In 2024 we carried out an audit of all the information that we receive from our fund managers, grading it from 'don't bother, not worth it', to 'this is fantastic, everyone has to consume this when it arrives'.
One of the communications in the 'this is fantastic' category is the monthly report that we receive from Nanuk New World Fund. This fund is in the majority of our clients portfolio's. Nanuk invests through nine broad themes of environmental sustainability and resource efficiency and has been a consistently good performer.
But what we love about their monthly reports are their 'snippets' of information. Each month, they highlight important things that have happened in their nine themes of investment. Some are 'oh okay', others are 'wow'. We thought we would share some of these with you, things that might surprise you.
India unvelied a plan to upgrade it's power grid with over $100 billion of investment by 2032. The plan will enable the country to more than double grid connected renewable generation capacity to 500GW (giga watts).
German regulators approved plans for a €19 billion hydrogen network. The network will extend over 9,000km and connect key industrial hubs such as steel plants. It aims to be operational by 2032.
The Three Mile Island nuclear power generation plant in Pennsylvania said it would restart thanks to a power purchase agreement with Microsoft, whose energy needs are rising due to the huge power requirements for training and running AI models.
Australian miner Fortescue said it would spend $2.8billion on replacing two-thirds of its haulage trucks in Western Australia with 475 electric vehicles, of which 360 would be autonomous.
The UK achieved a landmark, positive climate milestone, closing its last remaining cola-fired power station during the month. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire had been operating since 1967.
Reduced air pollution over the decade to 2022 has increased life expectancy in China by two years. The World Health Organisation estimates that air pollution is associated with seven million premature deaths across the globe each year.
Britain's energy regulator Ofgem approved a $4 billion 'electricity superhighway' under the North Sea, to help export power from windy but low-population Northern Scotland to Englands.
China started generating power from a 1GW offshore solar project in the eastern province of Shandong. The project sits 8 km off the coast and covers 1,223 hectares. It uses 2,934 solar platforms that rest on large-scale offshore steel truss foundations, each platform measuring 60m by 35m. The industrial hub south of Beijing, plans to add more than 11 GW of offshore solar by 2025, with a goal of building 42 GW of capacity.
Adani Group was accused by US federal prosecutors of offering more than $250 million in bribes to Indian government officials in exchange for solar energy contracts for Adani Green Energy Ltd.
China’s BYD, the global leader in electric vehicles, launched its first plug-in hybrid ute in Australia, the Shark 6. The Shark’s 30kWh battery can be charged from a power socket but a 1.5 litre petrol engine is used to charge the battery when the charge runs low, promising 800km of range.
