal government introduced in parliament. Under the revised proposal, the country's largest companies and financial institutions will need to start disclosing their climate-related risks and opportunities, including scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, within their annual sustainability reports from 1 January 2025 instead of 1 July as previously intended . Scope 3 emissions disclosure will continue to be required from the second year of reporting. Companies will be arranged in three groups, with group 1 entities including companies meeting at least two of three criteria: more than A$500mn ($324mn) of annual revenues, over A$1bn of gross assets, 500 or more employees. Group 2 companies will have lower thresholds — above A$200mn of revenues, $500mn of assets and 250 employees — and will start reporting from the financial year starting on 1 July 2026. Reporting for group 3 entities — those with more than A$50mn of revenues, $25mn of assets and 100 employees — will begin from 1 July 2027. The 1 January 2025 start date might be pushed further to 1 July 2025, if the bill does not become law before 2 December. It will now be debated in parliament and needs to pass both houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, before receiving royal assent. Its approval will support more investment in renewable energy as well as help companies and investors manage climate risks, the government said. Companies are currently not required to report their scope 3 emissions under Australia's National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act, which is used to measure and report GHG emissions and energy production and consumption. Scope 3 can include emissions within supply chains that occur inside or outside Australia, such as emissions from the combustion of Australian coal or LNG exported to other countries. By Juan Weik Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Brazil, France launch €1bn program to protect Amazon
Brazil, France launch €1bn program to protect Amazon
Sao Paulo, 27 March (Argus) — Brazil and France launched a four-year, €1bn ($1.1bn) investment program to protect the Amazon rainforest using private and public funds, the countries said on Tuesday as French president Emmanuel Macron is visiting the South American nation. "Gathered in Belem, in the heart of the Amazon, we, Brazil and France, Amazonian countries, have decided to join forces to promote an international roadmap for protection of tropical forests," the two countries said. Under the program, Brazil's public banks — such as the Bndes development bank — and the French development agency will form "technical and financial partnerships." The two countries also agreed to develop new research projects on sustainable sectors and create a research hub to share technologies to develop the bioeconomy. Macron and Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited Belem — near the mouth of the Amazon and the host city of Cop 30 — on 26 March. During the trip, indigenous leader and environmental campaigner Raoine Metuktire, of the Kayapo tribe, urged Lula to prevent construction of the 900km (559-mile) Ferrograo railroad , which could lower costs of transporting grains from Mato Grosso state, Brazil's largest agricultural producer. Macron will also visit Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and capital Brasilia. This is his first trip to Brazil, as he had cut ties with the South American country during former president Jair Bolsonaro's administration. Bolsonaro put little focus on environmental protections during his term, policies that his successor has reversed. Brazil now aims to reach zero deforestation by 2030. It reduced deforestation in the Amazon by almost 50pc last year, according to government data. Deforestation in the region hit 196km² in January-February, a 63pc drop from the same period in 2023 and a six-year low, according to NGO Imazon, which focuses on research to promote climate justice in the Amazon. By Lucas Parolin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Baltimore bridge collapse to raise retail fuel prices
Baltimore bridge collapse to raise retail fuel prices
Houston, 27 March (Argus) — The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, is more likely to increase regional gasoline prices than diesel due to additional freight costs and certain route restrictions. Suppliers in the region have so far signaled that the effect on broader markets will be minimal, but regional prices will likely rise, especially as peak summer demand season begins with Memorial Day weekend in late May. The bridge closure could pose more problems for gasoline supply than diesel, since gasoline cannot be transported through the Fort McHenry (I-95) and Baltimore Harbor (I-895) tunnels — the two other major roads that cross the Patapsco River at Baltimore — while there are no restrictions on diesel, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority (MTA). Fuel wholesaler Global Partners said yesterday that it would like to see hours of service waivers for trucking in the region to minimize fuel supply disruption to customers, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is yet to issue one. Elevated retail prices are likely to be limited to the immediate Baltimore area but could spill over into neighboring markets should trucking markets remain tight due to rerouting, market sources told Argus . Fuel markets in eastern Maryland can be supplied by PBF's 171,000 b/d Delaware City, Delaware, refinery and two further plants in Pennsylvania — Monroe Energy's 190,000 b/d Trainer refinery and PBF's 160,000 b/d Paulsboro refinery. To the north, United Refining runs a 65,000 b/d plant in Warren, Pennsylvania, and along the Atlantic coast Phillips 66 operates the 259,000 b/d Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey. PBF, Monroe and United did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the bridge collapse is affecting refinery operations. Phillips 66 declined to comment on commercial activities. Still, the five nearby refineries — representing all the Atlantic coast's 850,000 b/d of crude processing capacity — are unlikely to see their operations curtailed by limits in shipping products to Maryland. With no refinery in the state of Maryland, most fuels are delivered to Baltimore by Gulf coast refiners on the Colonial Pipeline. Global Partners, which operates a terminal just west of the collapsed bridge, said yesterday it is primarily supplied by the pipeline and expects product flows to continue. Several terminals in the Baltimore Harbor and the nearby Port Salisbury can also receive small vessels and barges of road fuels from Delaware and Pennsylvania, according to the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). The Port of Baltimore — which remains closed since the collapse — took delivery of 24,000 b/d of gasoline and under 2,000 b/d of distillates from barges and small vessels in 2019, about three percent of the Atlantic coast's refining capacity. "A closure of the Port of Baltimore while the Colonial Pipeline is open would not significantly disrupt fuel supply," the MEA wrote in a 2022 analysis of liquid fuels supply in the state. By Nathan Risser Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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