Ford has chosen the US state of Michigan for its new $3.5bn electric vehicle (EV) battery plant, the automaker announced on February 13. It will be the country’s first automaker-backed lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery plant and the project will be supported by China’s CATL which will provide “LFP battery cell knowledge and services”, Ford said in a statement at the time.

In a press conference following the announcement, Ford’s vice president of EV industrialisation Lisa Drake reportedly said the firm had considered sites outside the US, but settled on Michigan in part due to benefits offered by the US’s landmark green investment package, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). “The IRA was incredibly important for us and, frankly, it did what it was intended to do,” she said.

The plant, called BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, will create more than 2500 new jobs and will start operating in 2026.

GIC rethinks China

Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is pulling back from China, according to the Financial Times (FT). Citing anonymous sources, the FT says GIC, which is one of the world’s biggest investors in private equity funds, has scaled back commitments to private equity and venture capital funds over the past year.

GIC, which is chaired by the city-state’s prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, has also slowed its direct investments into Chinese companies. Data provider ITjuzi recorded two direct investments in Chinese companies by GIC last year, down from 16 in 2021. Figures from fDi Markets show GIC has not made a greenfield investment in China since 2019.

IFC and Masdar partner on sustainability

The International Finance Corporation and Abu Dhabi’s state-owned renewables developer, Masdar, have signed a pact to collaborate on ways to support climate action in emerging markets. 

Under the agreement, which was signed on February 14, the two parties will support the establishment of green hydrogen platforms for emerging markets, investigate bankability and structuring issues for African renewable energy projects, and look to accelerate the adoption of distributed photovoltaic systems.

At the signing the UAE’s minister of industry and advanced technology, ​​Sultan Al Jaber, said: “As the UAE prepares to host COP28, we have placed a special emphasis on ensuring better, more efficient and more equitable access to climate finance.”