Author: Arnes Biogradlija

Eurasian Resources Group proceeded with controversial Congolese mineral rights acquisitions worth tens of millions despite internal compliance warnings that transactions showed “unusual nature and size,” raising bribery concerns, according to internal documents. The 2020 Project Passport investigation—triggered after auditors flagged suspicious payments to French intermediary Elie-Yohan Berros—reveals systematic risk tolerance at one of the world’s top five cobalt producers even as the company faced concurrent UK bribery probes. ERG’s compliance and legal heads initiated the internal review in mid-2020 after NGO reports alleged Berros functioned as a proxy for Dan Gertler, the Israeli billionaire sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in…

German utility RWE withdrew from Namibia’s $10 billion Hyphen green ammonia project, abandoning a 2022 memorandum of understanding that anticipated 300,000 metric tons of annual ammonia offtake starting in 2027.

The United States deployed 5.6 GW of battery energy storage between April and June 2025, marking the highest quarterly installation rate on record, according to data released by the American Clean Power Association and Wood Mackenzie.

The Department of Energy announced the cancellation of $13 billion in federal financing allocated for clean energy projects, representing the largest single reversal in climate investment since the Inflation Reduction Act established $370 billion in tax credits, grants, and loans in 2022.

Tata Steel Netherlands faces €685 million in emission allowance purchases between 2024 and 2030, marking a dramatic reversal from the €663 million the company earned selling surplus credits between 2008 and 2019. Internal documents reveal how the European Emissions Trading System’s tightening allocation rules are compounding existing financial pressures on the Dutch steelmaker, which reported combined losses of €761 million over the past two years. The shift exposes fundamental weaknesses in the ETS’s early implementation. For over a decade, industrial emitters received overallocated allowances—a structural flaw that enabled companies like Tata Steel to generate €55 million annually through credit sales…

The automotive world has a dirty little secret: while traditionalists clutch their pearls over electric conversions, companies like Everati are quietly proving that the future of classic cars isn’t about preserving the past—it’s about revolutionizing it. WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE When Justin Lunny founded Everrati after watching Prince Harry drive away in an electrified Jaguar E-Type, he wasn’t just starting another EV company. He was declaring war on the combustion engine’s stranglehold on automotive heritage. And the results are nothing short of heretical—in the best possible way. “You’re making a big change when you take away the combustion engine,”…

Global investment in clean hydrogen has surged from $10 billion in 2020 to $75 billion in 2024, a trajectory that would normally suggest unstoppable momentum. Yet behind the capital inflows, projects are stalling, cost gaps remain unresolved, and infrastructure questions hang over Europe’s ambition to import hydrogen at scale. The experience of Marcel Kooter—who shifted from senior posts at BP and Castrol to co-founding the Holland Hydrogen Hub—illustrates both the promise and the pitfalls. WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW At present, green hydrogen costs between $5 and $8 per kilogram, compared to less than $2 for gray hydrogen. The economics hinge…

CATL’s announced sodium-ion battery pricing of $19 per kilowatt hour represents a 65% reduction from current lithium iron phosphate costs of $55-$70/kWh, not the 90% cost decline claimed across social media channels promoting the technology. The Chinese battery manufacturer’s Nextra sodium-ion system achieves 175 Wh/kg energy density while promising 10,000+ charge cycles, positioning it within a sodium-ion market projected to reach $1.82 billion in 2025 from $1.47 billion in 2024, growing at compound annual rates between 16-25% depending on analyst projections. The disparity between promotional claims and verified pricing highlights persistent challenges in accurately assessing emerging battery technologies, where cell-level…

Thyssenkrupp’s potential annual carbon certificate costs of €500 million against operating profits of just €260 million expose the financial pressure driving Germany’s steel sector toward hydrogen transition, yet infrastructure delays and policy uncertainty threaten industrial viability across the Rhine-Ruhr region. The disparity between the global green hydrogen market’s projected growth from USD 12.31 billion in 2025 to USD 199.22 billion by 2034 at a 41.46% CAGR and Germany’s stagnant deployment reveals fundamental disconnects between market expectations and operational realities. The Hy Summit Rhine-Ruhr conference in September 2025 highlighted these contradictions, with industry leaders describing an environment where euphoria has shifted…

NAAREA’s validation of plutonium chloride fuel synthesis through collaboration with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre addresses a critical bottleneck in the molten salt reactor industry, which is projected to reach $41.55 billion by 2031 from $17.71 billion in 2023, growing at a 12.95% CAGR. The French startup’s breakthrough in pyrochemical synthesis of NaCl-PuCl₃ salt from plutonium oxide represents the first systematic validation of proliferation-resistant fuel production methods for fourth-generation microreactors, potentially accelerating commercial deployment timelines across the sector. The technical achievement occurs within a rapidly evolving advanced nuclear landscape where China became the first nation to operate a demonstration…