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Svante's carbon-capture demonstration plant in November, 2019, located outside of Lloydminster, Sask. Handout Svante Inc. has raised US$318-million from a group of investors led by a unit of Chevron Corp., securing a new round of financing for plans to speed up the rollout of carbon-capture technology. Svante, based in Burnaby, B.C., has developed patented technology that captures carbon dioxide from smokestacks. Under the proprietary design of “adsorption beds,” CO2 molecules from flue gas adhere to a system of rotating filters made from engineered nanomaterials. “We are proud that Chevron and a group of existing and new strategic and financial investors have demonstrated their confidence in Svante to be a key player in building a commercially viable, carbon management industry,” Svante chief executive officer Claude Letourneau said in a statement. Thursday’s announcement on the Series E fundraising round didn’t provide details on the impact of the latest financing on Svante’s e...

A group of investors has tabled resolutions urging four of the world’s top oil and gas companies to set broad climate targets for 2030, reviving pressure on the sector after a year that saw governments shift their focus to energy security. Activist group Follow This said it had co-filed the resolutions with six major institutional investors managing $1.3 trillion in assets ahead of the annual general meetings of BP , Chevron, Exxon Mobil and Shell next year. In the resolutions, the investors call on the companies to set targets to reduce by 2030 greenhouse gas emissions including those from fuel sold to customers, known as Scope 3 emissions, which account for the vast majority of the sector’s pollution. Investors have in recent years ramped up pressure on the oil and gas sector to help tackle climate change, and the Follow This climate-related resolutions have drawn growing support among shareholders. However, last year the efforts largely sputtered as investors turned their focus mo...

Climate activists block the airport near St Gallen, Altenrhein, Switzerland, on Jan. 16. DEBT FOR CLIMATE SWITZERLAND/Reuters Big oil firms came under pressure at the start of the World Economic Forum (WEF) from activists who accused them of hijacking the climate debate, while a Greta Thunberg-sponsored “cease and desist” campaign gained support on social media. Major energy firms including BP, Chevron and Saudi Aramco are among the 1,500 business leaders gathering for the annual meeting in the Swiss resort of Davos, where global threats including climate change are on the agenda. “We are demanding concrete and real climate action,” said Nicolas Siegrist, the 26-year-old organizer of the protest who also heads the Young Socialists party in Switzerland. The annual meeting of global business and political leaders opens in Davos on Monday. “They will be in the same room with state leaders and they will push for their interests,” Siegrist said of the involvement of energy companies durin...

Svante's carbon-capture demonstration plant in November, 2019, located outside of Lloydminster, Sask. Handout Svante Inc. has raised US$318-million from a group of investors led by a unit of Chevron Corp., securing a new round of financing for plans to speed up the rollout of carbon-capture technology. Svante, based in Burnaby, B.C., has developed patented technology that captures carbon dioxide from smokestacks. Under the proprietary design of “adsorption beds,” CO2 molecules from flue gas adhere to a system of rotating filters made from engineered nanomaterials. “We are proud that Chevron and a group of existing and new strategic and financial investors have demonstrated their confidence in Svante to be a key player in building a commercially viable, carbon management industry,” Svante chief executive officer Claude Letourneau said in a statement. Thursday’s announcement on the Series E fundraising round didn’t provide details on the impact of the latest financing on Svante’s e...