Rojin Nair, Advisor
June 1st, 2021
At Incyub8 Inc, Rojin is focusing on nurturing and guiding various national and international start-[...]
Category Archives: ESG, Financial Inclusion, Sustainable Finance
What’s Awaiting Carbon Capture in 2023?
Guest Post | November 21, 2022
Industrial carbon capture (CCS) is a process for making industrial processes less carbon intensive.
This technology involves capturing CO2 and storing it in a liquid or gas form. There are five main methods of CCS. These involve storing CO2 onshore, offshore, in saline aquifers, or in depleted gas fields.
Exxonmobil
ExxonMobil is exploring ways to use carbon capture to reduce its emissions.
The company is committed to achieving a carbon-neutral future and is working with partners to find ways to fund the project. Exxon plans to seek government funds, including grants and loans, for the project.
The company also hopes to partner with other industrial firms. For instance, it would be able to tap the expertise of Air Liquide, which has been using Cryocap technology at its Port Jerome unit in Normandy, France, since 2015. The company would add expertise in liquefaction and carbon capture technologies.
The project would also use existing infrastructure to collect carbon dioxide and store it underground. Exxon expects to achieve an annual capacity of 50 million metric tons by 2030 and double that figure by 2040.
In addition to the pipelines, it plans to build infrastructure to permanently store and transport the captured carbon dioxide. The Porthos infrastructure will be located about 20 km off the Dutch coast and deep within the North Sea.
The company's current plan calls for the project to be completed by 2023.
The company has announced a partnership with CF Industries, a global manufacturer of nitrogen and hydrogen products.
The partnership will involve the installation of a $198.5 million carbon dioxide dehydration unit at CF's ammonia production facility in Donaldsonville.
The CO2 will be transported through EnLink Midstream's pipeline network to an underground facility in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana.
Occidental
Occidental Carbon Capture in 2023 is one of the first industrial-scale projects aiming to capture carbon emissions.
Adding this technology could be a game-changer for the company. The company has a negative reputation as a polluter, but adding direct air capture to its operations will allow it to change its image.
In fact, Occidental has already publicly announced that it plans to position itself as a "carbon management company."
Occidental's CEO has been in the carbon capture industry for 40 years and has formulated a strategy to transition away from organic CO2 and anthropogenic carbon emissions. The company aims to reach net-zero emissions from its operations and product use by 2050.
Western Midstream is thrilled about the partnership. The two companies will collaborate on projects to capture carbon emissions. And Western Midstream is excited to be working with Occidental.
As the first major corporation in the sector, Occidental is positioning itself to be the company that can lead the way. The company has announced that it plans to build an air capture plant in
Texas that will capture 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. Construction on the initial project is expected to begin in the second half of this year, and startup is expected to be complete by 2024.
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, Occidental is licensing a technology to capture carbon emissions in the air. The company will fund the project with an investment from Canadian startup 1PointFive.
In addition, the company plans to raise additional capital from outside investors. Its partners include United Airlines Holdings Inc.
Occidental's Permian Dac Project
The Permian DAC project will be the largest direct air capture (DAC) plant in the world when it is complete.
Oxy plans to invest between $800 million and $1 billion to build the facility, which it hopes to open in 2023. It will use captured CO2 for EOR in the Permian and expects to reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent to 20 percent over a decade.
The company has partnered with a Canadian start-up to develop the technology. It will finance the plant through a subsidiary, 1PointFive, which is owned by Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Rusheen Capital Management LLC.
It plans to attract additional outside investors to finance the plant. Occidental, for its part, has a stake in Occidental.
The first DAC plant will be the largest in the world. It will be operational in late 2024 and will capture up to 500,000 metric tons of CO2 per year. Oxy expects to scale this up to a million metric tons per year. The company plans to deploy up to 70 DAC facilities globally by 2035.
Occidental is positioning itself to be the first large corporation to enter this space. It recently announced plans to build a direct air capture facility in the Permian region of Texas that could capture up to 500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
The company has already received approval for the initial project from a local school district and is expected to begin construction this year.
Occidental's Porthos Project
Occidental's new carbon capture project, called Porthos, aims to reduce CO2 emissions by using captured carbon in its enhanced oil recovery process.
