GHGBlaze

Even as iron ore and steel prices have plunged this year due to depressed demand, there are encouraging signs for future decarbonisation of the sector. Steel is responsible for ~7% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In 2023, steel was one of 18 sectors the IEA judged to be “off track” its net zero trajectory. However, a report released last month by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) suggests the sector has made great strides in the past year to get on track. The majority of emissions in steelmaking relate to the high temperatures needed to extract iron from iron ore and convert it to steel. Electric arc furnaces (EAF) can reduce the emissions associated with converting pig iron or steel scrap to steel by ≤86% compared to the traditional primary steelmaking using blast and basic oxygen furnaces (BF-BOF). According to GEM: 📈 90% of new capacity additions announced last year are EAF 📈 EAF steelmaking now accounts for ~50% of all capacity under construction, up from 43% in 2023 and 33% in 2022 📈 EAF accounts for 32% of active steelmaking vs. 24% in 2020, and within reach of the 37% the IEA says is required by 2030 to put the sector on track for net zero by 2050. Secondary steelmaking using EAF cannot fully meet global steel demand, though. Decarbonisation of primary steel production is reliant on DRI. DRI currently comprises 36% of capacity under development, compared to only 9% of active steelmaking. Though even natural gas-based DRI is >35% less emissions intensive than coal-based BF, to be considered truly low-carbon DRI must be fuelled by green hydrogen, which is still in its infancy. As production pathways continue to diversity, tracking the source of steel on the market and the emissions related to its production will be critical for complying with the EU and other emerging CBAMs and supporting price differentiation for green steel. GHGBlaze leverages blockchain to trace emissions at the cargo level, from mine to plant, specifically for these purposes. Get in touch today to learn more at [email protected]. #greensteel #decarbonisation #netzero https://lnkd.in/eP2RKFRp

Yesterday, the UK Offshore Energy Digital Strategy Group (DSG) released a set of six data management principles designed to support decarbonisation of the UK North Sea. Specifically, the six principles call for: 1️⃣ Data sharing and collaboration on initiatives to promote emissions reductions and sustainable practices 2️⃣ Increasing the value of data by applying AI and data science to accelerate progress, identify and develop new solutions and reduce costs and risks 3️⃣ Collaboration on targeted use cases to address priority challenges and reduce duplication 4️⃣ Advancing digital model (including digital twins) accuracy and reliability through data sharing 5️⃣ Creating and using trusted, secure and standardised databases to aid data sharing 6️⃣ Integrating shared data into decision-making processes in order to enhance efficiency and streamline operations The DSG was established in 2022 to implement the recommendations of a report by Energy Systems Catapult on Digitalising Offshore Energy Systems. Three task groups were set up to implement the recommendations. The Data Principles Task Group is the first to deliver on its remit, following an extensive consultation process with industry, government and data and technology leaders. The challenges the principles are designed to address—lack of standardisation, trust, accuracy and reliability—are the same challenges limiting visibility into extractive commodity supply chain emissions, and which GHGBlaze was designed to address. GHGBlaze applauds this important first step in recognising the ground work required to generate the data sets and insights needed to accelerate the transition to a low carbon future, including a Net Zero UKCS.

I’ve had the great privilege and pleasure to be in Paris this week for the Olympics, which aim to be the most sustainable ever. As with any event of this scale, there have been controversies, but these have been surprisingly limited from an environmental perspective. Criticism has principally focused on the Games’ sponsors, Coca-Cola and Toyota, in particular: 🗼Coca-Cola was named the world’s largest plastic polluter in a recent survey by NGO Break Free from Plastic. Though Coca-Coma has pledged to reduce single-use plastic by 50% for the Olympics, by making use of beverage fountains and reusable plastic cups, French news outlet Le Monde reported that 40% of drinks will still be served in single-use plastic bottles. Indeed, at one of the events I attended this week, concessions staff were pouring Coca-Cola products from single-use plastic bottles into reusable cups—and there was no place to return the reusable cups, potentially further contributing to plastic waste. 🗼Toyota was named the highest emitting sponsor of the Games, releasing more than 3x the volume of greenhouse gases than the next highest emitting sponsor and more than even host country France. Toyota has also come under criticism for supplying hydrogen-fueled vehicles, which require 3x more electricity than battery electric vehicles to fuel. A full greenhouse gas accounting won’t be available till after the Games. The largest source of emissions are likely to relate to spectator travel. Towards these ends, Paris 2024 has purchased 1.47 million tonnes of offsets from projects as varied solar, cookstoves, mangroves and forest protection, all Verra or Gold Standard certified and none of which have come under criticism (at least as yet). As any Olympic gymnast knows, it’s very hard to score a 10. But Paris may still yet score gold for its sustainability performance.

