Weekend Roundup: India calls for green funds to emerging markets, Dubai picks Masdar for 1800 MW solar capacity

The chief of India's central bank has said there was an urgent need for increasing green funds to emerging markets. Making closing remarks at a G20 finance event, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das pointed out that money to green projects is "by and large, concentrated in advanced economies." World Bank President Ajay Banga is among those who have spoken about the issue and batted for private capital to drive clean energy generation in poorer nations.

Dubai has selected Abu Dhabi-owned Masdar to build and manage the emirate's 1,800 MW sixth phase of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park. The project, which will use solar PV panels, is estimated to cost $1.5 billion, and start operating in stages from 2024. Dubai estimates the solar park will reduce more than 6.5 million metric tons of carbon emissions a year when completed. Renewables account for 16 percent of the emirate's energy mix, but will rise to 24 percent by 2026.

Chinese EV company BYD has called on other carmakers in the country to band together, in a video that concludes by asking them to "demolish the old legends" and "achieve new world-class brands". Chinese dominance of the EV sector has worried western automakers such as Ford and cost Japanese companies long-held strongholds such as Thailand. BYD, which makes everything from battery cells to EV batteries to EVs themselves, has a 37 percent market share in China and is considered the closest global competitor to Tesla.

The US announced more than $1 billion in grants to two carbon capture projects — South Texas DAC Hub in Texas and Project Cypress in Louisiana — that aim to remove over 2 million metric tons of carbon emissions per year. The funds could prove key to scaling up direct air capture (DAC), a form of technology that uses chemical reactions to remove CO2 from the air for storage underground or use in production of other products such as concrete and jet fuel.

Canada released draft clean electricity regulations to create a Net Zero power grid by 2035, but said some use of fossil fuels will continue. Power generation companies will be allowed to use fossil fuel plants for 20 years from date of commissioning, subject to tight emissions limits. Canada's environment ministry said the proposals, which are technology agnostic, would reduce emissions by more than 340 million metric tons between 2040 and 2050. Last month, the Great White North became the first G20 nation to outline plans to remove fossil fuel subsidies. Read more