CO2 is typically pumped into older wells where it penetrates the rock formations and acts as a soap to release crude. This project would eliminate the need to transport CO2 to the refinery, and would also allow Occidental to become carbon neutral by 2050.
In the future, carbon capture technologies will continue to be a hot topic on the environmental stage. Companies like Occidental and 1PointFive are working to develop the technology to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
This growth is a welcome development for free-market environmentalists.
Occidental plans to start commercializing DAC technology by licensing it from a Canadian start-up. The company will fund the project through a joint venture called 1PointFive, which is owned by Oxy Low Carbon Ventures and Rusheen Capital Management LLC.
The company is also looking for outside investors to help finance the project. Occidental and 1PointFive are both publicly-listed companies, and the company holds stakes in both companies.
The Porthos CCS plant will start operating in 2023, and it is expected to store 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 per year. The project will be the largest direct air capture facility in the world.
Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of this year. The company plans to develop a profitable business using CO2 extraction and providing CO2 underground.
Sempra Energy's Underground Co2 Storage Project
Sempra Energy is planning an underground CO2 storage project in the Gulf of Mexico, which could help reduce its CO2 emissions by 15%.
It filed an application with the Environmental Protection Agency last year to build the project, which could consist of three injection wells. Using the technology of carbon capture and sequestration, the company can store CO2 underground, where it can be used for a variety of purposes.
The company is partnering with a number of companies, including TotalEnergies and Mitsui & Co., Ltd., to develop the project in Louisiana. It is also working on a carbon capture hub in southwest Louisiana, which could provide an anchor source for CO2 capture.
While carbon sequestration has received more attention in recent years, its costs and safety have been questioned. In addition, Sempra is a major player in the LNG export market. Its new $10 billion Cameron LNG facility is expected to start shipping LNG this year, and it is developing an export component of its LNG facility in Ensenada, Mexico.
It has also partnered with the Mexican government to build another LNG export facility in Topolobampo, on the Gulf of California.
Carbon capture and storage technologies are critical to the clean energy transition.
Takeaway
Carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) are a critical part of the fight against climate change. Companies like Occidental, 1PointFive, and Sempra Energy are working on developing these technologies to help reduce emissions.
See: Canada’s Low-Carbon Tech opportunity is now or risk another familiar story
CCS can be used in a variety of ways, from reducing emissions from fossil fuels to storing CO2 underground. While there are still some hurdles to overcome, such as costs and safety concerns, CCS is a promising technology that could make a big impact in the fight against climate change.
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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RBC’s Climate Claims Being Investigated by Competition Bureau
Financial post | Barbara Shecter | Oct 12, 2022
Image: Unsplash/Li-An Lim
The Competition Bureau has opened an inquiry into Royal Bank of Canada’s environmental representations and marketing following a complaint last summer that the bank’s claims to be a climate leader were misleading because of its continued financing of fossil fuel projects.
- Claim: A group of six individuals backed by environmental groups including Ecojustice and Stand.earth accused Canada’s largest bank of “greenwashing” by making bold claims about taking action on climate change while funding projects such as the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in British Columbia.
- Competition Bureau official saying that the commissioner “has commenced an inquiry.” The letter said the inquiry “seeks to determine the facts relating to allegations that RBC has contravened the Act by making false or misleading environmental representations.” No timeline or further details were provided.
See: A conversation with Catherine McKenna former Minister of the Environment and Climate Change: Fighting greenwashing
- Ecojustice suggested that if the Competition Bureau’s inquiry finds that RBC’s statements are misleading and false, the bank could be forced to stop advertising itself as supporting the principles of the Paris Agreement and aiming to achieve net-zero emissions targets by 2050.
- “RBC strongly disagrees with the allegations in the complaint, and believes the complaint to be unfounded and not in line with Canada’s climate plan,” a spokesperson said in an email.
