Media Focus on Multinational Corporations [2022.09.26]
McDonald's China opens its first zero carbon restaurant in BeijingLeading fast-food chain McDonald's China opened the company's first zero carbon restaurant in the Shougang Park in Beijing recently, part of its upcoming move to open more new green outlets in the country.The McDonald's Shougang Park restaurant is designed and constructed in line with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) net zero carbon and net zero energy certification standards.For a building to be net-zero it must remove as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it emits throughout its lifespan, both in the form of embodied carbon and operational carbon associated with construction, occupation, and eventual demolition.Powered by on-site solar panels of over 2,000 square meters, the new restaurant is a milestone for the company's China unit to achieve net zero carbon emission in the country by 2050. There are about 5000 McDonald restaurants in China.'With the scaling up of our business, we are determined to take up more social responsibilities to feed and foster our communities,' said Phyllis Cheung, CEO of McDonald's China.'We will continue to drive high speed and sustainable growth by creating a future where people and the planet will thrive. We will focus on opening more green restaurants and embed green experience throughout consumer journey.'McDonald's reopens in UkraineKYIV, Ukraine — McDonald's has reopened in Ukraine, after seven months of war.The American fast food chain temporarily closed its more than 100 Ukrainian locations on Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded, citing the safety of employees.Three locations reopened on Tuesday, welcoming war-weary Ukrainians back beneath the warm glow of the golden arches. Regular citizens and high government officials alike flocked to snap selfies with their Big Macs and devour meals they haven't been able to enjoy in months.'It's a nice gift from McDonald's,' says Yaroslav Holovatenko, as he clutches a Big and Tasty — a quarter-pounder — in a cold and rainy park in Pozniaky, an outer neighborhood of the capital Kyiv near all three of the reopened McDonald's.PepsiCo ends Pepsi, 7UP production in RussiaBeverage giant Pepsico said in a statement to Reuters that it had stopped making concentrates for PepsiCola, Mirinda, 7Up and Mountain Dew in Russia almost after six months the U.S. company said it would suspend sales and production after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.'All concentrates have subsequently been exhausted in Russia and production has ended,' a PepsiCo spokesperson said on Sept. 8, in line with announcement in March, 2022.This announcement comes after Reuters visited dozens of supermarkets, retailers and gyms in Moscow and found cans and bottles of Pepsi printed with July and August production dates from factories within Russia.The most recent date on a Pepsi product was Aug. 17.The spokesperson declined to comment when asked whether sales had been halted as well.However, the company said in March that it would continue to sell daily essentials, such as milk and other dairy offerings, baby formula and baby food in Russia.Sodas are still available in Moscow and also in Vladivostok in the far east and Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, as per the review by Reuters.Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla tests positive for Covid-19 againAlbert Bourla, CEO of drugmaker Pfizer, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is “feeling well,” he said in a tweet Saturday.Bourla said he does not have any symptoms.“While we’ve made great progress, the virus is still with us,” he said.The CEO said he did not get the updated Covid-19 booster shot yet because he is waiting for three months after his previous Covid-19 infection. He tested positive for Covid-19 in August.The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who have recently recovered from a Covid-19 infection wait to get boosted at least until the illness has passed and a person is no longer contagious. The CDC says a person “may consider delaying your vaccine by 3 months from when your symptoms started.”Getting infected can act like a booster and studies have shown that people have a relatively low risk of getting sick again for about three months after they recover.AstraZeneca Announces Approval For Ultomiris By The European CommissionAstraZeneca PLC (AZN.L, AZN) announced Ultomiris has been approved in Europe as an add-on to standard therapy for the treatment of adult patients with generalised myasthenia gravis who are anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive. The approval follows the positive opinion of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use and is based on results from the CHAMPION-MG phase III trial.Marc Dunoyer, CEO, Alexion, said: 'This approval in Europe of the first and only long-acting C5 inhibitor is an important step towards realising our vision of improving the lives of people living with gMG and increasing access to Ultomiris worldwide.'Ultomiris was approved in the US in April 2022 and Japan in August 2022 for certain adults with generalised myasthenia gravis.Germany nationalizes energy giant UniperThe German government on Wednesday agreed to the nationalization of utility Uniper as it strives to keep the industry afloat in the wake of a worldwide energy crisis.Having already accepted in July to bail out the major gas importer with a 15 billion euro ($14.95 billion) rescue deal, the state will now buy out the 56% stake of Finland’s Fortum for a 0.5 billion euros. The German state is set to own around 98.5% of Uniper.