2024-09-24 11:11
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Octopus Energy Generation has acquired solar and battery storage developer Exagen Group to expand its renewable energy pipeline. Exagen, which develops utility-scale renewable energy and storage projects, said on Tuesday it has generation capacity of more than 2.4 gigawatts in development in England. The acquisition of 100% of Exagen comes after Octopus took an initial 24% stake in the company in August 2022. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Exagen said it has gained planning consent for 520 megawatts (MW) of battery storage projects in England over the past year. It also has 260 MW of solar and 268 MW of battery storage either in the planning stage or about to enter it in the year ahead. Octopus said it manages nearly 7 billion pounds ($9.4 billion) of renewable energy projects worldwide and the Exagen acquisition will help it contribute to Britain's low-carbon energy transition "By increasing our investment, we're going to turbocharge the build-out of new green energy and rapidly grow the UK's energy storage capacity," said Alex Brierley, co-head of Octopus Energy Generation's fund management team. Britain aims to have 95% of its electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030, which will also require an increase in energy storage to help balance supply and demand on the system. ($1 = 0.7483 pounds) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/octopus-buys-british-solar-battery-storage-firm-exagen-2024-09-24/
2024-09-24 11:09
TSX ends up 0.2% at 23,952.22 Fourth day of record closing highs Materials group gains 1.8%; gold prices climb Energy adds 1%; oil settles 1.7% higher Sept 24 (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index extended its record-setting run on Tuesday, led by gains for energy and metal mining shares, as major commodity importer China unveiled stimulus measures to boost its economy. The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index (.GSPTSE) , opens new tab ended up 57.51 points, or 0.2%, at 23,952.22, its fourth straight day of record closing highs. China's stimulus package, including interest rate cuts, was broader than expected and marked the latest attempt by policymakers to restore confidence in the world's second-largest economy. "When China is being stimulated, that definitely helps the price of oil and many other commodities move higher," said Allan Small, senior investment advisor of the Allan Small Financial Group with iA Private Wealth. Taken together with the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates "you have all the makings of a good market in Canada," Small said. Investors expect the Fed to continue cutting interest rates over the coming months after the U.S. central bank reduced borrowing costs for the first time in four years last Wednesday. The Bank of Canada has also been easing policy. Given the continued progress the BoC has made in bringing inflation back down to the 2% target, it's reasonable to expect more rate cuts, Governor Tiff Macklem said. The materials group, which includes fertilizer companies and mental mining shares, rose 1.8% as gold and copper prices climbed. It was led by a gain of 9% for Aya Gold & Silver Inc (AYA.TO) , opens new tab. The price of oil also rose, settling 1.7% higher at $71.56 a barrel, on China's stimulus measures and concerns that growing conflict in the Middle East could hit regional supply. The energy sector was up 1% and industrials added 0.3%. Heavily weighted financials were a drag, ending 0.2% lower. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/tsx-futures-rise-china-stimulus-boosts-commodity-prices-2024-09-24/
2024-09-24 11:03
LEAF's first deal in the Amazon rainforest Para state to allocate proceeds to Indigenous and local communities Amazon, Bayer, BCG, Capgemini, H&M, Walmart to buy 5 million credits at $15 each SAO PAULO, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and other companies have agreed to buy carbon offset credits that will support the conservation of its namesake rainforest in the Brazilian state of Para, in a deal valued at around $180 million. Amazon and at least five other firms will make the purchase through the LEAF Coalition forest conservation initiative, which it helped to found in 2021 with a group of companies and governments including the United States and United Kingdom. The agreement is LEAF's first deal in the Amazon, the world's largest rainforest, which is vital to curbing climate change because of the enormous amount of greenhouse gas its trees absorb. The Para state government and the LEAF Coalition first shared details of the deal exclusively with Reuters. Para Governor Helder Barbalho announced the agreement on Tuesday during New York Climate Week, when about 900 events will be held alongside the UN General Assembly. Barbalho said the state would only collect the portion of the sales' proceeds needed to continue its efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, while the rest would go to Indigenous peoples, former slave and traditional extractivist communities as well as family farms. "Clearly it sends an important message: A company with a name referencing the Amazon making its first purchase with a state in the Amazon," Barbalho told Reuters separately. Amazon confirmed the purchase in a statement, emphasizing the importance of tropical forest preservation in addressing climate change. While demand for carbon credits globally has stalled, tech giants Microsoft, Meta and Google have all made purchases of offsets in Brazil this year. Amazon, drug and chemical maker Bayer, consultancies BCG and Capgemini, clothing retailer H&M and Walmart Foundation will collectively buy 5 million credits at $15 per credit. That is far above the average last week of $4.49 for carbon credits linked to nature, according to data provider Allied Offsets. Each credit represents a reduction of 1 metric ton of carbon emissions from reducing deforestation in Pará state in the years 2023 to 2026. Another 7 million credits will be made available for other companies to purchase. The U.S., U.K. and Norwegian governments have guaranteed a portion of those credits and will buy them if companies do not. Para will host the UN COP30 climate summit next year, in a move that is the centerpiece of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's bid to restore Brazil's environmental credentials after years of soaring deforestation. Para has been the top state for deforestation since 2005, although destruction has been falling there since 2021. An area larger than New York City has been deforested in Para from January to August this year, a 20% decline from a year ago, according to preliminary federal government data. Barbalho said at Climate Week that the government will by 2026 have complete traceability of supply chains for cattle, a key driver of deforestation in Para. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/firms-including-amazon-buy-180-million-carbon-credits-namesake-rainforest-2024-09-24/
