Quoteworthy:
This came at an unfortunate time, as I know Singaporeans are looking forward to the upcoming Hari Raya and Vesak Day celebrations.- Health minister Gan Kim Yong, referring to the enhanced measures to curb the pandemic introduced for these coming few weeks.
Cryptocurrency’s value surges to US$45 bil one day after debut
A digital token that was launched on May 10 and goes by the name Internet Computer is already one of the largest cryptocurrencies in the world, with a market value of about US$45 billion ($60 billion).
That makes it the eighth-largest digital asset among the top 10 in CoinMarketCap.com’s rankings. The token and its related digital ledger are supposed to help anyone — software developers or content creators — publish anything they want on the internet, without having to go through digital giants such as Amazon.com or Facebook, or use servers or commercial cloud services. The idea is to avoid corporate walled gardens and reduce costs, according to Dominic Williams, founder of the project. Users could potentially build social media and other services that compete with internet titans.
The coin’s underlying network uses smart contracts, or software programmes that execute tasks, competing with the likes of bigger rival Ethereum. It is joining many other coins and related networks — Polkadot, Binance Coin among them — trying to steal Ethereum’s thunder.
Internet Computer’s debut is happening as cryptocurrencies ranging from Bitcoin to Dogecoin are being discussed everywhere from dinner tables to Saturday Night Live, and prices of many coins are surging. The total market value of all cryptocurrencies now stands at US$2.48 trillion, up from less than US$1 trillion at the beginning of the year. But as in the run-up of 2017, many of the so-called alt-coins likely will come down to earth with a thud. — Bloomberg
WEF proceeds with Singapore meeting even as virus spikes
The World Economic Forum (WEF) plans to go head with its annual meeting in Singapore this August despite a jump in coronavirus cases that has prompted the Asian city-state to reimpose restrictions and tighten border controls.
“The meeting will proceed with the close cooperation of the Singaporean authorities, who are leading concerning the health and safety measures,” said Yann Zopf, a spokesman for the Geneva-based WEF. “We will collaborate to provide the safest possible environment for a global gathering at scale.”
Singapore last week curbed entry for most foreign workers and ordered mass testing after new cases of the virus in the city of 5.7 million.
The WEF’s marquee event, typically held in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, is scheduled for Aug 17– 20. Leaders from government, finance, academia and business are being invited. Social-distancing rules will keep attendance below the usual 3,000.
The plan is to establish a dedicated event zone in hotels in the centre of the city. — Bloomberg
Sovereign wealth funds invest in climate technology, renewables
Sovereign wealth funds are upping their investments in the energy transition. The custodians of national wealth invested US$2.3 billion ($3 billion) in 2020 in sectors important to combating climate change, including forestry, renewable energy and so-called agritech, according to a report published on May 11 by the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF), a network of sovereign funds from Abu Dhabi to Singapore. That is more than double the US$1.1 billion invested in 2019, IFSWF data show.
The transition to a low-carbon future is a necessity if the worst effects of global warming are to be avoided, and investors of all stripes are facing growing pressure to play their part in channelling the trillions of dollars of investment required to enable a shift away from fossil fuels. So far, sovereign funds have mostly been laggards, with the IFSWF finding in February that only 30% of a group of 34 responding institutions had more than 10% of their portfolios invested in climate-related strategies.
IFSWF said though sovereign wealth funds “are rarely trendsetters”, technologies that help reduce carbon emissions or help economies adapt to the effects of climate change “are becoming a clear investment trend” for the funds. While US$2 billion is just a fraction of the assets managed by sovereign funds, it is a four-fold increase from 2016 when investments totaled US$734 million.
“Over the next 10 years, the best investment opportunities will be in climate change and related technologies,” said Heenam Choi, chief executive of the Korea Investment Corp. “The pandemic has highlighted the importance of sustainability. We will continue to expand our ESG investments.”
Sovereign investors are increasingly willing to invest in renewable energy assets because the technology has matured and they have become profitable in the short to medium term without requiring government subsidies, IFSWF said. In addition, global electricity demand is increasing due to the energy transition and electrification of transport, which should send more capital into the sector and further drive down costs.
Investments that reduce the environmental impact of food production are also gaining favour as part of climate change investment strategies, IFSWF said. With agriculture and food production already counting towards around a fifth of global carbon-dioxide emissions and with the world’s population predicted to grow more, investors are looking at agritech companies that are developing new forms of nutrition or food production. — Bloomberg
Biden administration approves first big US offshore wind farm
The long-stalled push to build massive wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean along the US East Coast took a crucial step forward on May 11 as the Biden administration approved plans for a project off Martha’s Vineyard.
The US$2.8 billion ($3.7 billion) installation proposed by Vineyard Wind will be the first major wind farm in waters off the US, which has lagged behind Europe and Asia in generating power at sea. It sets the stage for other developers seeking approval to build more than a dozen other wind projects from Massachusetts to North Carolina.
“The whole industry has been watching and waiting for this permit,” said Jonathan Cole, head of offshore wind for Iberdrola, the parent company of Avangrid, which is jointly developing Vineyard Wind with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
The project will have a capacity of 800 megawatts, enough to power about 400,000 East Coast homes. It is a significant step toward meeting President Joe Biden’s goal of deploying 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind capacity by the end of the decade. While two small wind farms now operate in waters off the US East Coast today, no other major offshore wind project has progressed this far in the federal permitting process.
“This approval should signal ‘go’ to all the supply chain companies that were waiting to see if the industry would move to commercial-scale construction,” said Liz Burdock, president of the Business Network for Offshore Wind.
The Interior Department’s authorisation puts the project on track to begin supplying power in 2023. It is unclear, however, whether Vineyard Wind will survive potential legal challenges that are expected from fishing groups and others. The outcome of any lawsuits could set significant precedent for other proposed projects.
Vineyard Wind CEO Lars T Pedersen struck a confident tone during a call with reporters. “We feel very, very comfortable,” given the “extremely thorough process” the government used to analyse the project, he said.
The Vineyard Wind project is set to be built 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) off Martha’s Vineyard and 12 nautical miles off Nantucket. It is farther from shore than the failed Cape Wind project, which was once the vanguard of American clean energy but faltered in 2017 after a 16-year battle with the likes of the Kennedy family and billionaire industrialist Bill Koch.
Under the Interior Department’s approval, the Vineyard Wind project would encompass as many as 84 wind turbines, each separated by at least one nautical mile. The authorisation follows years of scrutiny, including how a surge of coastal wind projects will affect marine life and the fishing industry.
The Interior Department itself has acknowledged the project could impact commercial fisheries and recreational fishing. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Director Amanda Lefton said the agency engaged in a “robust outreach process” to balance varied marine interests and included steps to mitigate potential harm to commercial fishing.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said the project underscores that “a clean energy future is within our grasp in the US”. — Bloomberg
