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Threat of contagion in emerging markets deepens commodity risk

By: Bloomberg 13th August 2018 When Thailand devalued its currency two decades ago, few in global commodity markets took note. Within a year, the crisis morphed into an emerging-market rout that eviscerated the price of everything from crude oil to copper. Fast forward to today and Turkey is presenting a similar challenge. The... →

LafargeHolcim restructuring, Africa troubles dent H1 profit

By: Reuters 27th July 2018 LafargeHolcim first half profit fell 43%, the company said on Friday, as the world's largest cement took 300-million Swiss francs ($301.81-million) in restructuring costs from its overhaul under Chief Executive Jan Jenisch. The Zurich company said first-half net profit tumbled to 371-million... →

Natural gas vital for S Africa’s energy security

By: Melissa Zisengwe 27th July 2018 The energy sector’s global and inclusive forum for engagement, the Energy Council, believes that South Africa’s Gas-to-Power programme is vital to ensuring energy security for the country. Consequently, the Energy Council regularly engages with the Department of Energy (DoE) to see how the... →

Ford hits carbon emissions reduction target eight years early

27th July 2018 In June, automotive manufacturer Ford Motor Company announced that it had met its goal to reduce manufacturing emissions – eight years ahead of schedule. Ford hit the target twice as fast as expected. The results are dramatic, with a global manufacturing carbon emissions reduction of more than... →

French metals group Eramet warns favourable outlook could be dented by trade rows

By: Reuters 24th July 2018 A sharp rise in manganese ore and nickel prices helped Eramet post higher profits in the first half of the year, but the French metal and mining group warned on Tuesday that current favourable markets could be hurt by global trade tensions.In an interim results statement on Tuesday, Eramet... →

Worldwide Trend Towards Living Green Walls

23rd July 2018 There is a worldwide trend towards installing living green walls in buildings and homes. It is a way to enhance the building’s visual appearance, improve air quality and provide a work or home-friendly environment.   People are becoming increasingly attracted to green areas. Businesses and large... →

New zero-discharge chemical production facility opens in Pomona

By: Schalk Burger 20th July 2018 The new 6 600 m2 chemical production facility of multinational Veolia Water Technologies South Africa, in Pomona, Kempton Park is the main blending facility for the company’s local operations, and is also set to export to Veolia’s clients throughout Africa, owing to its competitive costs of... →

Stellenbosch Business School ranks top business school in S Africa

By: Marleny Arnoldi 19th July 2018 The University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) has been ranked as the top business school in South Africa by Eduniversal – an international education rating agency based in Paris. The ranking is the result of voting by deans of business schools around the world, based on a list of... →

First African company announces science-based greenhouse gas target

By: African News Agency 19th July 2018 Emira Property Fund has become the first African and South African company to have a greenhouse gas emissions target approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). The initiative is a collaboration between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World... →

World's oil cushion could be stretched to the limit, IEA warns

By: Reuters 12th July 2018 The world's oil supply cushion could be stretched to the limit due to prolonged outages, supporting prices and threatening demand growth, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday. The expected drop in Iranian crude exports this year due to renewed US sanctions, coupled with a... →

Gauteng Transport Authority set for rollout in Q1 2019

By: Irma Venter 11th July 2018 Gauteng’s three metros, and all other providers of public transport in the province, will be able to retain their various services’ individualised branding under the new Gauteng Transport Authority (GTA), says Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe. This means that a system such as the... →

Public transport systems taking too long to develop, says UITP

By: Irma Venter 6th July 2018 Public transport in cities faces a growing number of challenges, says UITP (International Association of Public Transport) secretary general Mohamed Mezghani. The first is a growing urban population with increasing demand for mobility. With 50% of the world’s population living in cities, it means... →

Veolia's new South African chemical production facility offers improved cost competitiveness

By: Schalk Burger 29th June 2018 The new 6 600 m2 chemical production facility of multinational Veolia Water Technologies South Africa, which opened in Pomona, Kempton Park, on Thursday, is the main blending facility for the company’s local operations, and is also set to export to Veolia’s clients throughout Africa, owing to its... →

AngloGold says no production impact from Guinea power protests

By: Reuters 28th June 2018 AngloGold Ashanti said on Thursday that there has been no production impact at its Siguiri gold mine in Guinea despite two days of violent protests over prolonged electricity outages by communities around the mine. Youths barricaded roads, clashed with security forces and tried to force through... →

Leading Concrete Personality Joins Chryso S.A.

