Germany, Austria and Luxembourg will provide up to €2.12bn through a joint eSAF funding scheme, using a double-sided auction to bridge the price gap between buyers and sellers of electricity-based aviation fuel. Germany, Austria and Luxembourg announced on 21 September a joint eSAF funding scheme worth up to €2.12 billion.…
Mesabi Metallics has announced an $18bn plan, including a $15bn Iowa steel complex that will pair hot direct-reduced iron with electric arc furnaces and use ore from its new Minnesota mine. Mesabi Metallics announced on 28 September an $18 billion investment to build a fully integrated steel company. The plan…
The Commission has published final terms for its second industrial heat auction, releasing €1 billion from EU Emissions Trading System revenues to cut fossil fuel use in process heat, with bidding expected from December. The European Commission published the final terms and conditions on 24 September for its second Europe-wide…
NSG Group has completed a float glass recycling trial at its Chiba Plant, reprocessing end-of-life laminated glass from a University of Tokyo building into new glass products. NSG Group has completed a float glass recycling trial at its Chiba Plant in Ichihara City, in what it calls horizontal recycling, feeding…
INEOS Energy has brought the Greensand offshore carbon storage site off Esbjerg into full operation, the European Union’s first full-scale facility, with capacity to store up to 8 million tonnes a year. INEOS Energy, with partners Harbour Energy and Denmark’s Nordsøfonden, has brought the Greensand offshore carbon storage site off…
Sanofi, UCB and Opella Healthcare have joined AstraZeneca as founding members of the Clean Heat Program, targeting industrial heat as the largest remaining source of pharmaceutical manufacturing emissions. Multinational pharmaceutical companies Sanofi, UCB and Opella Healthcare Group have joined AstraZeneca as founding members of the Clean Heat Program, an initiative…
Bulgaria’s glass packaging industry has launched a national Close the Glass Loop platform to raise collection for glass recycling, aiming to help meet the EU’s 90% target by 2030. Bulgaria’s glass packaging value chain has united to launch a new national platform for glass collection and recycling, joining a Europe-wide…
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Calgary-based Cura has closed a $10 million USD funding round to expand its electrochemical low-carbon cement pilot with Grand Forks Concrete, a step toward commercial-scale production in Alberta. Calgary-based cleantech company Cura has closed a $10 million USD ($14 million CAD) funding round on 17 September, its second tranche, to accelerate commercial development of its low-carbon cement technology near Taber, Alberta. The round was led by Zacua Ventures, with Sandpiper Ventures, Vantage Futures, Amplify Capital, the University of Calgary’s UCEED fund, the Mount Rundle Club and Sebastian Becker also participating. Zacua’s Juan Nieto joins Cura’s board of directors. Cement is…
The Hydrogen Council’s latest Hydrogen Compass report puts the global low-carbon hydrogen pipeline at $130 billion and 6.9 million tonnes a year, with ammonia the leading offtake. The Hydrogen Council said in its latest annual Hydrogen Compass report that the global low-carbon hydrogen project pipeline has grown to $130 billion and 6.9 million tonnes a year of capacity across 570 projects, with 90% of that capacity under construction or already operational. The figures mark a maturing pipeline, with a growing share of projects moving past the announcement stage into construction and operation. Ammonia remains the dominant offtake for the pipeline,…
EU member states agreed to expand free ETS allowances for energy-intensive industries from 2026 to 2030, aiming to protect steel, cement and chemicals producers from carbon leakage. EU member states have agreed to expand free ETS allowances for energy-intensive industries between 2026 and 2030, a move the Council of the European Union says will protect steel, cement and chemicals producers from carbon leakage during a sensitive stretch of the transition. Ambassadors representing member states agreed on 16 September to release around 88 million allowances that had been set aside for free allocation to sectors covered by heat and fuel benchmarks…
CAC Engineering’s pilot plant in Freiberg, Germany has produced 300,000 litres of synthetic gasoline, showing its power-to-liquids process can run reliably over a sustained period. A pilot plant in Freiberg, Germany has produced 300,000 litres of synthetic gasoline, a threshold its developer says demonstrates that its power-to-liquids process can run reliably over a sustained period rather than only in short bursts. The facility, run by CAC Engineering at TU Bergakademie Freiberg, uses the company’s METHAFUEL technology to convert e-methanol into synthetic gasoline through the DeCarTrans research programme. Reaching 300,000 litres of cumulative output matters because continuous, reliable operation, rather than…
