Our focus

Meva Energy has created an innovative modular gasification technology to generate renewable, synthetic gas that can be used as a low-carbon substitute for fossil-based natural gas within light manufacturing sectors.

Climate impact

Meva sources sustainable waste wood as feedstock and converts it into a substitute for fossil-based natural gas, utilising a patented gasification process and technology. The technology produces biochar as a by-product, which locks in about 10% of the emissions that would occur if the wood waste was simply burnt to produce heat. One of the conclusions from our fuels roadmap was to prioritise biomass for energy when the alternative solution is far from production-ready. This is true of our investment in Meva where greenhouse gas emissions from industrial heat cannot be easily electrified and limited alternatives exist. Over time, biochar may have even further greenhouse gas mitigation if used as an animal feed.

Stegra aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the steel industry and is currently working to develop a first-of-its-kind, large-scale, green steel plant in northern Sweden called the Boden Project.

Climate impact

Steel production emits about 7% of energy sector CO2 emissions annually, according to the International Energy Agency. It is one of the hardest-to-abate industries and an essential area of the economy to decarbonise. Stegra’s greenhouse gas mitigation is based on its manufacturing process, which uses green hydrogen (hydrogen created with 100% renewable electricity) to reduce iron ore. This is then combined with steel scrap in an electric arc furnace to produce steel with about 95% lower carbon intensity than traditional steelmaking (in a blast furnace).¹ We believe Stegra will also be instrumental in wider decarbonisation because it would become one of the world’s largest green hydrogen projects (150MW). In our view, this will be transformational in starting the cost-down trajectory of green hydrogen, which has huge potential to be used as a decarbonisation lever for other hard-to-abate industries.

^{1. Source: Stegra company estimate.}

ABB E-mobility is a Swiss-based company that produces electric vehicle charging solutions, helping decarbonise road transport by accelerating the deployment of its charging infrastructure.

Climate impact

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, around 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from the transportation sector, which has traditionally been hard to decarbonise. We believe ABB E-mobility will help decarbonise road transport by accelerating the deployment of its solutions ranging from smart chargers for the home to high-power chargers for highway stations of the future, solutions for electrification of fleets and opportunity charging for electric buses and trucks. In our view, this business will have a significant impact on emissions abatement in the hard-to-decarbonise road transportation sector.

Infinitum is a manufacturer of electric motors that are smaller, lighter and more serviceable than conventional motors, and can be used in a wide array of applications, delivering a step change in efficiency and ultimately electricity consumption.

Climate impact

According to the International Energy Agency, motors are the largest single end-user of energy. Infinitum’s technology seeks to tackle the approximately 23% of global greenhouse gas emissions which come from electricity generation – with as much as half of this electricity being used to power electric motors. Infinitum’s motors are more efficient than available alternatives thanks to design features including variable frequency drive (VFD) motors, a type of motor drive that controls speed and torque by varying the frequency of the input electricity. This new generation of motors – smaller, lighter and quieter – can be used in applications like fans for heating, ventilation and air conditioning; pumps; material handling; mobility and power generation. If VFDs were used at scale, it is estimated that they would reduce energy consumption in the industrial and commercial sectors by as much as 11%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Continuum Green Energy is one of the leading renewable energy groups in India focused on commercial and industrial consumers, building efficient, utility scale wind-solar hybrid energy projects.

Climate Impact

Currently, around 72%² of India’s electricity is sourced from coal, while electricity demand in the country is projected to grow by 35%³ between 2019 and 2030. The Indian Government has set an ambitious target of 500 gigawatts of installed capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030, which requires significant private equity investment to realise this immense transformation. However, significant challenges remain to achieving this transition.

Continuum aids its customers in reducing carbon emissions by providing clean, affordable and reliable renewable energy. The company plans to use the new equity to continue deploying wind-solar-hybrid projects across India and adding energy storage capacity in the future. Critically, an accelerated rollout of renewables in India will help to displace coal power generation – the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel – realising the type of significant greenhouse gas emissions abatement that we look for in our investments.