City Finance Lab completes successful pilot with City of Bologna

Supported by EIT Climate KIC’s Low Carbon City Lab (LoCaL) and South Pole Group, City Finance Lab, Europe’s first dedicated platform aiming to develop innovative finance solutions for sustainable urban projects, has successfully ran a pilot with the City of Bologna. “The City Finance Lab was instrumental in the development of a robust local carbon market for industries in the city of Bologna, through tailored advisory services to alleviate existing financial and legal barriers,” said Giovanni Fini

Zero-water shampoo start-up wins Smart Agrifood Summit award

A biodegradable cosmetics start-up using agricultural waste to make zero-water shampoo has been awarded the gender equality prize at the Smart Agrifood Summit, Malaga, in June 2018. INUIT, one of five graduates of EIT Climate-KIC’s Accelerator programme in attendance, showed how the circular economy can reduce costs and create jobs, countering the traditional idea in the sector that sustainability measures reduce company profit and damage the economy. The start-ups were there to learn from Mercedes

Renewables crowdfunding platform Lumo acquired by Société Générale

Renewable energy crowdfunding platform fintech Lumo, supported by EIT Climate-KIC, has been acquired by the Société Générale, France’s third largest bank. The move is part of Société Générale’s ambitious 2020 goal of raising €100 billion to finance the energy transition, and is an affirmation of its commitment to climate. “This acquisition is a strong symbol of recognition for the relevance of our model,” said Alex Raguet, Co-founder and CEO, Lumo. “We’re very excited to integrate into the Société

Have your say on circular houses

An online survey collects inputs on how to best introduce circularity in the housing sector The HOUSEFULproject has launched a stakeholder consultation process on the development of a methodology for evaluating the circularity level of residential buildings. The goal is to collect feedback on the issues to be considered for an effective development. Architects, designers, engineers, construction companies, promoters, housing agencies, sustainability experts, public bodies and other relevant stakeholders

C-Track 50: First actions and results

1st Croatian roundtable organised by REA NORTH C–Track 50 is a H2020 project which began in March 2018. It aims to support local and regional authorities in energy and climate planning in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (a min. 80% reduction of CO2 emissions). To this end, C–Track 50 will promote multi-level governance and support local and regional authorities in developing, financing and implementing ambitious integrated sustainable energy and climate policy action plans. A report

Global wind and solar capacity smashes 1,000 gigawatt barrier

The world has now installed more than 1,000 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power, according to fresh data analysis. Researchers from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) announced the news last week, based on its own database of over 100,000 projects around the world. As of 30th June 2018, analysis shows there is now 1,013GW of wind and solar PV, evenly balanced between the two: 54 percent wind and 46 percent solar. The milestone is the latest sign that the world is making swift progress towards

Australians want higher renewable energy target, says poll

A new survey has suggested that ordinary Australians want renewable energy to play a greater role in the country’s future. The poll, conducted by Reachtel on behalf of Greenpeace, asked 3,999 Australians about their views on clean technologies and the cost of energy. 66.7 percent of those surveyed felt that renewables, such as wind and solar power, should receive more government support than fossil fuels. A further 70 percent of respondents agreed that the government should “set an ambitious renewable

Ireland will raise carbon tax to tackle climate change

The Irish Government is planning to increase the country’s carbon tax in a bid to meet its climate change goals. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made the comments at a summer briefing where he revealed his government’s future budgetary plans. “If we’re going to meet our targets we’re going to have to grasp the nettle in pricing carbon and increasing the carbon tax in the next couple of years,” he said, according to ITV News. However, he made a point of addressing concerns that the tax would hit those on low

Solar Impulse network joins forces with EIT Climate-KIC to accelerate innovation

EIT Climate-KIC, Europe’s main climate innovation initiative has joined forces with the Solar Impulse Foundation, the team behind the world’s first round-the-world solar-powered flight. Together, they will scale up the development of and investment in climate solutions.  Both organisations support a growing network of entrepreneurs and changemakers in the field of cleantech and climate innovation. The World Alliance for Efficient Solutions, established by the Solar Impulse Foundation, brings together

Hyperloop pioneers welcome a new era in high-speed transportation with industry-first international alliance

Leading hyperloop companies TransPod (from Canada), Hardt Hyperloop (from the Netherlands), Hyper Poland and EIT Climate-KIC supported Zeleros (from Spain) have announced the first-ever international partnership to establish standardised methodologies and frameworks to regulate vacuum-based hyperloop transport systems. Spanish hyperloop start-up Zeleros gained international media attention in 2016 when it won two awards at Elon Musk’s world-famous hyperloop competition in Texas. Zeleros won ‘Top