The project intends to suck carbon dioxide out of the air.

The Norwegian government has presented a major funding proposal to enable the large-scale implementation of carbon capture, transport and storage (CCS) technologies in Norway. Public funding of around $1.8 billion will contribute to the overall cost expected to be in the region of $2.7 billion.

Named 'Longship', the funding package will see the implementation of the first full-scale CCS project in the world. It follows decades of research and pilot projects and marks a major step forward for this critical climate mitigation technology for Norway, Europe and the world.

The only option for some high-emission industries

CCS is a series of technologies that can remove harmful CO2 emissions from industries that are otherwise difficult to decarbonize, such as cement and steel manufacturing, but also applies to heat and power, clean hydrogen and carbon dioxide removal systems.

Leadership at the European Commission have said that to meet the challenging climate goals of the Paris Agreement, such sectors need the continued development of carbon capture and storage. If we are to meet those challenging targets, IEA modeling shows that as much as 14% of cumulative emissions reductions must come from CCS.

Nikola founder Trevor Milton at the groundbreaking for the company's factory in Coolidge, Arizona, ... [+] in July.

Trevor Milton, the founder of upstart hydrogen truckmaker Nikola Corp., has resigned as executive chairman and from its board in the wake of allegations by an analyst with a short position in the company’s stock who had accused him of misrepresenting its technology and capabilities prior to going public. Board member Steve Girsky, a former General Motors vice chairman, replaces him as chairman.

“I asked the Board of Directors to let me step aside from my roles as Executive Chairman and a member of the Nikola Board of Directors,” Milton tweeted late Sept. 20. “The focus should be on the Company and its world-changing mission, not me. I intend to defend myself against false allegations leveled against me by outside detractors.”

Nikola “is in amazing hands and the executive team is well-equipped to lead the Company into the future,” he said. The brash, 38-year-old entrepreneur is Phoenix-based Nikola’s largest shareholder with a stake of more than 20% that Forbes estimates is worth $2.7 billion as of Sept. 21. (Trucking industry news site Freightwaves broke the news of Milton’s departure, citing people close to the matter who weren’t identified.)

The news led Nikola shares to plunge nearly 30% at the start of Nasdaq trading. They fell 19% to close at $27.58.

Nikola founder Trevor Milton at the groundbreaking for the company's factory in Coolidge, Arizona, ... [+] in July.

Trevor Milton, the founder of upstart hydrogen truckmaker Nikola Corp., has resigned as executive chairman and from its board in the wake of allegations by an analyst with a short position in the company’s stock who had accused him of misrepresenting its technology and capabilities prior to going public. Board member Steve Girsky, a former General Motors vice chairman, replaces him as chairman.

“I asked the Board of Directors to let me step aside from my roles as Executive Chairman and a member of the Nikola Board of Directors,” Milton tweeted late Sept. 20. “The focus should be on the Company and its world-changing mission, not me. I intend to defend myself against false allegations leveled against me by outside detractors.”

Nikola “is in amazing hands and the executive team is well-equipped to lead the Company into the future,” he said. The brash, 38-year-old entrepreneur is Phoenix-based Nikola’s largest shareholder with a stake of more than 20% that Forbes estimates is worth $2.7 billion as of Sept. 21. (Trucking industry news site Freightwaves broke the news of Milton’s departure, citing people close to the matter who weren’t identified.)

The news led Nikola shares to plunge nearly 30% at the start of Nasdaq trading. They fell 19% to close at $27.58.

The stock price of Nikola Corporation, the electric truck company, dropped hard in early trading on Monday morning. While Tesla TSLA is established as the world’s most famous and valuable electric vehicle (EV) company, unlike Nikola, it naturally draws comparisons. In fact, the recent Nikola news raises a couple vital questions for Tesla and its outspoken CEO, Elon Musk, about their batteries. We’ll be waiting see if they answer those questions tomorrow at the company’s Battery Day and annual meeting. 

Signage is displayed outside Nikola Corp. headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., on Tuesday, Sept. ... [+] 15, 2020. Nikola Corp. shares fell as much as 10.4%, resuming its decline as investors reacted to word of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into allegations it deceived investors about its prospects. Photographer: Ash Ponders/Bloomberg

Problems with Nikola started to appear when short-selling firm Hindenburg Research issued a report a week and a half ago that questioned whether Nikola has any significant priority technology behind its plans to build electric trucks and whether the company misled investors. The SEC then began looking into the matter. Back in the spring, the company went public through a reverse merger, and in the summer, it announced a partnership deal with GM which sent stock prices rising (but also exposed that GM would build the batteries for the supposed-EV company). Early this morning, Nikola’s founder and executive chairman, Trevor Milton, resigned. 

Tesla is much older and an established company. It was started in 2003, more than 17 years ago. Tesla delivered 367,656 cars in 2019, whereas Nikola does not yet have a product. If you search for patents assigned to “Tesla” at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, you get 565 results, and if you search for patents assigned to “Tesla” with “battery” in the title, you get 126 results (as of the morning of September 21, 2020). Clearly Tesla is a real company with real products, real revenues and protected intellectual property. 

Investors should not see the two companies as the same. For all of the criticism Elon Musk and Tesla get—legitimate and not—they have a real company. Tesla does not regularly turn a profit, and its market cap is probably far outsized for the value it has actually earned. However, Tesla cars and SUVs are driving around on the streets, and its fans love the vehicles. 

OCG's cleanup crews.

Ocean Cleanup Group (OCG) built a search engine that helps clean the ocean. Founded in December 2019, the non-profit organization is committed to saving the coasts and marine lives from plastic pollution.

The extension works like Google GOOGL and, the more a user searches, the more relevant ads are shown. The difference is that OCG ends up getting a portion of the price that the advertiser is paying and uses the money to fund cleanup operations.

