Environmental Minutes 11/25/2018

Europe

Volkswagen commits 44 billion euros to electric vehicles before 2023  

An announcement from Volkswagen group, the multinational automobile giant which owns 12 brands aligned with sale figures topping to 231 billion euros and 11 million units sold in 2017. The group forecasted to invest, in 5 consecutive years, 44 billion euros on the development of electric vehicles, autonomous and connected models as well as the mobility services pertinent to them.

With this large-scale investment, Volkswagen intends to move on to a new chapter from 3 years of nightmare relating to the scandal of “Dieselgate”. In September 2015, the world understood the terrifying truth that this automobile giant had cheated on the anti-pollution tests with the help of defeat devices which could turn the models into the less pollutive mode during the examination.

This doomed page seems, from now on, to be overturned even though the obstacles are still down the road. Volkswagen realized the harsh difficulty to adapt its models to the new European emission standards, at the same time,  petrol cars are currently threatened to be banned in Germany where the court has previously prohibited several diesel cars from entering major cities because they failed to meet the emission standards

America 

A 750-km natural gas pipeline across the Quebec is on the blueprint  

The company Gazoduq intends to build a pipeline of 750 km in the middle of nature, at Quebec, in order to transport the natural gas from western Canada to Saguenay, where the future liquefaction factory will be built. The gas then will be exported overseas through LNG carrier crossing the Saguenay-St-Lawrence Marine Park.

According to the revealed information, the company has investigated a “corridor” to build up this project, estimated to 4,5 billion dollars. From the border of Ontario, this corridor of 1-meter diameter pipeline will inevitably locate at several natural territories and be built across multiple waterways. Even though the investigated area contains protected natural reserves, the corporate assures that the finalized plan will especially avoid protected areas and national parks. It will also keep away from the densely populated zones, which is different from the previous East Energy project.

This exploitation of “non-conventional gas” is, among which the shale gas, at its full surge in these regions. While presenting these gigantic lines in its project, Gazeduq pointed out that this project will especially be crucial for the worldwide energy transition because the exported gas should allow the companies on the other side of the world to replace the more pollutive energy, such as coal and mazut with it. On the contrary, not everyone agrees on the environmental benefits of this non-conventional gas. According to different studies published in recent years, the shale gas could be notably way more pollutive than traditional natural gas.

By Chris Chang & Green News Taiwan

News Source:

https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2018/11/17/volkswagen-procede-a-un-investissement-record-pour-se-construire-un-avenir-electrique_5384849_3234.html

https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/environnement/541429/un-gazoduc-de-750-km-pour-exporter-du-gaz-naturel-a-partir-du-quebec

Picture:

https://www.volkswagen.co.uk/new/electric

https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/environnement/541429/un-gazoduc-de-750-km-pour-exporter-du-gaz-naturel-a-partir-du-quebec