“Since the stabilisation package for Uniper was agreed in July, Uniper’s situation has further deteriorated rapidly and significantly; as such, new measures to resolve the situation have been agreed,” Fortum announced in a statement on Wednesday morning.Uniper is Germany’s largest importer of gas, and has been squeezed by vastly reduced gas flows from Russia, which have sent prices soaring.Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom earlier this month indefinitely halted gas flows to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a move Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach told CNBC would exacerbate the company’s struggles.【China Mobile】【Sinobo Group】Sinobo inked deal with China Mobile to better tap into metaverseSinobo Group, a Chinese conglomerate whose business spans sports, entertainment, commerce and technology, has inked a strategic partnership with China Mobile's research institute and its Beijing branch as part of its broader push to explore the application of cutting-edge digital technology to support real economy.Under the partnership, the three parties will give full play to their respective advantages and carry out in-depth cooperation in the fields of metaverse, innovation of 5G plus industrial park, digital infrastructure, basic communication, emergency response and other areas.The cooperation in metaverse includes the Gongti Metaverse, or GTVerse platform, which is partly designed to target the passenger flow in the area around Gongti, or Beijing Workers' Stadium, and the fans of Beijing Guo'an Football Club. It will allow fans to have an immersive, 360-degree watching experience of the soccer games, concerts and e-sports competitions even if they are not present at the Beijing Workers' Stadium.By leveraging technologies such as 5G private network, cloud, big data, virtual reality and augmented reality, the platform is constructed and operated by Sinobo, which owns Beijing Guo'an Football Club, and its ecological partners, such as industrial institutions and partners.Ge Qi, vice-president of Sinobo Group and founder of GTVerse, expressed hope that the cooperation would yield fruitful results as soon as possible, and build the GTVerse into a model metaverse project in Beijing.Meanwhile, 15 organizations including GTVerse, and China Mobile's research institute, also initiated a mobile metaverse initiative, or MMI, which is aimed to promote the development of the next-generation internet.The 15 founding members of MMI said the most important infrastructure of connectivity for the metaverse is mobile networks, and the most basic carrier of the metaverse are various forms of mobile devices, such as smartphones.Huawei Cloud to expand overseas presenceHuawei Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Huawei Technologies Co, announced its plans to unveil new service regions in Indonesia and Ireland, as part of its broader push to expand overseas presence.Zhang Ping'an, CEO of Huawei Cloud, said the company is committed to building one global network, which allows services on Huawei Cloud to be accessed within 50 milliseconds from anywhere on the globe. Enterprises will no longer need to build their own data centers.By the end of this year, Huawei Cloud will operate 75 availability zones in 29 regions, covering more than 170 countries and regions, Zhang said at the ongoing Huawei Connect 2022, a company conference in Bangkok, Thailand.Hu Houkun, rotating chairman of Huawei, said organizations should embrace the cloud for leapfrog development as digital smart tech is the future. Huawei Cloud has integrated more than 240 services and more than 50,000 application programming interfaces to bring the latest AI, application development, and big data technologies and development tools to the cloud. The innovation and expertise of Huawei Cloud will help more organizations move to the cloud faster and more efficiently.Huawei Cloud said it sticks to the approach of 'by local, for local' for building a global digital ecosystem. Over the next three years, Huawei Cloud will provide support for at least 10,000 promising startups around the world, with support including cost optimization, technical support, entrepreneurship training, and other business resources. More than 120 enterprises in Asia Pacific have joined the Huawei Cloud Startup Program.Huawei Launches FRMCS Solution to Facilitate Digital Transformation of RailwayBERLIN, Sept. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Huawei officially launched the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) solution at the InnoTrans 2022 and the 9th Huawei Global Rail Summit in Berlin, Germany, where special guests, Wang Guoyu, COO of Huawei Aviation & Rail BU, and Li Jie, President of Huawei Enterprise Wireless Domain, spoke about its success. This solution is a remarkable achievement for Huawei, as a result of its extensive research and experience in ICT deployment within the railway industry of over two decades. With a focus on improving safety and reliability, Huawei FRMCS expands train-to-ground wireless services from train control and dispatch to railway O&M, railway IoT, and more. It empowers widespread digital transformation of the rail sector, ensures train operation safety, and improves railway operations efficiency.The demand for smart railways that can carry huge capacity is growing. Huawei FRMCS can not only provide the required high reliability and low latency for train control and dispatch, but also support new services such as locomotive status monitoring, train operation monitoring, and visualized dispatch of O&M personnel, improving fault prediction accuracy and O&M efficiency.The FRMCS solution uses a new technology, 8T8R Smart MIMO, which allows it to achieve the same coverage in the 1900 