- There is growing pressure from outside forces including regulators, shareholders, and international organizations to manage risks related to climate change. Canada’s largest banks find themselves in a unique position when it comes to environmental commitments, given that companies in the oilpatch have been longstanding and lucrative clients.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
Opinion: Crypto and Financial Inclusion – Dispelling Narratives
Brookings | Tonantzin Carmona | Oct 26, 2022
Conclusion
Before embracing cryptocurrencies or overstating their potential, policymakers should first clarify the problems they are trying to solve, and more importantly, why they are trying to solve them.[87] When it comes to crypto and financial inclusion, there are fluctuating and contested terms and narratives. Thus, it may be difficult to discern what groups, problems, or pain points we are striving to address.
When examined closely, crypto’s current capabilities do not match the needs of the groups it purports to serve, and it carries a host of risks and drawbacks that undermine its benefits. More alarming, we can observe parallels between crypto and other predatory products, which highlights crypto’s potential to exacerbate unequal financial services to historically excluded groups.
See:
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BIS Report: Can CBDCs be designed to help financial inclusion?
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So what is financial exclusion in the era of Open Finance?
Considering this reality, we can either encourage inequitable and exclusionary banking systems to persist by enabling others to profit from the inequities, or we can develop the courage to ensure that banking is truly inclusive. For these reasons, rather than endorse crypto as a tool for equity, we should instead promote and explore policy solutions that can more directly and impactfully achieve and bolster financial inclusion.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Indigenous Communities Call on Canada’s Capital Markets to Help Rebuild Economies
Investment Executive | Melissa Shin | Sep 19, 2022
As the country prepares to mark the second National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Indigenous communities are calling on Canada’s capital markets to support the rebuilding of Indigenous economies.
- In June, more than 20 Indigenous organizations released the National Indigenous Economic Strategy, which contains immediate actions industry, governments and institutions can take to support Indigenous prosperity.
- The strategy argues that Indigenous prosperity is tied to Canada’s prosperity, citing 2016 research from the National Indigenous Economic Development Board that found economic marginalization of Indigenous peoples costs the economy $27.7 billion each year, or 1.5% of GDP.
- Actions specific to the financial services industry include mandating the disclosure of Indigenous procurement and requiring that publicly traded companies report on Indigenous employment and contracting.
- Mark Sevestre, founding member and senior advisor to the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association (NATOA), said institutional investors — Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike — also are demanding that companies improve their relationships with Indigenous communities. NATOA advised on the Indigenous economic strategy.
Video: OneFeather - Redefining the Indigenous Experience through Innovation and Tradition
- In June 2021, a bill stating that all Canadian law must be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) received royal assent. The law requires an action plan to be developed within two years of the bill’s passage.
- Since November 2021, Bull has sat on the Indigenous advisory council to Toronto-based Canadian National Railway Co. “To me, it’s an opportunity for transformational change because you’re bringing Indigenous leaders into your boardroom,” she said.
Tabatha Bull, president and CEO of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB):
Indigenous people were intentionally excluded from the economy in Canada. Because that exclusion took place over centuries, remedying the situation is going to take more than decades, and we can’t wait any longer.
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
Patagonia: Earth is now our only shareholder
The Guardian | Rupert Neate | Sep 15, 2022
Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia, Founder announced he was giving away all of the shares in Patagonia to a trust that will use future profits to “help fight” the climate crisis.
“Earth is now our only shareholder,” Chouinard, 83, said in a message to staff and customers. “Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’. Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.”
- Forbes 2017 article: In the article, Forbes crowned Chouinard as a billionaire and added him to its list of the world’s richest people. While many people daydream of achieving a nine-zero fortune, for Chouinard it was a sign he had failed in his life’s mission to make the world a better and fairer place.
- The publication of a magazine article in 2017 “really, really pissed off” Yvon Chouinard, the mountain climber turned reluctant businessman and founder of outdoor clothing company Patagonia.
- I don’t have $1bn in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.” Chouinard, who drives a beaten-up Subaru with a surfboard strapped to the roof, says he hopes giving away the company “will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people”.
- “But that’s not even the point,” Chouinard continued. “Being a dirtbag is a matter of philosophy, not personal wealth. I’m an existential dirtbag.”