2024-09-24 11:01
MARQUELIA, Mexico, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Hurricane John threatened southwestern Mexico with severe flooding on Tuesday evening even as it weakened on its trek inland after leaving three people dead and causing severe damage. Across several Mexican states, authorities were dealing with landslides, uprooted trees and electrical posts, and ripped-off roofs left by the storm on its trajectory after it made landfall on Monday night. Civil protection authorities and the National Guard were clearing mud, rocks and trees from roads in the Guerrero and Oaxaca states on Tuesday afternoon. State power firm CFE said it had restored power to seven affected municipalities by Tuesday afternoon, after John initially left nearly 99,000 users without electricity. Affected areas on Tuesday afternoon were "showing positive progress and recovering basic services, communications and electric power," Guerrero governor Evelyn Salgado said on social media. Mudslides claimed the lives of three people in Guerrero, authorities reported: two victims in the small town of Tlacoachistlahuaca and a third in the mountainous municipality of Malinaltepec. The fatalities were located inland between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco, a major beach resort that was devastated by Hurricane Otis , opens new tab last year. The affected coastal area is home to both cargo ports and some of the country's top beach resorts. Further south in Oaxaca state, the Puerto Escondido and Huatulco airports popular with tourists resumed operations, after being temporarily closed earlier in the morning, as the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation reported that the facilities had not been affected by John. Beaches in Puerto Escondido were littered in the aftermath of the storm with debris that included logs, plastics and even household appliances. Walking across a flooded street in the town of Marquelia, just off Guerrero state's Pacific coastline, resident Heidi Carrillo worried about the plight of her neighbors. "What's needed right now around the beaches is food, because lots of people there were left without their homes and I think they also need clothes," she said. Earlier on Tuesday, the national water commission Conagua warned that John dumped "extraordinary" rains of over 10 inches (25 cm) in Oaxaca and Guerrero, among Mexico's poorest states, with torrential and intense rains also affecting Chiapas, Veracruz, Michoacan and Puebla. John was downgraded from both hurricane and tropical storm strength over the course of the day on Tuesday as its remnants continued further inland and its maximum sustained winds weakened considerably to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), according to the latest advisory from the U.S. National Hurricane Center. The center nonetheless flagged the possibility of flash flooding across parts of southwestern Mexico over the next few days. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/john-weakens-into-tropical-storm-nhc-says-2024-09-24/
2024-09-24 10:59
WARSAW, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Poland will mobilise up to 23 billion zlotys ($6.01 billion), some of it from the European Union, to deal with the aftermath of severe flooding, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday. The worst floods in at least two decades left many towns in southwestern Poland submerged, and the government had said it would free up funds from the budget and use European Union cash in the recovery effort. "The scale of this aid in terms of flood relief and the plan we are preparing for reconstruction plus, at the moment, European funds - we estimate we will be able to mobilise up to 23 billion," Tusk told a government meeting. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier that 10 billion euros ($11.14 billion) would be made available from EU cohesion funds to tackle recent flooding in parts of the 27-nation bloc. She said some of the conditions usually attached to such funds, such as co-financing by member states, would be lifted to speed up the response. Around 5 billion euros from this have been earmarked for Poland. She also said that money from the EU's Solidarity Fund, which supports member states hit by natural disasters, would be used to rebuild infrastructure. Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski has said 2 billion zlotys will be set aside in the budget for flood relief. The minister for funds and regional development, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, has said 1.5 billion zlotys from Poland's existing EU funds would be redirected to reconstruction, with another 3.5 billion potentially allocated to building floodwalls, reservoirs and dams. ($1 = 3.8279 zlotys) ($1 = 0.8978 euros) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/poland-mobilise-up-6-billion-flood-relief-says-pm-2024-09-24/
2024-09-24 10:44
HARARE, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Top Zimbabwean retailers have warned of potential store closures if the government insists on the use of an official exchange rate they deem overvalued and damaging their competitiveness. Five months after its launch, Zimbabwe's new gold backed currency ZiG, which stands for Zimbabwe Gold, is under pressure and has lost almost 80% of its value on the black market - where it trades between 20 and 26 ZiG to $1. Official guidelines require that formal retailers set prices based on the official exchange rate of 14.8 ZiG to $1 or face fines. But retailers, including OK Zimbabwe, Spar and TM Supermarkets - a local unit of South Africa's Pick N Pay (PIKJ.J) , opens new tab, argue that this overvalued rate is making their products more expensive than those in informal shops, driving away customers. "The situation is clearly untenable and will lead to company closures if authorities do not intervene with policy measures to protect the formal retail sector," Retailers Association of Zimbabwe (RAZ) said in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Finance and seen by Reuters. The retailers said while they had to adhere to the official exchange rate as required by authorities, their suppliers are charging black market rates, forcing retailers to hike prices. "Implementing a pricing model that reflects real-time market exchange rate fluctuations can help us remain competitive while managing costs," the retailers said. The treasury could not be immediately reached for comment. The ZiG is the country's sixth attempt at a stable currency in 15 years and economists say its devaluation points to lack of public confidence in the new currency. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/zimbabwes-retailers-warn-store-closures-over-exchange-rate-2024-09-24/
