Daily Shorts: Fonterra to cut farm emissions, Oxy wants to licence its carbon capture technology, and more

Fonterra, the world's largest dairy exporter, said it would reduce farm emissions by 30 percent by 2030, largely by improving farm practices, deploying novel technologies, and planting trees to offset emissions. The Kiwi behemoth is already looking at natural ways to stop cows from producing methane, including cattle feed that switches off the bugs responsible for generating the gas. New Zealand, home to 5 million people, has twice as many cattle and 26 million sheep. Agriculture accounts for half the country's greenhouse gas emissions.

Indonesia inaugurated a 192 MW-peak floating solar power plant at the Cirata reservoir in West Java as part of efforts to move away from coal-based power. The $110 million project was developed by UAE's Masdar in association with Indonesian state-owned PLN Nusantara Power, and officials said it could be expanded to 500 MWp and subsequently, 1,000 MWp. Renewables account for ~12 percent of the island nation's power. The country is targeting 23 percent share by 2025, although officials said that might be missed.

Petroleum company Occidental plans to licence its direct air capture (DAC) technology to other projects seeking to extract CO2 from the air, its CEO said. The business could potentially support over 1,000 projects, generating a new stream of revenue for the company a day after it bagged an investment from BlackRock for its DAC project in Texas. Oxy plans to about $600 million a year until 2026 to set up about 100 DAC plants of its own.

Ford's South African unit announced plans to invest $280 million to produce a hybrid vehicle in the country. Officials said the company would put out a Ranger Plug-in Hybrid EV from its Pretoria factory, starting end of 2024. South Africa exports 75 percent of its automobiles, mostly to European countries. However, Europe and the UK have banned the sale of new petrol cars from 2035, which has given impetus to the domestic industry to begin transitioning to EVs.