5 best news for June
Rockefellers will lead the development of green energy
The IKEA Charitable Foundation, the world’s largest furniture retailer, and the Rockefeller Family Foundation will invest the largest amount of renewable energy in their history.
A separate fund will be set up to raise $ 10 billion in additional funding from international development agencies.
At the same time, the founders of the fund intend to invest $ 500 million in it in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one billion tons and try to lift more than a billion people out of energy poverty in countries such as India, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“It can be commercially profitable. The initial risk is $ 1 billion, and that could unlock tens of billions of dollars. We do not play here. We have seen how it works in India. We know what it takes to succeed”, said Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Family Foundation.
IKEA Foundation Executive Director Per Heggenes said the initiative provided a “very important” opportunity to address the two biggest threats in developing countries: poverty and climate change.
According to the Financial Times, investing in renewable energy has become big business in Europe and the United States, but IKEA and RFF are looking to do something similar with smaller projects in emerging markets.
“Development of projects of “distributed” renewable energy sources, not centralized power plants, mainly in the form of mini-projects of solar energy, but also some micro-hydropower projects, “- writes FT about the purpose of the initiative IKEA and Rockefeller.
Both funds said they had already signed agreements with the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank) and the International Development Finance Corporation as part of the project, expressing hope that IKEA’s participation would encourage European agencies to join the idea.
Shah believes that the created platform could eventually grow to $ 100 billion or even $ 1 trillion, taking into account the use of its “charitable capital as leverage to obtain commercial capital.”
According to him, the coronavirus pandemic rejected the development of poor countries two decades ago, and in these countries there is an urgent need to stimulate economic growth in an environmentally friendly way. “It’s time to act,” Shah said.
Ukraine is among the ten countries with the highest earnings on Bitcoin
Ukraine is in the top 10 countries with the highest earnings on Bitcoin in 2020 – Ukrainian investors received about $ 400 million in profits on cryptocurrency. The Ministry of Finance with reference to the data of the analytical company Chainalysis reported this.
The authors of the rating draw attention to the obvious dominance of the United States. U.S. investors earned a total of $ 4.1 billion in bitcoin profits in 2020, almost four times as much as in the next largest country, China ($ 1.1 billion).
Despite the fact that China has historically had the highest volume of transactions with unprocessed cryptocurrency, in 2020 on the exchanges, which are focused on the United States, there was a huge inflow of capital, which seems to have been realized by the end of the year.
The Ministry of Finance added that in Ukraine people and crypto companies will be able to officially work and receive income from operations with new assets after the adoption of the profile bill on virtual assets.
“The creation of a high-quality legal field will ensure the sustainable development of the crypto market for Ukraine’s rapid breakthrough on the path of digital transformation,” the statement said.
Renault Trucks gives opportunity to everyone who wants to watch trucks online at the Renault plant in Bourg-en-Bresse
With more than a century of experience in the truck industry, Renault Trucks is a part of French automotive history. Recently, the manufacturer decided to share with the public what is happening behind the scenes of the process of creating trucks, and offered to join through its corporate website to a virtual tour of the car assembly plant in Bourg-en-Bresse.
Since 1894, Renault Trucks’ headquarters and plants have been located in France, where the manufacturer develops and assembles all medium- and heavy-duty trucks. The national French manufacturer, which is Berliet’s successor, has four production sites in France, located in Lyon, Blenville-sur-Orne, Limoges and Bourg-en-Bresse.
Now Renault Trucks intends to give a behind-the-scenes look at how a truck is built. The manufacturer is practically opening the doors of its plant in Bourke-en-Bresse, which is the flagship of French industry – it manufactures heavy-duty trucks for long-distance transportation and construction work.
This tour can be visited for free on the Renault Trucks corporate website.
360 degree immersion on the assembly line
The tour provides visitors with the opportunity to become interactive with the various stages of truck assembly. The process is completely immersed as visitors have a 360-degree view of the line in motion, where operators work manually using ergonomic tools and devices. This experience is unique as each truck is custom made according to specific customer requirements.
Visitors are offered audio commentary in French or English on each of the 13 key steps in the truck’s production. Moreover, additional materials are available to further familiarizing yourself with the plant, including interviews with operators and technicians on the line.
The Bourg-en-Bresse plant in numbers:
It takes 4.5 hours to assemble one truck.
One truck leaves the assembly line every 8 minutes.
It takes 3 kilometers of hoses and cables and 6,500 screws to assemble one truck.
The assembly line at the Bourg-en-Bresse plant is 500 meters long.
The Bourg-en-Bresse plant covers an area of 117 hectares and employs 1,350 people.
Audi will produce only electric vehicles
German carmaker Audi will completely abandon cars with internal combustion engines. All new models will be electric vehicles from 2026, and traditional cars will be phased out by 2033. This was announced by the head of the concern Markus Duzmann at the climate conference in Berlin.
Audi is expected to have more than 20 electric vehicle models by 2025. At the same time, the production of cars with internal combustion engines is expected to be phased out by 2033. However, due to high demand in China, such cars may continue to be produced at local partner factories after 2033, the head of Audi admitted.
“I do not believe in the power of prohibitions, I believe in the success of technology and innovation,” he added.
It is stated that with the new e-tron GT, RS e-tron GT, Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron models, Audi will launch more electric vehicles in 2021 than models with combustion engines.
Ukraine begins to fulfill a tank contract with Pakistan
State Enterprise Plant named after VO Malysheva begins to fulfill a new contract for the repair of T-80UD tanks, which was signed in February at the international arms exhibition IDEX-2 021 between Ukrspetsexport and Pakistan for a total of $ 85.6 million. This was reported by the press service of the company.
“Currently, all the preparatory stages and legal procedures have been completed. Under the terms of the contract, the plant receives a significant advance, which allows it to reach a stable level of work, timely fulfill all social obligations to employees, further make a profit and partially reduce debt.” – it is spoken in the message.
According to CEO Vasyl Krylas, thanks to the new contract, the company receives a portfolio of orders of almost 1.5 billion hryvnias. Together with other orders, this makes it possible to get out of the crisis and work stably. In addition, the head stressed, there are other orders from Pakistan for this year, which may increase to $ 140 million.
The company also hopes to order Oplot tanks. In May, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Kamar Javed Bajwa, arrived in Ukraine. On May 20, he visited the Kharkiv region, where he was presented with modern models of weapons and military equipment at one of the military training grounds. The commander was most impressed by the capabilities of the Oplot tank and the Scythian complex.
“For us, this visit is of great importance. After all, ordering Oplot tanks will allow us to evenly load all the workshops of our company. Therefore, we hope that good impressions of our fighting machine will be embodied in new contracts,” said Krylas.
Earlier, Ukroboronprom in the UAE signed agreements worth $ 1 billion. The Ukrainian defense concern intends to develop advanced technologies with the help of EDGE Group.