As the Paris 2024 Olympics Games get underway this weekend, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the environmental footprint. Paris 2024 aims to set new sustainability standards for global sporting events, including reducing GHG emissions (Scopes 1-3) 50% relative to the London and Rio de Janeiro Games. Measures to achieve this aim include: 🗼 Minimizing newbuild facilities: 95% of Paris 2024 venues are already existing or temporary. Only two permanent venues were constructed vs. six for London 2012 and 10 for Rio 2016. The permanent venues that have been built were constructed using wood frames, low or ultra-low carbon and recycled materials, helping reduce emissions per square metre 30% compared to a conventional new-build venue. 🗼 Maximizing circularity: 90% of assets constructed and installed have a contractually guaranteed second life, including 100% of temporary venues and furniture. The medals awarded have been produced from 100% recycled metal. 🗼 Harnessing low-carbon energy: 100% of venues, including temporary facilities, are connected to the grid and powered with 100% renewable energy. Where grid connection is not feasible, mobile batteries, biofuels or hydrogen will be used. 🗼 Lowering transport emissions: All venues are accessible by public transport and bike, with 130 km of cycling lanes constructed. Low-carbon fuels have been used for at least 50% of road journeys, with light-duty vehicles 100% electric, hybrid or hydrogen-fuelled.  Longer distance or heavier transport has been shifted to rail or barge where feasible, and container ships powered with LNG or biofuel. Finally, 80% of forklifts used are electric. 🗼 Doubling the availability of plant-based meals:  including providing a minimum of 40%-60% plant-based options across all venues, and halving single-use plastic. The Paris 2024 organising committee is the first to measure the Games’ “material footprint,” venue by venue, event by event, activity by activity, and even initiated an update to the ISO 20121 standard for event management. Highlighting the importance of traceability, wood sourced for construction came from 100% eco-managed forests in France, and the renewable energy used is backed up with Guarantees of Origin from eight dedicated sites. Additionally, 150 strategic service providers are subject to dedicated monitoring and support. A full accounting will not be complete until after the Games. Even then, many estimates will undoubtedly go into the final calculation. Still, Paris 2024 is making great strides in environmental sustainability and accounting. Paris 2024 Sustainability Report can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eyDfTPwB

Yesterday, the UK’s Energy Systems Catapult released the second report in its series on carbon accounting regulation as part of the cross-Catapult Carbon Accounting Programme: https://lnkd.in/ex5JKdWC The programme was established to address the complexities and inconsistencies in current carbon accounting practices in order to create a standardised carbon accounting framework for UK manufacturers. The report identifies key gaps in carbon accounting regulation that inhibit availability of credible emissions data to inform low-carbon decision making: ⛔ An absence of detailed emissions calculation methodologies and guidance can lead to inconsistencies in disclosures across companies, products, industries, etc. Lack of transparency around the assumptions used can undermine credibility and trust in the data. ⛔ Non-current and standardised emissions factors erode accuracy and limited availability of Scope 3 emissions factors limits the effectiveness of audits and verification. ⛔ Lack of digital oversight for data sharing impedes interoperability and risks duplication of effort or double counting, as well as limiting visibility of supply chain hotspots. In order to address these gaps, the report recommends the following regulatory approaches: 🎯Issue more detailed, sector-specific guidance, co-developed with industry. 🎯Provide and maintain updated guidance on emissions factors. 🎯Develop data best practice guidance and open data licensing conditions to protect sensitive data. GHGBlaze has heard many of these same complaints from commodity market participants trying to understand emissions across their value chains—non-standardised methodologies, including inconsistent boundaries; data inaccuracies; inconsistent data formats; concerns over data sensitivity and lack of trust among market participants. In the absence of regulation, GHGBlaze aims to address some of these challenges by providing a secure platform for data sharing across commodity value chains, using standardised web-based collection templates that provide visibility into emissions boundaries and methodologies used—as well as an indication as to whether or not the data has been audited or verified. Over time, industry-led initiatives or regulation may drive consistency. In the meantime, GHGBlaze facilitates data sharing and interpretation around these inconsistencies.

Methane has received an increasing amount of attention recently. Atmospheric concentrations of methane have more than doubled over the past 200 years vs. a 50% increase in CO2 concentrations. Five of the largest annual increases in atmospheric concentrations on record occurred in the last four years. Though we can measure atmospheric concentrations of methane using satellites, determining and measuring individual sources of methane is much more challenging. Unlike CO2 emissions, which primarily relate to energy use and can be calculated based on fuel consumption and efficiency factors, most methane results either from natural releases or leaks from industrial activities, particularly oil and gas. Measurement typically relies either on bottom-up estimates based on activity data and standardised emissions factors, which don’t accurately reflect exceptional releases, or periodic, top-down aerial assessments, which may not be representative of performance across the year. A report released last week by Australia’s Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis highlighted the challenge with methane measurement. The analysis revealed a 92% difference between IEA estimates for methane releases from the Australian oil and gas industry and data reported in the national inventory. At a global level, there is a 68% difference between IEA estimates of methane emissions from the energy sector and reported emissions to the UNFCCC. Given these disparities, it’s not surprising that two groups over the last week have called for international standards for methane measurement: 🌐 On 2nd July, a group of European and US lawmakers penned a letter to IEA Director Fatih Birol asking the agency to develop international standards for methane measurement from the oil and gas sector by end of June 2025, particularly in light of trade-related measures like the EU Methane Regulation, which requires monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) and eventual restriction of methane emissions linked to domestically produced and imported fossil fuels. 🌐 In a report released 5th July, the Methane Abatement in Maritime Innovation Initiative (MAMII) called for universal standards for methane measurement from the shipping industry, particularly LNG-fuelled ships, to help inform decarbonisation efforts. MAMII also advocated for improved information on upstream emissions related to production and delivery of maritime fuel. GHGBlaze is designed to help with the latter—tracking emissions across commodity value chains, from extraction through processing and refining to distribution—and presenting it in standardised formats that allow for easy aggregation and filtering. However, the outputs are only as good as the inputs. Improved and standardised monitoring and measurement of methane will help all stakeholders ensure they are taking meaningful action to decarbonise. https://lnkd.in/exeZDR4Q