The project was born out of the idea to “help everyone make a difference from their homes.” The two founders Mike Powell and Jon Chambers wanted to create something that could encourage people “to make a change wherever and whenever they are.”

“While traveling, I was shocked at the extent of plastic waste in some countries, you hear and see news about it all the time, but seeing and witnessing it firsthand really brought something to life in me,” Powell told Forbes.com.

OCG's cleanup crews.

Ocean Cleanup Group (OCG) built a search engine that helps clean the ocean. Founded in December 2019, the non-profit organization is committed to saving the coasts and marine lives from plastic pollution.

The extension works like Google GOOGL and, the more a user searches, the more relevant ads are shown. The difference is that OCG ends up getting a portion of the price that the advertiser is paying and uses the money to fund cleanup operations.

The project was born out of the idea to “help everyone make a difference from their homes.” The two founders Mike Powell and Jon Chambers wanted to create something that could encourage people “to make a change wherever and whenever they are.”

“While traveling, I was shocked at the extent of plastic waste in some countries, you hear and see news about it all the time, but seeing and witnessing it firsthand really brought something to life in me,” Powell told Forbes.com.

Fighting words: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, used his opening speech at Climate Week NYC to ... [+] call for a "military-style campaign" to combat climate change.

The climate crisis will dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and world governments must adopt a “warlike footing” if humanity is to avoid “an ultimate reckoning for our abuse of nature,” the Prince of Wales has warned.

“The borderless climate, biodiversity and health crises are all symptoms of a planet that has been pushed beyond its planetary boundaries,” the prince said in remarks for the opening of the Climate Week NYC summit today. “Without swift and immediate action at an unprecedented pace and scale, we will miss the window of opportunity to reset for a green-blue recovery and a more sustainable and inclusive future.”

The first in line to the British throne and a veteran environmental campaigner, the prince said climate change was now a “comprehensive catastrophe” that required a “Marshall-like plan for nature, people and planet.”

Singling out the melting of permafrost in Siberia and the burning of large areas of the Pantanal region in Brazil as pivotal climate events, the prince warned there would be an “ultimate reckoning for our abuse of nature.”

Fighting words: Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, used his opening speech at Climate Week NYC to ... [+] call for a "military-style campaign" to combat climate change.

The climate crisis will dwarf the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and world governments must adopt a “warlike footing” if humanity is to avoid “an ultimate reckoning for our abuse of nature,” the Prince of Wales has warned.

“The borderless climate, biodiversity and health crises are all symptoms of a planet that has been pushed beyond its planetary boundaries,” the prince said in remarks for the opening of the Climate Week NYC summit today. “Without swift and immediate action at an unprecedented pace and scale, we will miss the window of opportunity to reset for a green-blue recovery and a more sustainable and inclusive future.”

The first in line to the British throne and a veteran environmental campaigner, the prince said climate change was now a “comprehensive catastrophe” that required a “Marshall-like plan for nature, people and planet.”

Singling out the melting of permafrost in Siberia and the burning of large areas of the Pantanal region in Brazil as pivotal climate events, the prince warned there would be an “ultimate reckoning for our abuse of nature.”

getty

The United Kingdom, which had originally set a ban on the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles — diesel, gasoline and hybrids — for 2040, took the decision in February to bring the ban forward by five years to 2035, only to find its advisors on the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) demanding that to be effective, the ban should be brought forward to 2032. Now, according to sources in The Guardian, that ban could be advanced to 2030, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as part of a stimulus package to develop a more sustainable economy.

The idea is that from 2030, the only new vehicles on sale in the UK will be electric, either battery or hydrogen fuel cell powered. To this end, incentives of up to £6,000 ($7,687) are planned to trade in an internal combustion vehicle for an electric one, as well as the development of an extensive charging network — even McDonald’s is signing up — and other measures, such as a ban on advertising for highly polluting SUVs.

The reality is that the rollout of clean energy in the United Kingdom is advancing rapidly: the substantial increase in solar and wind power was able to supply 47% of total generating needs in the first quarter of 2020, and costing between 30% and 50% less than the government had initially estimated. British oil company BP plans to reduce its oil and gas production by 40% by 2030 through investment and acquisitions in renewables, and to position itself as one of the world’s most important suppliers of clean energy. In fact, the company predicts a bleak future for the oil industry as a whole, foreseeing that half of the world’s proven oil reserves, 1.7 trillion barrels, will not be extracted because they will never be needed, and as such they are already negative assets.

If the United Kingdom confirms its intention to bring forward the ban on the sale of internal combustion vehicles to 2030, it will join a select group of developed economies including Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Norway, which plans to ban them in 2025, given that more than half of new vehicle sales in the country have been electric for some time now. Other countries, such as France and Spain, are still aiming for 2040, which is good news for carmakers that have already been forced to change their strategy since it was originally set, but which reflects a failure to commit to serious environmental policies

© 2018 Bloomberg Finance LP

The richest 1% of people in the world create more than double the carbon emissions of the poorest, says a new report which calls for taxes targeting excessive luxury.

Studying the quarter century from 1990 to 2015, Oxfam and the Stockholm Environment Institute found that the richest 1% were responsible for 15% of emissions. The poorest half accounted for 7%.

Travel was the biggest culprit. In the E.U. "air travel" of the 1% accounted for nearly half of all their emissions. "Land travel" was next, followed by housing.

The richer you are the more you travel, and the more you travel privately. While the affluent drive their own cars and take holidays abroad, the even more flush buy mega-polluters like private jets and superyachts (which burn an average of 500 litres (110 gallons) of fuel an hour). Meanwhile poorer people mostly travel on public transport if at all.