Where the math is defensible.
Long-form research on live enterprise decisions. Publication is selective. Every number traces to a named source. No takes without evidence.
Brazil's Green Hydrogen Northeast Cluster: From MoUs to FID
Pecem, Suape, and Acu enter the year after COP30 with a hydrogen law, a 18.3 billion BRL tax credit envelope, and roughly 50 memoranda of understanding signed since 2022, but only a handful of projects within twelve months of final investment decision.
Brazil enters 2026 with the highest paper claim on the global green hydrogen export trade. The combination of capacity factors above 55 percent for hybrid solar and wind in the Northeast, the Sao Francisco wind corridor, hydropower as a firming resource, and three deepwater ports designated as hydrogen hubs gives the country a levelized c...
Voluntary Carbon Market Reset: Integrity, Tiers, and the Removal Pivot
ICVCM Core Carbon Principles, VCMI Claims Code 2.0, SBTi Beyond Value Chain Mitigation, and Article 6 are bifurcating a market that crashed from 192 megatonnes in 2022 to roughly 95 megatonnes in 2024.
The voluntary carbon market spent 2024 and 2025 in an integrity reset that no buyer can ignore. The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market published its first Core Carbon Principles assessments in mid 2024, rejecting the entire first batch of REDD+ project methodologies, partially approving Afforestation, Reforestation and Reve...
Cement After CBAM: The 2026 Decarbonization Capital Stack
Cement is 7 to 8 percent of global CO2 and 4.1 billion tonnes of output. The 2026 EU CBAM definitive period, IRA 45Q at 85 dollars per tonne, and the first commercial CCS kiln at Brevik rewrite the capital stack for clinker, clay, and capture.
Global cement production reached roughly 4.1 billion tonnes in 2024 (USGS MCS 2025), led by China at about 2.0 billion tonnes, India at 390 million tonnes, and the United States at 91 million tonnes. Average CO2 intensity near 0.6 tonnes per tonne of cement places the sector at 7 to 8 percent of global emissions and on the GCCA trajectory...
Green steel, hydrogen DRI, and the 2026 transition: from Hesgang to Boden, from CBAM to 45V
The blast furnace pathway still makes 70 percent of the world's steel. Hydrogen DRI plus EAF is now moving from pilot to first commercial scale in 2025 and 2026, and the policy stack of CBAM, 45V, and Innovation Fund grants determines who clears the cost gap.
Global crude steel production reached 1.85 billion tonnes in 2024 (worldsteel), with China at 1,005 Mt, India at 149 Mt, and the United States at 79 Mt. The integrated blast furnace and basic oxygen furnace (BF and BOF) route, responsible for roughly 70 percent of output, runs at 1.85 to 2.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of crude ste...
Heat Pumps in 2026: Industrial Policy, Adoption Reality, and the Bottlenecks Behind a 600 Million Unit Target
European sales fell 10 percent in 2024 after the Heizungsgesetz wobble, US deployment leans on a 30 percent Section 25C credit and HEEHRA rebates, and the IEA Net Zero path requires the global installed base to triple to 600 million units by 2030 against an industry running into refrigerant transition, compressor supply, and a structural HVAC installer shortage.
The European Heat Pump Association reported a roughly 10 percent contraction in EU heat pump sales in 2024, the first decline since 2014, driven by Germany's Heizungsgesetz revision, lower gas prices, and the partial unwinding of 2022 emergency subsidies. France held above 600,000 units, Germany retreated below 200,000, the United Kingdom...
Maritime decarbonization 2026: ammonia and methanol after the IMO net zero framework
MEPC 83 set a global fuel intensity charge starting USD 100 per tonne CO2 equivalent in 2027, with EU FuelEU layered on top. The orderbook reads 17 percent LNG, 6 percent methanol, 3 percent ammonia. Maersk and CMA CGM have made opposite bets.
The IMO adopted the GHG net zero framework at MEPC 83 in April 2025, mandatory from January 1, 2027. It sets a USD 100 per tonne CO2 equivalent fuel intensity charge above the base trajectory and a USD 380 per tonne Direct Compliance Unit penalty on the stringent gap, the first universal carbon price on shipping. EU FuelEU Maritime, in fo...
Small Modular Reactors in 2026: Order Books, AI Off-take, and the Capex Curve
The first wave of SMR designs has moved from licensing slides to concrete pours and signed power purchase agreements, but the NuScale UAMPS cancellation still anchors investor memory and the load is now hyperscaler, not municipal.
Advanced nuclear is no longer a slide deck category. TerraPower has broken non-nuclear ground at Kemmerer, X-energy has signed a definitive engineering contract with Dow Seadrift, Holtec is preparing the SMR-300 around the Palisades restart, Kairos has the first Hermes test reactor under construction with a Google off-take for 500 megawat...
Sustainable Aviation Fuel in 2026: A Mandate Wall Without a Molecule Cushion
ReFuelEU is live, the UK SAF mandate ratchets, and ICAO CORSIA Phase II turns mandatory in 2027. Global SAF supply remains roughly 0.3 percent of jet fuel demand, and HEFA feedstock is already binding.
Aviation entered 2026 facing the first compliance year of EU ReFuelEU obligations, a 2 percent SAF blend floor at all EU airports, and a parallel UK mandate climbing toward 10 percent by 2030. ICAO CORSIA Phase II becomes mandatory in January 2027 for all member states whose carriers fly international routes. Global SAF production is on t...