The UK is fielding calls to pay reparations for its climate change impact at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Samoa, The Guardian reports. Leaders from vulnerable nations, including the Bahamas, are advocating for financial support to mitigate the impacts of extreme weather and rising sea levels. The UK would owe GBP 6.2 tn in climate reparations by 2050 due to its carbon emissions since 1960, according to a 2023 study in the Nature Sustainability Journal cited in the Guardian.

The UK isn’t playing ball: Despite the calls, the UK government has refused to discuss the matter at the summit, saying the government will focus instead on “sharing best practices and expertise” to drum up private financing to slash emissions and combat climate change.

Shares in nuclear energy companies have hit record highs this week as Big Tech increasingly turns to small modular reactors (SMRs) in the US to support AI development, the Financial Times reports. Google — whose emissions surged nearly 50% in five years due to AI energy demand — inked a major power purchase agreement this month with atomic energy company Kairos Power to meet the growing energy demand from data centers, marking the first corporate agreement worldwide to buy nuclear energy from SMRs. Other tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon have also turned to nuclear power sources to meet emission targets.

Not everyone is a fan of SMRs: Critics argue that SMRs — the compact, moveable, and easily assembled reactors with up to 300 MW power capacity per unit — may still be expensive due to the lack of economies of scale from which larger plants benefit. Proponents believe that big tech moves can potentially offset this and “seed” the industry’s growth. SMRs are also expected to generate long-lasting nuclear waste, and studies have found that waste from SMRs could actually be more voluminous and chemically or physically reactive.

Mercedes launches first battery recycling plant in Europe: Mercedes-Benz has opened Europe’s first EVs battery recycling plant in Kuppenheim in collaboration with Primobius — a JV between Germany’s SMS Group and Australia’s Neometals — according to a statement. The plant has a production capacity of 2.5k tons and is expected to have a recovery rate above 96%. Critical minerals including lithium, nickel, and cobalt will be extracted and repurposed to produce over 50k batteries. Mercedes has invested EUR mns in the construction of the plant, but the exact figure was not disclosed.

The project will use a downstream process: The battery recycling plant will use a downstream hydrometallurgical process where battery modules are dried and processed for active battery materials. Plastics, copper, aluminum, and iron are first extracted and separated by mechanical techniques before cobalt, nickel, and lithium are separated using multi-step chemical processes to be used for new battery cells. This process is less energy-intensive and wasteful than the standard pyrometallurgy process used in Europe.

OTHER STORIES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT THIS MORNING-

  • Singapore backs CCS studies: Singapore’s Energy Market Authority (EMA) will co-fund carbon capture and storage (CCS) feasibility studies by power companies to support the country’s 2050 net zero emissions target. The studies will explore post-combustion carbon capture for gas turbines and pre-combustion carbon capture for hydrogen production. Additionally, Singapore plans to develop a CCS project on Jurong Island, with Phase 1 expected by 2030. (Statement)
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