NEDO and four Japanese partners achieved 85% ammonia co-firing in a full-scale naphtha cracking furnace, a step towards decarbonising petrochemical production without a full plant redesign. A Japanese consortium has achieved an 85% ammonia co-firing rate across a full-scale naphtha cracking furnace, a milestone the group says clears one of the toughest technical barriers to decarbonising petrochemical production. NEDO, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, ran the demonstration together with Mitsui Chemicals, Maruzen Petrochemical, Toyo Engineering and Sojitz Machinery, testing a furnace fitted with a newly developed ammonia-fired burner. The 85% figure covers the entire furnace on a…
China’s CESTRI has opened a demonstration plant that turns coal fly ash into fly ash geopolymer concrete, a cement-free binder the institute says cuts emissions and costs against Portland cement. The CHN Energy Science and Technology Research Institute (CESTRI) has opened a demonstration base in China that converts coal fly…
Rohrdorfer has co-fired hydrogen on the clinker kiln at its Gmunden works in Austria, the first trial of its kind at an Austrian cement plant, though the producer says the fuel still costs far too much. Austrian cement producer Rohrdorfer has run the first large-scale hydrogen combustion test at an…
Holcim Germany has commissioned a membrane-based carbon capture demonstration at its Höver cement plant in Lower Saxony, capturing up to 10,000 tonnes a year and targeting 90% of site emissions after expansion. Holcim Germany has commissioned a membrane-based carbon dioxide capture demonstration plant at its Höver cement works in Lower…
Aircapture and NGK have commissioned a direct air capture unit at AIZAWA Concrete’s Fukushima site, testing NGK ceramic substrates in commercial conditions and looking at concrete mineralisation as an outlet for the captured gas. Aircapture and NGK Corporation have started a joint direct air capture demonstration at AIZAWA Concrete Corporation’s…
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BMW’s Car2Car consortium has shown that additional sorting can strip copper from end-of-life vehicle scrap well enough to make flat steel for cars, with more than 100,000 series parts already built and installed. High-quality material loops are technically feasible in the automotive industry, and copper-bearing impurities in steel scrap can be reduced notably, BMW said after completing its Car2Car research project with partners, EUROMETAL reported on 27 August. The project focused on steel, aluminium and copper, and also considered other materials including glass. BMW’s consortium included Scholz Recycling, thyssenkrupp Steel Europe and Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschung, alongside academic partners such as…
UNEP says copper demand will rise more than 40% by 2040 while mined output peaks around 2030, leaving a projected shortfall of 6.5 million tonnes within the next five years. Demand for copper will rise more than 40% by 2040 while mined production is expected to peak around 2030 and then flatten or decline, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. The projection appears in a UNEP article published on 27 August on securing the materials the energy transition needs. Copper carries electrification. Electric vehicles use up to four times as much of it as traditional combustion engines, and it…
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The Negative Emissions Platform proposes a pragmatic strategy to boost early demand for carbon removal in the EU, including a Buyers’ Club and public procurement to catalyse market growth ahead of 2030. The Negative Emissions Platform has set out a pragmatic road map for jump-starting demand for carbon dioxide removal across the European Union before 2030, arguing that near-term, targeted interventions are needed while longer-term market structures are finalised. According to the NEP discussion paper authored by its CDR financing lead Atilla Yucel, Europe’s removal projects are mired in a cycle of uncertainty: developers delay final investment decisions because of…
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation proposes a systemic shift in EV battery management to extend asset life, reduce demand for new materials, and unlock economic benefits, spotlighting industry-led actions and policy reforms at the World Economic Forum. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has set out a roadmap for treating electric vehicle batteries and the minerals they contain as durable, recoverable assets rather than single‑use commodities, in a report presented at the World Economic Forum in Davos on 24 January 2026. According to the report by the foundation, a systemic shift across product design, business models, infrastructure and governance is needed to retain…
