Daily Shorts: JLR opens EV test center in England, companies ask COP28 to finalize fossil fuel phase out

British automaker Jaguar Land Rover opened an EV test centre in England, pointing out that this would save on costs and carbon emissions resulting from shipping prototypes to test centers around the world. JLR is investing £15 billion pounds to develop EVs over the next five years, and plans to launch nine luxury EVs by 2030, starting with a new electric Jaguar model in 2025. The Tata Motors-owned company has also £invested 250 million in a new 'Future Energy' lab towards these efforts.

A group of 131 companies, including Indian automaker Mahindra Group, Maggi noodles maker Nestle and Spanish power company Iberdrola have urged political leaders to finalize a timeline for phasing out fossil fuels. In a letter published online, the companies said attendees to next month's COP28 climate summit in the UAE must commit to reach 100 percent decarbonised power systems by 2035 for rich countries, with financial help for developing countries to ditch fossil fuels by 2040 at the latest.

Factories around the world could reduce four gigatons of carbon emissions a year from 2030 -- the equivalent of removing 60 percent of the world's internal combustion vehicles from roads -- if they implemented energy efficiency measures properly, and save $437 billion a year in the process, according to an industry collective. A report from the Energy Efficiency Movement, whose members include ABB, DHL Group, Alfa Laval and Microsoft, has called on companies to undertake regular energy audits, review industrial assets for ideal sizes, deploy more efficient engines and connect sites and machines to improve energy synergies.

Vexuvo, Italy's renewable energy producer, said it will invest €1.5 billion euros in the photovoltaic sector over the coming three years. The company plans to set up 80 new facilities for an overall output of 1.5 GW. Sicily and Sardinia, the two islands famous for sunshine, will host a quarter of those plants. Vexuvo was founded last year by renewables players Greenergy Group and FF Ventures. The unit is focused on developing, building and operating utility-scale RE + storage projects.