27th June 2018 One of South Africa’s most experienced and respected managers in the cement and concrete industries, Neville Wearne, has joined Chryso South Africa as Project Manager: Concrete Aesthetics. Prior to his new appointment, Wearne was Marketing Project Manager for Lafarge SA, a company he joined in... →

100 Resilient Cities appoints Dana Omran as MD for Africa

By: Marleny Arnoldi 25th June 2018 Dana Omran has been appointed Africa MD for the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) programme. →

Coal is being squeezed out of power by cheap renewables

By: Bloomberg 21st June 2018 Coal will be increasingly squeezed out of the power generation market over the next three decades as the cost of renewables plunges and technology improves the flexibility of grids globally. That’s the conclusion of a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, which estimated some $11.5-trillion of... →

'The future we don't want is already happening' – climate change expert

By: News24Wire 20th June 2018 The future we don't want is already happening with more intense droughts, floods, heat waves, blackouts, food shortages and sea levels gradually rising. It may sound like a post-apocalyptic movie, but delegates to the Adaptation Futures 2018 conference in Cape Town heard that these climate change... →

Energy efficiency could massively reduce global carbon emissions

8th June 2018 Renewable energy and energy efficiency are the cornerstone of the world’s solution to energy-related carbon emissions, and can provide over 90% of the energy-related carbon emission reductions required to keep global temperature rise to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels, says International... →

Companies urged to accelerate carbon cuts

By: Kim Cloete 8th June 2018 South Africa needs to speed up its efforts to cut carbon emissions in tune with a more sustainable future, say analysts. Joanne Henstock, Africa Executive Director for Governance, Integrated Reporting and Sustainability at EY, says South Africa faces significant challenges in achieving its... →

Big investors urge G7 to step up climate action, shift from coal

By: Reuters 4th June 2018 Institutional investors with $26-trillion in assets under management called on Group of Seven leaders on Monday to phase out the use of coal in power generation to help limit climate change, despite strong opposition from Washington. Government plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions were too weak... →

EU, US trade envoys meet on tariffs, outcome unclear

By: Reuters 30th May 2018 European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met in Paris on Wednesday to discuss looming US import tariffs on EU steel and aluminium, the European Commission said, but declined to speculate on the final outcome. US President Donald Trump has imposed... →

Ottawa buys Kinder Morgan pipeline, expansion project for C$4.5bn

By: Henry Lazenby 29th May 2018 Ottawa announced on Tuesday that it has reached agreement with pipeline builder and operator Kinder Morgan to buy the existing Trans Mountain pipeline and associated controversial expansion project for C$4.5-billion, in the clearest-yet government signal that the oil expansion project is of... →

Transport Decarbonisation Alliance launched

By: Simone Liedtke 25th May 2018 The Transport Decarbonisation Alliance (TDA), a coalition aiming to catalyse the accelerated decarbonisation of the transport sector, was launched earlier this week in Leipzig, Germany, as part of the International Transport Forum (ITF). Rail transport company Alstom and partner companies, cities... →

LafargeHolcim to cut 200 jobs as Paris, Zurich offices axed

By: Reuters 25th May 2018 LafargeHolcim will close its corporate offices in Paris and Zurich, eliminating 200 jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive, the world's largest cement maker said on Friday. The Franco-Swiss company confirmed the long-mooted closure of its Paris HQ, which was reported by Reuters on Thursday. →

465 TWh of renewable energy sourced by companies in 2017 – Irena

By: Simone Liedtke 24th May 2018 Companies in 75 countries actively sourced 465 TWh of renewable energy in 2017, an amount close to the overall electricity demand of France, a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena) states. With the continued decline in the costs of renewables, the report suggests that... →

