US banking giant Citigroup says the global coal industry is set for further pain, predicting an acceleration of mine closures, liquidations and bankruptcies. Large diversified mining companies like Rio Tinto, Anglo American and BHP Billiton are already rationalising their business plans to cope with the expected downturn, it says in a new report. The value of listed coal companies monitored by Citi has shrunk from $50 billion in 2012 to $18 billion in 2015, a trend it believes will continue. Explaining the shift in the global energy mix, Citi cites a “politically driven” decline in investor appetite for coal driving the move to lower carbon forms of energy. A glacial pace of development on commercially-viable carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology may seal the industry’s fate, it adds: “If progress is not made quickly with CCS, it is difficult to see it playing a major role in emissions reductions.” (RTCC)
Global investors urge food firms to address rising water risks
Investors managing more than $2.6 trillion in assets have sent joint letters to 15 international food and drink companies amid growing concerns over water security and pollution. The letters, which were sent out to the likes of Kraft Heinz Co., Monster Beverage and Dr Pepper Snapple Group, were coordinated by sustainability organisation Ceres, which identified the 15 recipient companies as “poor performers” on water management issues. “Many food sector executives are holding onto a mistaken view that water will forever be cheap and limitless,” said Ceres senior water programme director Brooke Barton. “But the era of cheap, plentiful water is coming to an end, and, more than ever, food companies need to address it.” In a recent Ceres report that evaluated 31 publicly traded US companies, 90 percent cited water scarcity and treatment as a risk, yet only 30 percent mentioned that water risks were part of major business investment and incentives. (Edie)
Diversity
Women make strides in US business ownership
While the growth rate of new US businesses remains stalled, fresh government data show the share of women-owned firms has climbed. According to preliminary US Census Bureau data, the proportion of women-owned firms grew from 29 percent in 2007 to 36 percent in 2012. The number of self-employed women and the number of women running businesses with employees both increased, pushing the total number of women-owned firms to 9.9 million in 2012. “Women’s entrepreneurial appetites are at an all-time high,” said Carla Harris, chair of the National Women’s Business Council, a nonpartisan federal advisory council, adding that the rate of growth of female-owned businesses is almost four times the rate of businesses owned by men. But women continue to face challenges accessing capital and other obstacles to growth, she said. (WSJ)
Energy
Kochi airport becomes world’s first to operate completely on solar power
Cochin International Airport (CIAL), located in the Indian city of Kochi, became the first in the world to operate completely on solar power on Tuesday. The inauguration of a 12 megawatt peak solar power plant, comprising 46,150 solar panels laid across 45 acres near the cargo complex, technically makes the airport ‘absolutely power neutral’ – contributing as much power to the local grid during the day as it needs to “buy back” at night. The plant was installed by the Kolkata-based Vikram Solar. Since 2013, the airport has saved more than 550MT of CO2 emissions through solar power, contributing to the efforts of CIAL towards minimising environmental degradation. (CIAL)
Technology & Innovation
Carbon nanofibres made from CO2 in the air
Scientists in the US have found a way to take carbon dioxide from the air and make carbon nanofibres, a valuable manufacturing material. The solar-powered system runs just a few volts of electricity through a vat full of a hot, molten salt; CO2 is absorbed and the nanofibres gradually assemble at one of the electrodes. The team suggests it could be scaled up and make an impact on CO2 emissions, but although this would involve adopting the reactors on a colossal scale. Nonetheless, it could offer a cheaper way of making carbon nanofibres than existing methods. Carbon nanofibres are already used in high-end applications such as electronic components and batteries, and if costs came down they could be used more extensively – improving the strong, lightweight carbon composites used in aircraft and car components, for example. (BBC)
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