As this EU parliamentary term comes to end, the Council of the EU rushed to adopt a raft of new sustainability related laws over the past week, several of which have supply chain traceability requirements impacting commodity producers and traders. Legislation adopted in recent days includes the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Methane Regulation and, this past Friday, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). The CSDDD has received significant attention—and sparked considerable concern—over the potential burden of compliance, particularly for SMEs and small-scale farmers and agricultural producers both domestically and in third countries. However, the CSDDD is not the first regulation to require supply chain due diligence and traceability of sustainability metrics. The EU Conflict Minerals Regulation (2017) and implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme for blood diamonds before that (2003) both similarly included supply chain due diligence and traceability requirements. Additionally, individual EU states had already implemented comprehensive supply chain due diligence regulations, including Germany’s Supply Chain Due Diligence Act and France’s Duty of Vigilance Act. CSDDD standardises and expands these to all EU countries. These precedent regulations contain valuable lessons for implementation of not only the CSDDD but the multiple other regulations or directives passed under this Parliament that likewise include traceability elements, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, Batteries Regulation, Methane Regulation and the ESPR. What these laws make clear is that, regardless of sector, commodity producers, traders and distributors will increasingly need to have accurate, reliable data on emissions and other sustainability metrics associated with the products they produce, buy and sell. And with compliance dates in some cases a year or less away, if not already in effect, the time to put systems in place to comply with these requirements is now. Are you ready? https://lnkd.in/eJDnWdGc

Two weeks ago, the G7 committed to phase out unabated coal-fired power generation by 2035 or “in a timeline consistent with keeping a limit of 1.5°C temperature rise within reach, in line with countries’ net zero pathways.” The commitment follows an agreement two years ago to ‘predominantly’ if not fully decarbonise their power sectors by 2035, and global recognition of the need to transition away from fossil fuels at COP28. Additionally, the countries agreed to: 🤝 Promote a common definition of ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies by 2025, as well as report on progress in phasing them out 🤝 Submit strengthened Paris Agreement commitments nine months in advance of COP30 in 2025 🤝 Accelerate efforts to promote clean power, including expanding energy storage to 1,500 GW by 2030, and increasing investments in electricity transmission and distribution 🤝 Pursue a 75% reduction in global methane emissions from fossil fuels, including by reducing the methane intensity of oil and gas operations The G7 members, which include the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Japan, generate ~15% of their electricity from coal, down from 29% in 2015 and 44% in 2003, and half the global average. The G7 accounts for 11% of coal-fired power generation globally. The share of power generation from coal varies significantly across G7 economies, from 0.3% in France to 29% in Japan. Though the US and Germany are largely self-sufficient, Japan is almost entirely dependent on imports, suggesting the commitment could have significant implications for global thermal coal trade flows. The commitment to phase out coal could also have implications for trade flows of other energy products, particularly natural gas to the extent it’s used as a substitute fuel for coal while working to renewable energy production. Japan is already the largest LNG importer in the world. The prospect of increased natural gas usage, at least in the short term, places increased importance on the commitment to reduce global methane emissions associated with fossil fuels. Methane emissions associated with natural gas supplies vary significantly by source. Both the US and EU have recently strengthened regulations related to methane emissions from fossil fuel production, including on imported sources. Improved monitoring, reporting and verification across value chains will be critical to ensuring this objective is met. https://lnkd.in/emBBrrFE

GHGBlaze is thrilled to be shortlisted for an Innovation Zero Award at this year's Innovation Zero conference. Launched in 2023 in partnership with the UK government, Innovation Zero aims to accelerate meaningful action toward a low-carbon economy by connecting innovators, investors, policymakers and corporate actors across multiple sectors, including energy, minerals and materials, aviation and shipping and finance. GHGBlaze shares Innovation Zero's commitment to connecting stakeholders across sectors and disciplines to solve the world's decarbonisation challenge. Congratulations to the other short-listed solutions and leaders creating change in this space!

Founder & CEO Amy Bowe was honoured to have the opportunity to pitch alongside seven other exciting clean tech start-ups at the #ShellStartUpEngine FastTrack event in Cambridge yesterday evening. Thank you to Shell for the opportunity and to the mentors present for their time and invaluable perspective. Receiving feedback and guidance, based on deep industry expertise, is critical to ensuring we build and deliver a solution that will truly add value in decarbonising the oil and gas industry.