See: Bill Gates Announces $20 Billion Donation and Obligation to Return His Resources to Society
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Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman, Chouinard wrote that if he “had to be a businessman” he was “going to do it on my own terms”. “Work had to be enjoyable on a daily basis. We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two steps at a time. We needed to be surrounded by friends who could dress whatever way they wanted, even be barefoot,” he wrote.
“We don’t care when you work, as long as the work gets done”
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
A conversation with Catherine McKenna former Minister of the Environment and Climate Change: Fighting greenwashing
MaRS | Jul 21, 2022
Photo illustration by Monica Guan
Net-zero commitments are a critical first step in the fight against climate change. But to stave off the worst effects of a warming planet, we actually have to ensure governments and business leaders live up to those promises.
In this episode, we chat with Catherine McKenna, head of the UN Task Force against greenwashing, about regulations and accountability when it comes to net-zero targets, as well as how incentives might help.
We need to quickly scale climate solutions; which means tackling bureaucratic hurdles. Nothing is off limits.
Featured in this episode:
- Catherine McKenna, Canada’s former Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. Catherine’s current role (as founder and principal) focuses on scaling Climate and Nature Solutions. She’s also the Chair of the UN Secretary General’s new High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities, and if that wasn’t enough — Catherine is an avid open water swimmer and mother of three. She shares her perspective on what it takes to make progress on the climate file.
See: The Steps to Designing a more sustainable and digital economy
There’s so many innovative opportunities, but we need folks to really think differently. And this is where, making sure for cities in towns, that climate is an across-the-board theme. That you have a climate lens on everything you’re doing, that you are thinking every time you invest a dollar — you’re saying to yourself, is this going to reduce emissions? Is this going to adapt more to the impacts of climate change?
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
Post-Merge, PoW Die-Hards Plan to Fork Their Own Ethereum Chains
The Defiant | Samuel Haig | Aug 3, 2022
The biggest upgrade in the history of Ethereum is rapidly approaching. The Merge will convert Ethereum into a Proof-of-Stake-based blockchain from a Proof-of-Work one. The shift will make the No. 1 blockchain for smart contracts and dApps faster and more affordable. Jazzed investors have sent Ether soaring 52% in the last 30 days.
But not everyone is happy. 'Maintain the Original'
- Some die-hard miners are facing the obsolescence of billions of dollars worth of mining hardware and a fall in revenue. And they are threatening to maintain the original, Proof-of-Work version of the Ethereum network to protect their investment.
- Colin Wu, a Chinese cryptocurrency journalist, recently estimated The Merge will displace $5B worth of GPU and ASIC-based mining hardware.
- On July 31, Wu reported that Chandler Guo, a Chinese miner and former advisor to Binance, predicted roughly half a dozen PoW forks will emerge after Ethereum moves to PoS.
See: Vitalik’s Announces Next 4 Phases of Ethereum’s Development Which is Only 40% Done
- In response, Llama Salami pondered whether an “NFT black market” could emerge on a PoW fork of Ethereum. But many onlookers are skeptical that post-merge PoW Ethereum forks will survive for long.
Perspectives
- Justin Drake, a researcher at the Ethereum Foundation, dismissed the threat of PoW forks. Drake said he expects there will be little economic activity on the PoW chain because there’s a very strong social buy-in for moving to PoS.
- Marc Zeller, head of developers relations at Aave, said stETH would be worthless on any PoW forks. In a post onTwitter he said stETH won’t be redeemable for Ether, creating a “$1.4B hole” in the books of a PoW fork of Aave.
- Bob Summerwill, the executive director of ETCCooperative, an organization providing grants and funding to the Ethereum Classic ecosystem, also told The Defiant that PoW Ethereum forks will ultimately fail due to the network effects of DeFi and stablecoins.
See: Blockchain-based replacement for traditional crowdfunding: DAOs
“All the dApp websites will stop working because they will reference ETH, not the fork,” he said. “Even if it’s possible for somebody to bring up clone websites, servers, etc, that needs doing for every dApp, and then somebody needs to maintain all those forks, too. Some likely not even possible, because you would need admin keys to be able to operate them, and those belong to the existing operators.” - Bob Summerwill
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The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
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Support NCFA by Following us on Twitter!Follow @NCFACanada |
