According to The Asahi Shimbun, in the battle against climate change, a startup company is using a new technology to mass-produce seaweed that can help reduce methane gas emitted in cattle burps.
Sunshiki Co. plans to commercialize the method created by a team of researchers primarily from Kochi University. The researchers found that certain seaweed added to the diets of cattle slashes greenhouse gas emissions in the bovines’ belches. According to the National Agriculture and Food Research Organization in Ibaraki Prefecture, methane’s greenhouse effect is 28 times that of carbon dioxide. A dairy cow is believed to release 500 liters of methane per day through its burps. Belches of ruminant animals, including cattle, account for an estimated 5 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions around the world. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15226796
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According to The Australian Financial Review, the federal budget did little to ensure Australia could reach its target of building 1.2 million new homes over the next five years because it failed to meaningfully boost the number of workers available to build them, the property industry and community groups say.
While budget included $89 million to boost the number of training positions, it only included $1.8 million to fast-track the assessment of 1900 migrants with necessary construction skills, when the industry needed an estimated 486,000 new people by 2026. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/imported-tradies-need-to-live-somewhere-too-20240513-p5jd80
Japanese power generation company Jera Co. will invest about 5 trillion yen for decarbonization, partly to replace fuels for thermal power plants with ammonia and hydrogen.
The investment plan is included in the company's growth strategy to fiscal 2035, which was announced recently. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/33031
According to The Jiji News, Itochu Corp., KDDI Corp., Toyota Industries Corp., Mitsui Fudosan Co. and Mitsubishi Estate Co. said that they will collaborate in developing an efficient logistics system using digital technology.
The five Japanese companies will establish a joint firm for the collaboration within fiscal 2024, aiming to help address truck driver shortages. Itochu will own more than 50 pct of the new company. https://sp.m.jiji.com/english/show/33051#goog_rewarded
According to The Australian Financial Review, GPG Renewables Australia, the 4.7-gigawatt renewable platform that parked its $4 billion sale last month, is marching ahead with a $1.6 billion debt refinancing.
Sources said GPG is in advanced discussions with several banks to come in on a $1.1 billion refinancing of its existing facilities, and is aiming to reach the finishing line by June 30. In tandem, it has put a circa $500 million new-money deal to lenders to bankroll construction at projects. GPG was already in discussions with bank lenders, including the Aussie Big Four and Japanese lenders, as part of a $2 billion staple debt package being put together by Macquarie Capital for the bidders. It is understood Macquarie Capital and GPG’s sale adviser, Morgan Stanley, pivoted from the takeover financing to the current deal when owners Wren House Infrastructure and Naturgy cancelled the sale. https://www.afr.com/street-talk/big-four-japanese-banks-circle-gpg-renewables-1-6b-refinancing-20240515-p5jdts
According to The Australian Financial Review, economists have warned that the Reserve Bank of Australia may not achieve its inflation target for at least two more years without higher interest rates, unless Treasurer Jim Chalmers uses the upcoming budget to cool the economy.
Analysts say the RBA will almost certainly be forced to revise higher its near-term inflation forecasts at its board meeting next week, after March quarter inflation figures were stronger-than-expected. The headline consumer price index increased 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to March, above the RBA’s indicative forecast of 3.5 per cent. The bank’s preferred measure of underlying inflation, the trimmed mean, was 4 per cent, above the central bank’s expectation of 3.8 per cent. https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/high-inflation-may-last-another-two-years-unless-rates-rise-again-20240429-p5fnaa?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=1&cx_experienceId=EXIRQ0BX6VHL&cx_experienceActionId=showRecommendationsYDEQYCFG6XO314#cxrecs_s
According to The Australian Financial Review, Labor’s revamp of foreign investment rules designed to boost support for much-needed rental housing has been welcomed by the property industry, as it also warns that current tax settings remain a barrier to offshore capital.
Under the new rules announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers, a long-standing prohibition on foreign ownership of established housing would no longer apply to foreign investors wishing to acquire existing build-to-rent housing. The largest hurdle remains the imposition of a 30 per cent withholding tax on the managed investment trusts through which offshore players typically hold BTR assets they have developed in Australia. The government has promised to halve that tax, bringing it in line with the tax rate applied to other forms of foreign-owned commercial property. However, draft legislation released last month setting out the eligibility for the tax reduction includes a requirement that 10 per cent of the dwellings in a build-to-rent project be offered as affordable tenancies. Cedar Pacific chief executive Bernie Armstrong said lengthy FIRB approval processing times was just one of the challenges in bringing in foreign capital. The others were the very high taxes and surcharges imposed on foreign investors and uncertainty around taxation investment rules. https://www.afr.com/property/residential/firb-changes-are-fine-but-please-fix-tax-investors-20240501-p5fo33
According to The Asahi Shimbun, the nation’s most powerful business lobby said Japan must aim to become “an AI and robotics powerhouse” but cautioned that can only happen if the government develops new long-term strategies.
It presented a lengthy wish list April 16 to help achieve that goal. In its proposal to strengthen the nation’s industrial base, Keidanren (Japan Business Federation) took issue with the way Tokyo is trying to achieve its vaunted goal of going carbon free by 2050 and measures now in place to make Japan a global player in the semiconductor industry and related fields. It said short- to medium-term tactics are not the answer. “A comprehensive long-term strategy to cover the entire range of industry has yet to be established,” Keidanren said. It urged the government to work closely with industry and academia to develop a long-term strategy through to 2040, with the aim of shoring up industrial competitiveness. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15233450
According to The Asahi Shimbun, as Japan’s population ages, a record-breaking number of houses across the country now sit vacant, with many showing unlit windows, walls covered with vines and rooftops crumbling.
The number of these “akiya” (vacant) houses has reached 9 million nationwide, or 13.8 percent of the total number of homes in Japan, a government survey released on April 30 showed. This means that roughly one in every seven homes is vacant. Of these 9 million vacant homes, 4.76 million, including new homes, are for rent or sale, according to the preliminary figures released by the internal affairs ministry. Around 380,000 are vacation homes and other buildings intended for seasonal or occasional use. However, the biggest challenge is the increase in abandoned vacant homes with no intended use. The number of such homes increased by 370,000 from the previous survey to 3.85 million, the highest on record. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15252431
According to The Australian Financial Review, Japan Inc will back the development of one of the world’s biggest nickel deposits in Western Australia in a move that casts further doubt on whether the Albanese government will bail out BHP and its struggling operations.
Sumitomo and Mitsubishi have agreed to back Ardea Resources and its $3.1 billion nickel laterite and cobalt project, about 80 kilometres from Kalgoorlie and BHP’s ageing nickel smelter. Ardea, Sumitomo and Mitsubishi will form a partnership to develop Goongarrie, sharing the cost of feasibility study up to $98.5 million. The Japanese partners will help secure debt funding on favourable terms and emerge with a 50 per cent stake alongside Ardea if the project goes ahead. Sumitomo, which would own 40 per cent of the combined entity alongside Mitsubishi’s 10 per cent, has experience in developing nickel laterite mines and HPAL processing plants through two big operations in the Philippines – Coral Bay and Taganito – and owns nickel refineries in Japan. https://www.afr.com/companies/mining/japan-inc-backing-for-nickel-mine-puts-bhp-bailout-in-doubt-20240429-p5fndw |
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