‘War on coal is over’: EPA scraps Obama-era clean power plan www.rt.com

The Trump administration has put another nail in the coffin of former President Barack Obama’s climate change legacy by withdrawing from the 2015 Clean Power Plan intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"Regulatory power should not be used by any regulatory body to pick winners and losers," said the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Scott Pruitt Monday, announcing he will sign a new rule rescinding the Obama-era plan. The Clean Power Plan was designed to prompt a shift away from coal-fired power and toward cleaner energy sources, like natural gas, wind and solar.

Tsetsii wind farm launches www.mongolia.gogo.mn

ULAANBAATAR (GoGo Mongolia) - On Oct 6, Clean Energy Asia LLC together with its shareholders, Newcom LLC and SB Energy Corp., successfully launched operations of a 50MW wind farm in southern Mongolia.

Clean Energy Asia LLC commenced the construction of the Tsetsii wind farm in Sep 2016. Within one year, the company completed the installation of 25 wind turbines, the construction of Tsetsii substation and its 32 km long air transmission lines. 
The project has completed three months earlier than planned and nearly 500 employees have worked for the construction, of which 95% were Mongolians.
Located in Tsogttsetsii soum, Umnugobi province, the 50MV wind farm was financed by the debt of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Mongolia is the first country to sign a memorandum with Japan on the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Mongolia faces great challenges in meeting its growing demand for electricity, almost all of which is currently met by aging and polluting coal-fired plants. The wind farm will help supply Mongolia’s power demand with clean, eco-efficient electricity by harnessing Mongolia’s vast and inexhaustible wind resources. The project will help contribute to the sustainable economic development and the mitigation of climate change.
Mongolia has a power-supply capacity of 1130MW, consisting of 88% coal, 6% diesel, 6% renewable energy, and 2% hydropower sources (Department of Energy, Mongolia, 2015). While being the world’s eighth country most susceptible to climate change (Climate Risk Index. Source: GERMANWATCH “Global Climate Risk Index 2014”), electricity supply-demand balance along with its economic growth is an urgent issue for Mongolia; accordingly, Mongolia is a country that particularly requires safe and secure power sources such as renewable energy. The State Great Khural approved a national power policy in 2015 that sets Mongolia’s mid-to-long term target and plan for 2015-2030 in the energy sector. The policy aims to increase the power generation share of renewable energy to 20% by 2020 and to 30% by 2030, and it stipulates the promotion of investment in the energy industry in cooperation with international financial institutions and donor countries, utilizing the abundant wind and solar resources in the Gobi region. 
The Tsetsii wind farm is estimated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 230,000 tons per year while saving 180,000 tons of coal and 1.2 million tons of water per year.
In these circumstances, this Tsogttsetsii wind farm project will help contribute to the increased adoption of renewable energy in Mongolia.

S.Amarsaikhan elected Chairman of Citizens' Representative meeting www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Citizens’ Representative Khural (Council) of Ulaanbaatar elected Amarsaikhan Sainbuyan as the chairman of the Council during its regular meeting on October 9.

BOM issues 1-week bills www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Bank of Mongolia traded 680 billion MNT worth 1-week maturity central bank bill (“CBB”), with weighted average yield of 12.0 percent per annum. 

PM U.Khuresukh receives congratulatory letters from his Russian and Chinese counterparts www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of China Li Keqiang sent congratulatory letters to U.Khurelsukh on assuming his duty of Prime Minister of Mongolia.

MBD business program in London UK (Nov 28-Dec 03 2017) www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com

Mongolian Business Database MBD (www.mongolianbusinessdatabase.com) is registering the business participants to Mongolian-British Chamber of Commerce and Industry's "Doing Business with Mongolia" seminar in London on Nov 30 and business program which includes the visiting to AI Tech World Expo, World Communication Expo and British House of Parliament etc.

E-car segment revs up to push throttle full forward www.chinadaily.com.cn

Potential end to sales of gasoline cars in China could benefit makers of electric cars, and suppliers of spare parts and power management solutions in the long run, analysts said.

In fact, ever since talk started about a gradual shift to e-vehicles, shares in e-car companies fluctuated significantly.

Policymakers have been hinting at a possible timeframe soon for phasing out cars that use gasoline as fuel from the China market.

For instance, Xin Guobin, deputy head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a news conference in early September that authorities are studying a timetable for stopping sales of gasoline cars in China.

At another conference on power and battery development, Xin said that the development of high-efficiency special batteries is key to the development of e-vehicles in China.