The European Union has reoriented its climate ambitions, framing decarbonisation as a catalyst for industrial growth and energy resilience amid geopolitical and economic pressures, raising questions about balancing competitiveness with environmental targets. Since the European Commission launched the European Green Deal in December 2019 the bloc has sought to recast its economy around deep decarbonisation and climate neutrality by 2050. That ambition, to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 against 1990 levels and to embed a just transition for affected regions, remains the EU’s stated objective, reinforced by the European Climate Law and funding instruments such…
Hitachi Energy’s four-week trial at a UK construction site demonstrates the commercial viability of using hydrogen fuelled generators and battery storage to eliminate diesel emissions, signalling a significant shift towards greener construction practices. Hitachi Energy has demonstrated a commercially viable route to fossil‑free construction by operating a UK grid‑connection worksite for four weeks using a hydrogen fuelled generator and battery storage instead of diesel, the company said. According to Hitachi Energy, the temporary power system supplied its National Grid 400 kilovolt connection project at Rugeley, Staffordshire, with a HyFlex® hydrogen generator fed by green hydrogen from Air Products together with…
Topsoe will supply its Hydroflex® hydrotreating technology to Tangshan Jinlihai Biotechnology for a US$210 million renewable fuels hub, aiming to produce sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel while significantly reducing CO2 emissions in China’s growing green energy sector. Topsoe will supply its Hydroflex® hydrotreating technology and associated services to Tangshan Jinlihai Biotechnology Co., Ltd for a renewable fuels hub planned at the Caofeidian Petrochemical Industry Base in Tangshan, Hebei province, the companies said. The facility is designed to process about 300,000 tonnes of feedstock per year, using waste oil as its primary input, and carries a planned capital outlay of…
At the Hamburg Summit, the UK and European partners formalised a pact to develop up to 100 GW of cross-border offshore wind capacity by 2050, signalling a new era of regional energy collaboration and resilience. At the North Sea Summit in Hamburg on 26 January 2026, the United Kingdom and nine European partners formalised a cooperative framework to develop up to 100 GW of cross‑border offshore wind capacity in shared North Sea waters by 2050. According to the UK government, the Hamburg Declaration , signed by ministers from Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and the…
The UK is advancing towards operationalising its long-awaited deposit return scheme, with a new consumer-facing identity, Exchange for Change, unveiled as the nation gears up for a 2027 launch aimed at boosting recycling and reducing litter. The UK’s long-awaited deposit return scheme has taken a concrete step towards becoming operational after the industry body charged with running it unveiled its consumer-facing identity as Exchange for Change, an element described in an exclusive by The Grocer. With an implementation date set for October 2027, the programme is moving from policy discussion into the practical phase that will test the readiness of…
Heidelberg Materials projects a resilient 2026 operation driven by modest market recovery and a strategic focus on low-carbon technology, amid geopolitical uncertainties and tightening regulations in the cement industry. Heidelberg Materials is projecting a resilient operating year in 2026 as it balances improving market dynamics with an aggressive decarbonisation and cost‑efficiency push, the group’s chief executive said in remarks to BNP Paribas and company publications show. Management expects modestly higher cement volumes in 2026, underpinned by tentative recovery in continental Europe (excluding the UK) and continued, if limited, growth in the United States. Price gains across the US and European…
The Northern Endurance Partnership secures a seabed lease from The Crown Estate, paving the way for the UK’s first large-scale offshore CO2 storage project, with operations anticipated to start in 2028. The Northern Endurance Partnership (NEP) has moved from planning to delivery after signing a commercial seabed lease with The Crown Estate that clears the way for the United Kingdom’s first large-scale offshore carbon capture and storage (CCS) project to enter construction. According to Carbon Herald, the agreement secures NEP’s route for an offshore pipeline and the Endurance storage complex, a deep saline aquifer in the southern North Sea with…
Researchers have developed a novel five-dimensional imaging system to observe real-time moisture movement, chemical transformation, and mechanical damage during concrete carbonation, paving the way for enhanced sustainable construction practices. Researchers have deployed a novel operando five-dimensional imaging system to observe, in real time, the interplay of moisture movement, chemical transformation and mechanical damage as cement paste carbonates , a development that could sharpen strategies for using recycled concrete as a CO2 sink while protecting material performance. According to a paper in Communications Materials by El Faqir, Tengattini, Huet, Briffaut and Dal Pont, the team combined simultaneous neutron and X‑ray tomography…