The Just Transition debate in South Africa

By: Saliem Fakir 18th May 2018 South Africa is the only country that explicitly includes in its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) a mention of the Just Transition – this is as far as I know. The issue of a just transition raised its head recently when the National Union of Metalworkers South Africa (Numsa) and a... →

Contrasting performances for Sub-Saharan African, European miners – BMI

By: Simone Liedtke 17th May 2018 Europe and sub-Saharan Africa are on opposite ends of BMI Research’s Mining Risk and Reward Index (RRI), as can be seen with Europe’s significantly stronger performance in country and industry risk indicators, while sub-Saharan Africa continues to lag in country reward scores. The country reward... →

Congo billionaire seeks French loan to develop iron-ore railway

By: Bloomberg 17th May 2018 Paul Obambi, a billionaire investor in the Congo Republic, is in talks with French lenders to fund a railway he’s building to export iron-ore. Obambi’s company Sapro SA is negotiating with “a consortium of banks” to finance the 450-km track that will link the southwestern town of Mayoko to a... →

Norway postpones decision on carbon capture plant, drops Yara

By: Reuters 15th May 2018 Norway postponed a final decision on whether to go ahead with a project to develop Europe's first industrial carbon capture and offshore storage (CCS) project, after dropping one of its participants, Yara International . The government said on Tuesday that fertiliser maker Yara's site, one of... →

Louis Dreyfus completes $466m sale of metals unit to Chinese fund

By: Reuters 11th May 2018 Louis Dreyfus Company said on Friday it had completed the sale of its metals business to a Chinese investment fund for $466-million, as part of a push to revive profits by focusing on its core agricultural markets. Louis Dreyfus announced in December an agreement to sell LDC Metals to NCCL... →

Tackling shipping sector’s carbon emissions

By: Saliem Fakir 27th April 2018 Shipping emissions is an area that has not fallen under the rubric of United Nations Framework for Climate Change (UNFCCC). The shipping industry has, by and large, avoided scrutiny of its own contribution to climate change. Given that the shipping industry’s infrastructure will be exposed to the... →

Daimler joins China's Responsible Cobalt initiative

By: Reuters 25th April 2018 German carmaker Daimler has joined the Responsible Cobalt Initiative, a programme established under a Chinese industry body to tackle risks in the cobalt supply chain arising from artisanal mining. Cobalt consumers are under pressure to ensure the material they use is not tainted by child labour... →

McCloskey International Set to Showcase New Compact Crusher at Intermat 2018

17th April 2018 Intermat visitors will have a chance to view the most recent addition to McCloskey International’s product portfolio, the I34R compact impact crusher, during Intermat Paris, 23-28 April 2018. This exciting new highly mobile machine will be on display outside the entrance to Hall 6 for the... →

Four South African cities strive to make all new buildings zero-carbon

By: Simone Liedtke 16th April 2018 Residents and businesses moving into new buildings in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Tshwane will soon enjoy lower energy bills, and will generate fewer greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, reducing their climate change impact. High-efficiency energy performance requirements are being developed... →

Ex-Microsoft manager lands Responsible Cobalt Initiative role

By: Reuters 29th March 2018 A former manager for Microsoft Corp in China has been named as the first executive secretary of the Responsible Cobalt Initiative (RCI), which works to address social and environmental risks in the cobalt supply chain. Christina Feng, who managed the US tech giant's programme for the responsible... →

EIB pumps $25m into off-grid solar project

By: Marleny Arnoldi 28th March 2018 The European Investment Bank (EIB) has provided $25-million in financing for off-grid solar lighting company d.light to strengthen access to energy in Africa. →

G20 agrees to 'monitor' cryptocurrencies but no action yet

By: Reuters 21st March 2018 Financial policymakers from the world's top 20 economies agreed to keep a watchful eye on cryptocurrencies on Tuesday and opened the door to regulating the booming industry at a later stage. Wild swings in the price of Bitcoin, the best known of a myriad of digital currencies issued by private... →

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