Photo: Bloomberg
Quoteworthy: "I have now asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to collect and analyse information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion." - US president Joe Biden. He gave his spooks 90 days to investigate and report how the Covid-19 pandemic originated.
Shell loses climate case that may set precedent for Big Oil
Royal Dutch Shell was ordered by a Dutch court to slash its emissions harder and faster than planned, a ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the global fossil fuel industry.
Shell, which said it expects to appeal the ruling, has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% within a decade, and to net-zero before 2050. That is not enough, a court in The Hague ruled on May 26, ordering the oil producer to slash emissions 45% by 2030 compared to 2019 levels.
The court said the ruling applies to the entire Shell group, raising the prospect of the company having to radically speed up its current climate and divestment policies in order to hit the new target. The ruling will be scrutinised globally amid a new era of litigation related to climate change.
“This is big news for carbon emitters everywhere, not just in the oil industry,” Angus Walker, an environmental lawyer at BDP Pitmans in London, said. “This may spread from large emitters to small, and from the Netherlands to other countries, at least in terms of challenges, if not successful ones.”
Shell’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 1.65 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019, around the same as Russia, the world’s fourth-largest polluter.
While many countries, including the Netherlands, have signed up to the Paris Agreement on climate change, companies such as Shell were not part of the deal and so far have not been bound by national pledges. That did not stop Larisa Alwin, the Dutch presiding judge, from stating that companies have a burden to shoulder too.
“Companies have an independent responsibility, aside from what states do,” Judge Alwin said in her decision. “Even if states do nothing or only a little, companies have the responsibility to respect human rights.”
The landmark ruling came on the same day that Shell’s US rivals faced pushback from environmentally conscious investors. A first-time activist shareholder with a tiny stake in Exxon Mobil scored a historic win in its proxy fight with the oil giant, gaining two seats on the company’s board. Chevron Corp investors, meanwhile, voted in favour of a proposal to reduce emissions from the company’s customers.
There are 1,800 lawsuits related to climate change being fought in courtrooms around the world, according to the climatecasechart.com database. The Shell verdict could have a powerful ripple effect, not least among its European peers including BP and Total. Those companies have set similar emissions targets, which have also been criticised by campaigners for not going far enough.
The case against Shell was brought by local environmental group MilieuDefensie. The campaigners accused the company of violating human rights by not adhering to the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting the increase in global temperatures.
The courts have become an increasingly successful arena for campaigners to hold governments and countries to account over pollution and climate change. This is the second time in quick succession that a Dutch court has ruled that Shell’s parent company in The Hague is liable for environmental damages in other jurisdictions. — Bloomberg
ShawKwei & Partners reviving sale of tech component maker Beyonics
Private equity firm ShawKwei & Partners is reviving a sale of precision manufacturer Beyonics Technology, according to people familiar with the matter.
The buyout firm started the sale process last year but put it on hold later, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. ShawKwei & Partners has recently resumed working with Morgan Stanley and has reached out to private equity firms and others in the technology sector to gauge their interest, the people said. Non-binding bids are expected to be submitted this summer, they added.
The company was looking to raise as much as US$300 million ($397.8 million) to US$400 million in a disposal of Beyonics, Bloomberg News reported in November. The valuation of a deal could be higher as the precision manufacturer’s business has been doing better this year, one of the people said.
Deliberations are at an early stage and ShawKwei & Partners could decide to keep the business, the people said. Representatives for the buyout firm and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
Singapore-based Beyonics, founded in 1981, pivoted away from making hard disk drive components in an overhaul focusing on higher margin businesses. It now develops advanced electronic and mechanical devices for healthcare, automotive and technology sectors, according to its website. While Singapore and Malaysia host the majority of its precision manufacturing capacity, it also has production sites in Thailand and China.
Beyonics, previously known as Uraco Precision Engineering, was listed on Singapore’s stock exchange in 1995. In 2012, ShawKwei & Partners took it private in a $127 million deal. — Bloomberg
GlobalFoundries taps Morgan Stanley for jumbo IPO
GlobalFoundries is working with Morgan Stanley on an initial public offering that could value the chipmaker at about US$30 billion ($39.78 billion), according to a person familiar with the matter.
No final decision has been made and the company’s plans could change, said the person, who asked to not be identified because the matter is not public.
GlobalFoundries is backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala Investment Co. Mubadala had started preparations for a US IPO of the company and is in discussions with potential advisers, Bloomberg News reported in April.
GlobalFoundries was created when Mubadala bought Advanced Micro Devices’s manufacturing facilities in 2009 and later combined
them with Singapore’s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing.
A representative for GlobalFoundries declined to comment. Mubadala did not respond to a request to its general inquiry email outside regular business hours while a representative for Morgan Stanley did not immediately have a comment.
The chipmaker is coming to market amid talk of semiconductor shortage and governments across the globe gear up to provide financial support for expansions in production.
GlobalFoundries’ biggest rivals, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and Samsung Electronics, are struggling to keep up with demand for outsourced chipmaking demand.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index has been on a tear, tripling since 2016. — Bloomberg
Sembcorp Industries aims for 70% of profits from sustainable projects by 2025, net zero emissions by 2050
Sembcorp Industries has unveiled its strategic plan to transform its portfolio from brown to green, including a target for its sustainable solutions portfolio to make up 70% of profits by 2025.
In addition, the company plans to halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and deliver net zero emissions by 2050.
“The transformation plan we unveiled today is driven by a clear purpose to play our part in building a sustainable future,” says Wong Kim Yin, group president and CEO of Sembcorp.
Sembcorp says that in 2020, its sustainable solutions portfolio contributed to around 40% of the group’s net profit. To meet its target, its renewable energy portfolio is expected to achieve a CAGR of 30%, while its integrated urban solutions portfolio is anticipated to achieve a CAGR of 10%.
In addition, Sembcorp aims to quadruple its gross installed renewable energy capacity to 10 gigawatts (GW) by 2025, from 2.6GW as of 2020.
For sustainable urban developments, Sembcorp aims to triple its urban business’ land sales to 500 hectares by 2025, compared to 172 hectares recorded in 2020.
Sembcorp also aims to lower carbon emissions, with a target GHG intensity to 0.40 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per MW hour (tCO2e/ MWh) by 2025, down from 0.54 tCO2e/MWh in 2020. In addition, the company aims to halve GHG emissions by 2030 (from a 2010 baseline of 5.4 million tCO2e) and deliver net-zero emissions by 2050. Sembcorp also commits to not invest in new coal-fired energy assets.
In line with its strategic plan, Sembcorp reaffirmed its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Its focus will be SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG 13 (Climate Action) where it aims to make meaningful contributions. — Atiqah Mokhtar