Wang Chuanfu, president of BYD, China's largest e-car maker, said in a recent interview that he estimated sales of gasoline cars will likely end in 2030.

According to Wind Information Technology, a market information provider, investors may have traded in shares of e-vehicle makers to the tune of 2 billion yuan ($301.6 million) to 5 billion yuan in the last two weeks of September, in the run-up to the week-long National Holiday.

Shares in e-car market leaders and battery suppliers outperformed other auto industry labels. For instance, shares in Shenzhen-listed BYD, rose almost 44 percent from 48.29 yuan on Sept 1 to 69.51 yuan on Sept 27.

According to a report by China International Capital Corporation Limited or CICC, large-scale production of e-vehicles and a bigger market share in the overall mobility market are inevitable in the next few years.

"Ending sales of gasoline cars is a global trend, and China is not going to fall behind," the report said.

Norway and the Netherlands have announced they will end sales of gasoline cars in 2025. Germany and India will do so in 2030, and the UK and France in 2040.

Sales revenue of e-vehicles in China has been growing fast. Policymakers are setting ambitious goals for further expanding the market share of such vehicles in the entire mobility sector.

In 2016, e-vehicles accounted for some 1.8 percent of all vehicles in China. A plan set by MIIT said their market share shall be increased to 5 percent in 2020 and 20 percent in 2025.

Sales volume of e-vehicles is estimated to climb from 507,000 units in 2016 to 2 million in 2020 and further grow to 5 million in 2025.

Policies will encourage purchase and use of e-vehicles in China. For example, buyers would be offered free car plates in megacities. In contrast, gasoline car owners may need to pay more than 80,000 yuan for a plate at auctions in Shanghai.

Such incentives will likely further help increase market share of e-vehicles, said a bluepaper on the China market by Fitch Ratings.

In the longer term, however, development of e-vehicles in China depends on battery technology improvements and infrastructure like charging networks, said the paper.

Russia, Saudi Arabia earned $40bn each from OPEC output-cutting deal – state investment fund head www.rt.com

Russia and Saudi Arabia have each earned $40 billion from the 2016 deal between OPEC and non-OPEC countries to cut oil output, said Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

International efforts to stabilize oil prices “have been fruitful, bringing oil prices to above $55 per barrel,” Dmitriev told Rossiya 24 news channel.

Airbnb paid £188,000 in UK tax last year www.bbc.com

Airbnb, the accommodation website, paid less than £200,000 in UK corporation tax last year despite collecting £657m of rental payments for property owners.

The commissions the company earns in the UK are booked by its Irish subsidiary, but it also has two UK subsidiaries.
One unit made a pre-tax profit, but the other did not incur UK corporation tax because deductions resulted in a loss.
Airbnb said in a statement: "We follow the rules and pay all the tax we owe."
One of the British subsidiaries, Airbnb Payments UK, handles payments between landlords and travellers for countries other than the United States, China and India.
That unit made a pre-tax profit of £960,000 and paid £188,000 in UK corporation tax - £8,000 less than in 2015.
The other British subsidiary, Airbnb UK, markets the website and app to British consumers. It reported a £463,000 pre-tax profit last year but because it gave shares to staff, which are tax-deductable, there was no corporation tax bill.
Airbnb said: "Our UK office provides marketing services and pays all applicable taxes, including VAT. The Airbnb model is unique and boosted the UK economy by £3.46bn last year alone."
The tax arrangements of other technology giants have come under under closer scrutiny in recent years.
One of the most vocal critics has been EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager. She has taken aim at the likes of Apple, Amazon and others for where they book the revenues and profits of their European activities.
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, has also asked why Airbnb paid tens of thousand of euros in French corporation tax despite a turnover in the millions.
The company, founded in San Francisco in 2008, has disrupted the hotel industry by linking travellers with landlords who generally want to rent out a spare room or an entire property for short-term stays.
It has become one of the most successful examples of the digital economy, with an estimated value of about $24bn.
However, Airbnb has faced a growing backlash in cities including Barcelona, Berlin and Paris, where politicians have taken steps to stop landlords renting properties to tourists rather than local residents.
While Airbnb has long been linked with a stock market listing, it remains privately owned.
It takes a 3% commission from landlords for each booking, and also charges fees to travellers.
In the UK last year Airbnb catered for 5.9m travellers and had 168,000 listings.

Seko seeks renewal of concessions in Abu Dhabi www3.nhk.or.jp

Japanese trade minister Hiroshige Seko has asked Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to renew a Japanese firm's concessions in Abu Dhabi oil fields. The concessions are set to expire in March next year.