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Reshoring Green Supply Chains for Resilience and Reindustrialization
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This week: Greener Gucci; Local subsidy largess; Warmer ice cream
Welcome back. Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has exacted a tragic human toll and also significantly changed the way many think around the globe. Security, both military and economic, have become a key concern particularly as food and energy supplies have become more expensive and unreliable.
Expensive, tight energy supplies have also accelerated the green transition in many places, albeit with some near-term increase in coal usage. Energy efficiency and clean power projects improve security by diversifying and localizing supply and they also pay back much quicker—the rise in oil and gas prices generally outstripped green energy cost inflation. Demand for electric vehicles is up as are plans for renewable power and storage along with more nascent technologies such as carbon capture and storage, biofuels and clean hydrogen. Generous incentives from the likes of the Chips Act or the Inflation Reduction Act are accelerating the changes, although permitting remains a challenge.
One corporate effect of this renewed focus on security and sustainability has been a rethinking of globalized supply chains built for cost efficiency during a more benign era. The recent series of disruptions—the Covid-19 shutdowns, the clogged up supply lines struggling to reopen and the war in Ukraine—supply chains are now being redesigned for resilience as well as cost efficiency.
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Lithium offers an example. It is a vital battery input for EVs in short supply. Around half of all lithium mined comes from Australia, but most of that Australian product is shipped as a bulk raw material—which is only about 6% lithium—to China where it is refined and made into the batteries needed globally for EVs, power storage and many other electronic devices. Companies are looking to develop new facilities in Australia, Europe and the U.S. to bypass China while also reducing shipping waste.
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Renew, Reshape, Refuel: 3 Strategies for a Low-Emissions Future |
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~ 80%
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of people polled in China and India consider Russia either an ally or a necessary partner, says the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The figure was 8% to 15% in 10 European countries and the U.S.
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Models present creations at the Gucci Fall/Winter 2023/2024 menswear show in Milan in January.
PHOTO: ALESSANDRO GAROFALO/REUTERS
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Gucci is set to launch a R&D hub in Tuscany, Italy promoting more durable and less wasteful fashion, as the sector works to meet coming European regulations requiring companies to limit their impact on the environment, writes Joshua Kirby.
The so-called circular hub will be a research-and-development center to study ways to improve circularity, including through better durability and recyclability of products, as well as minimizing waste and pollution. While luxury goods makers generally have strong and transparent supply chains, they also come under more scrutiny.
Waste is a particularly tricky proposition for high-end brands, which have traditionally incinerated unsold stock to avoid discounting their products or diluting their brand image. However, some companies are starting to see the durable nature of their products as a life-cycle management opportunity.
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States and cities, flush with pandemic-stimulus cash, ramped up their pursuit of new jobs by showering companies with big tax breaks last year, writes Konrad Putzier.
Corporate tax breaks surged in push for new chip and electric-vehicle factories with eight billion-dollar deals. Just one deal of that size occurred from 2018 to 2021.
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Unilever said emissions from retail ice cream freezers account for around 10% of its greenhouse gas footprint. PHOTO: MICHAEL COCKERHAM/UNILEVER
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Unilever PLC wants to warm up its ice cream freezers in convenience stores without turning its products into puddles, part of a broader effort to pursue green goals and potentially boost sales in the process, writes Katie Deighton.
The consumer packaged goods giant, which sells ice cream brands including Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, is testing the performance of its products in freezers that are set to temperatures of roughly 10 degrees Fahrenheit, up from the industry standard of zero.
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Chesapeake Utilities' First RNG Plant Could Benefit Its Green, Innovation Profiles
Chesapeake Utilities said Tuesday that it plans to build and operate a renewable natural gas facility in Florida using dairy manure as its feedstock, in a move that could help improve the gas utility company's environmental profile when it comes to greenhouse-gas emissions. The project, which would capture and clean methane from cow manure, could also boost the innovation profile of the U.S.-based energy firm as it would show responsiveness to the need for a transition to a lower-carbon and climate-constrained economy. The $22 million facility is set to come online in 2024, and would capture and redirect close to 28,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year, according to the company.
This is a sample of exclusive analysis of sustainability news from the Journal’s environment, social and governance (ESG) research analysts, whose work is primarily published by Dow Jones Newswires to help institutional investors and wealth managers integrate ESG factors into portfolio models, risk management programs and financial advice. The commentary by our research analysts is independent of the news coverage by reporters at the Journal. For more information about Dow Jones Newswires, click here.
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Time for tidal energy? (Canary)
The World Bank prepares to get greener. (Financial Times)
The struggle for the soul of the B Corp movement. (Financial Times)
Climate migrants from the Florida Keys. (Business Insider)
NASA's new earth-focused missions to understand climate change. (CBS)
A dozen books arguing for a just energy transition. (Yale)
Australia's high-emitting industry can cut its CO2 by 90% by 2050 without offsets. (Guardian)
Solar-power misinformation in rural America. (NPR)
The world’s top 1% of emitters produce more than 1,000 times the CO2 produced by the bottom 1%. (IEA)
Chinese ESG disclosure standards could be coming by as early as the end of this year. (Bloomberg)
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