Here are some noteworthy cleantech announcements of the day from around the world:

American retail giant Walmart announced that it has closed its $2 billion inaugural green bond offering. Net proceeds will be allocated to fund current and prospective projects to advance Walmart’s sustainability goals. The green bond is Walmart’s first offering under the company’s Green Financing Framework published in August 2021. Walmart intends to allocate an amount equal to the net proceeds for renewable energy projects, including supporting microgrids and energy storage infrastructure to reduce emissions. The funds will also be used for sustainable transport projects related to Walmart’s operations, zero waste, and circular economy projects focused on waste prevention, waste reduction, and waste recycling.

HSBC has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Capital Dynamics to develop the Sorbie Wind Farm Project in Ayrshire, Glasgow. This PPA will be HSBC’s fourth project in the United Kingdom supporting wind or solar projects and will result in 90% of the bank’s U.K. electricity being sourced from renewable projects. An additional 10% will be topped up with green tariffs, making 100% of the electricity purchased by HSBC in the U.K. from renewable sources by 2023. The Sorbie Wind Farm Project will include three turbines with a total capacity of 12.6 MW. Due to begin generation in early 2023, HSBC has committed to purchasing energy from the wind farm for 15 years.

Grey cement manufacturer Ultratech has announced its commitment to the RE100 initiative. The company targets to meet 100% of its electricity requirement through renewables sources by 2050. The company has already set a target to scale up its green energy mix to 34% of its total power requirement by 2024, from the current levels of 13%.

American chemical company DuPont has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources for 135 MW of wind energy in Texas. The VPPA will deliver the equivalent of 135 MW of new wind power capacity or 528,000 MWh of renewable electricity annually. This amount of clean energy is equivalent to avoiding the carbon emissions from more than 81,000 passenger cars driven each year or the annual electricity consumption of 70,000 homes. The project named Appaloosa Run Wind will be built in Upton County, Texas. It is expected to be operational by the end of 2022. Schneider Electric supported DuPont in the selection of and negotiations for the project.

Renewable energy company Clearway Energy Group has signed a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with Toyota Motor North America to support Clearway’s 100 MW Wildflower Solar project in Mississippi. Toyota will purchase most of the 80 MW of electricity the project will generate to replace the high emission electricity used in its operations. Wildflower is scheduled to begin operations in 2023 and is in proximity to Toyota’s manufacturing facility within the state. The Wildflower VPPA portion Toyota will purchase is expected to generate electric power equal to 8% of what Toyota takes off the grid for its domestic energy use in North America. The project will generate enough clean energy to power 16,500 homes each year.

Mayors from the world’s fifteen most influential cities will soon power their communities with renewable energy. The C40 Renewable Energy Declaration will enable a just and equitable energy transition to combat the climate crisis. The mayors’ actions will create healthier communities, improve air quality, create decent jobs, and protect their most vulnerable residents from the impacts of climate change. The declaration includes 2030 and 2035 goals. Cities committing to the pledge are Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Lagos, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Montréal, Paris, San Francisco, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo, Tshwane, and Vancouver.

Union Minister for Power and New Renewable Energy R K Singh convened a series of regional-level meetings with power ministers, advisors of states, and union territories to discuss the new Reforms Linked Distribution Sector Program. The minister underlined that the increasing electricity demand has necessitated the strengthening and modernization of the distribution infrastructure. He informed them that the program has been designed as a bottom-up program. The distribution companies (DISCOMs) are empowered to prepare detailed project reports that prioritize the loss reduction based on their need assessments. Modernization works such as system augmentation, renovation, and modernization of substations can also be carried out by the DISCOMs under the program. The Revamped Distribution Sector Program has been launched with an outlay of ₹3.03 trillion (~$ 41.07 billion) and an estimated gross budgetary support of ₹976.31 billion (~$13.23 billion).