🌳 Shells boss prepares to step down

Welcome to Clean Tech, where news is so juicy you'll need a straw.

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It's Sunday let's get into it!

What's on today:

• Toyota pledges $5.6 billion for EV battery production.

• Meme of the week

• Shell's boss preparing to step down.

• quick bites.

Toyota has pledged $5.6 billion for EV battery production

Norm Bafunno from the Automotive giant Toyota said Wednesday it would invest an extra $2.5 billion in a factory that will manufacture batteries for both hybrid electric and battery electric vehicles.

Toyota Battery Manufacturing (located in North Carolina) is on track to start operations in 2025, with Norm Bafunno revealing that total investment in the plant will now amount to $3.8 billion.

The additional investment in the U.S. is part of a wider investment of up to $5.6 billion in battery production, with Toyota noting that demand for battery electric vehicles was growing.

To this end, Toyota said it would aim to ramp up “combined battery production capacity” in the U.S. and Japan by as much as 40 gigawatt hours.

news source

Meme of the week

Shells' boss, Ben Van Beurden prepares to step down as CEO

Ben van Beurden – who made £4.6million in bonuses on top of his £1.4million salary last year, taking his total pay and bonuses to almost £80million during his nine years as the CEO – could step down as soon as 2023 as the oil giant begins its search for a replacement.

Although his reasons for stepping down are unknown, his departure will mark the end of an era for Shell, as it tries to toe the tricky line of boosting Britain's energy security while embracing new sustainable technologies. While Van Beurden's legacy includes a commitment to reducing oil production, he has been criticised for failing to take more drastic action.

news source

Quick Bites

• Les Sables-d'Olonne a town in western France is to become the first in Europe to recycle used water.

• The world's biggest offshore wind farm has now become fully operational. The new wind farm is located 55 miles off the coast of Yorkshire.

• European Energy has completed the construction of a group of wind farms in Poland which will have a total wind capacity of 45 megawatts.

• Chicago to run all public buildings and city operations on 100% renewables by 2026, to help achieve a 62% emissions reduction by 2040.