MHz band as that of GSM-R in the 900 MHz band when working with high-power devices from Huawei's partners. This slashes deployment and maintenance costs of FRMCS on 1900 MHz and simplifies the deployment of FRMCS networks. By providing three levels of redundancy, including key boards, key network elements, and wireless networks, Huawei FRMCS eliminates single-point failures on networks, ensures high reliability of devices and networks, and meets the requirements of the European Train Control System (ETCS). Its architecture complies with railway industry standards, which facilitates the interconnection between wireless networks and railway industry applications, as well as the deployment of new services.Li Jie said: 'The railway industry is now in a critical period of digital transformation when the requirements for train-to-ground wireless communication systems are higher than ever before. Huawei FRMCS can meet these requirements by integrating Huawei's 4G and 5G technologies. It can help railway customers build high-reliability, high-bandwidth, future-oriented train-to-ground wireless broadband networks that are safe, reliable, converged, simplified, and capable of long-term evolution.'Huawei will work with industry standards organizations, industry customers, and partners to promote the maturing and large-scale commercial rollout of FRMCS, and build a wireless digital foundation for smart railways.【Xiamen Airlines】【Airbus】Xiamen Airlines signs deal to buy 40 Airbus planes for around $5bXiamen Airlines signed a deal to buy 40 A320neo planes from European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, as the domestic air travel market continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.The new jets are expected to be delivered between 2024 and 2027, according to an announcement by State-owned China Southern Airlines, parent of Xiamen Airlines, on Thursday evening.Currently, the fleet of Xiamen Airlines is mostly comprised of B737 and B787 series made by US aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co. Late last year, Xiamen Airlines leased 15 Airbus A321neo aircraft.The latest deal is worth about $4.8 billion based on catalog price, and it came after a total of 100 new aircraft orders of A320neo placed by four Chinese airlines in July.Xiamen Airlines will pay part of the advance payment in installments, and pay the balance on the delivery date of each aircraft. The amount involved in the transaction will be paid in US dollars in installments, and the transaction doesn't constitute a connected transaction or a major asset restructuring, according to the statement.The airlines plans to provide the funds for the purchase through business operations, bank loans and other financing methods. It is not expected to have a significant impact on the company's cash flow and business operations, the statement said.The board of directors of China Southern said the current timing is beneficial for better purchase conditions, and the deal is expected to help strengthen the market competitiveness of China Southern and Xiamen Airlines.'The new purchase indicated that Chinese carriers are confident about the recovery of the domestic air travel market, and they are expected to buy more aircraft in the next few years,' said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and a columnist for Carnoc, a civil aviation website in China.Over the next two decades, China will have a demand of about 6,900 single-aisle aircraft, Airbus forecasted. By 2040, China is expected to need nearly 6,500 single-aisle planes, Boeing predicted.Alibaba Cloud to invest $1b in upgrading its global partner ecosystemAlibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Chinese tech heavyweight Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, announced on Thursday it will invest 7 billion yuan ($1 billion) to upgrade its global partner ecosystem over the next three fiscal years, and establish six service centers across the globe, as the company ratchets up its international expansion.The investment will consist of both financial and non-financial incentives, such as funding, rebates and go-to-market initiatives, to support partners' technology innovation and market expansion, Alibaba Cloud said.Partners have always been a key focus for Alibaba Cloud, and the company is committed to providing them with strong support both technologically and commercially, said Selina Yuan, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence International president, at the 2022 Alibaba Cloud Summit held in Phuket, Thailand.The company will set up six service centers worldwide, including Porto, Mexico City and Kuala Lumpur, to support customers in their cloud adoption journey, providing timely and regionalized cloud migration and consulting services.In the past year, it has added seven overseas data centers in South Korea, Thailand, Germany, Indonesia, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.During the summit, Alibaba Cloud has inked nearly 30 agreements to help customers and partners accelerate their digital innovation capabilities with leading cloud computing technologies.Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 20.4 percent in 2022 to total $494.7 billion, up from $410.9 billion in 2021, according to the latest forecast from consulting firm Gartner. Alibaba Cloud maintained its position as the third-largest public cloud IaaS, or Infrastructure as a Service, provider globally since 2018, according to market consultancy IDC.Mitsubishi Logisnext Asia Pacific partners xSQUARE to take intelligent warehousing solutions to the Asia Pacific marketSINGAPORE, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitsubishi Logisnext Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (MLAP), a group company of Mitsubishi Logisnext (ML), one of the world's largest material handling equipment companies, and xSQUARE, a Singapore-based intelligent warehousing solutions company, have entered into a partnership to meet the growing demand for intelligent warehousing solutions amid the fourth industrial revolution.This move is reflective of the increasing demand for warehouse automation. According to Acumen Research and Consulting, the global warehouse automation market will reach USD 64 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 14.8% from 2022 to 2030. Globally, warehouse operators are turning to newly developed material handling and automation technologies to solve their productivity challenges in the face of intensifying competition.MLAP and xSQUARE will collaborate to provide businesses with a solution to overcome labor shortages while increasing warehouse productivity and operational efficiency by:(i) developing a new line of Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) based on Logisnext's brands of forklifts, and(ii) distributing xSQUARE's intelligent warehousing solutions through MLAP's distribution network in Asia, Oceania, and South Africa.The solution is implementable across all types of warehouses, factories, and dynamic environments, supporting daily operations in a seamless manner and making safety an integral part of the logistics value chain.CellOrigin Biotech Announces Global Strategic Collaboration with Qilu Pharma to Develop 'Off-the-Shelf' CAR-iMAC Cell TherapyHANGZHOU, China, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CellOrigin Biotech (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. announced it has made a global strategic collaboration agreement with Qilu Pharma to develop, manufacture and commercialize proprietary 'off-the-shelf' induced pluripotent stem cell- (iPSC) derived Chimeric Antigen Receptor Macrophages (CAR-iMAC) for cancer immunotherapy.The collaboration will take advantages of technologies and expertise from both parties, as well as integrate capabilities of R&D, manufacturing and marketing to develop CAR-iMAC clinical products aiming for solid tumors.'Innovation and offering the best products that benefit patients are the core values that CellOrigin Biotech and Qilu Pharma both appreciate,' said Dr. Jin Zhang, the Co-Founder of CellOrigin Biotech and a Principal Investigator of Zhejiang University, one of the top universities in China. 'This is what brings us together.''We are very excited to collaborate with Qilu Pharma because of its prestige in the field of Chinese pharmaceutical industry, as well as its tremendous track records on drug development,' said Dr. Jiansong Tong, the Chief Executive Officer at CellOrigin Biotech. 'Meanwhile, we will continue to seek other potential collaborators to jointly develop our innovative anti-tumor CAR-iMac cell products.''CellOrigin Biotech is a startup company established by a group of outstanding scientists who have tremendous experiences both in R&D research and cGMP manufacture. It focused on developing innovative technologies in cell therapy and building valuable pipeline of products. It is an ideal strategic partner for novel cell therapy, and it is our pleasure to collaborate with such a great biotech company,' said Qilu Pharma.The Chinese telecom sector is achieving stable growth this yearChinese official data revealed today that the Chinese telecommunications sector witnessed a steady expansion in the past eight months of this year.Data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, released by Xinhua, showed that aggregate industrial revenues rose 8.2 percent year on year from January to August to 1.07 trillion yuan, or 153.3 billion US dollars, and cloud computing services revenue rose 130.3 percent over the last year. YoY basis while Big Data and Internet of Things revenue increased by 56.4 percent and 24.5 percent, respectively.TotalEnergies invests massively in Qatar to increase the production of liquefied natural gasQatar announced on Saturday September 24 the signing of a major contract with the French gas and oil giant TotalEnergies to increase its production of liquefied natural gas (LNG).Qatari Minister of Energy and CEO of Qatar Energy (QE), Saad Sherida al-Kaabi made the announcement during a joint press briefing with Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies.The French giant already signed a more than $2 billion deal with Doha in June for the development of the world's largest natural gas field, the North Field East (NFE) project.According to Sherida al-Kaabi, TotalEnergies will also participate in the financing of the North Field South (NFS) natural gas field development project.Read alsoElectricity and gas prices: how to react to supplier slippages TotalEnergies “will have a stronger strategic role” in gas development in Qatar, said Sherida al-Kaabi.'With a share of 9.375%, QE announces that it has selected TotalEnergies as a partner for the development of North Field South', reported the Qatari press agency QNA.“Other partners will be revealed at a later stage.The participation of foreign companies in this project should be around 25%, according to the Qatari authorities.The North Field East, where production is due to start in 2026, is an extension of the offshore North Field, the world's largest natural gas field that the Gulf country shares with Iran.Tesla recalls over 1 million vehicles over glass safety riskThe American electric car manufacturer Tesla has initiated the recall in the United States of nearly 1.1 million vehicles due to a risk of pinching linked to its electric window safety device.In a letter addressed to the Californian group on Wednesday and published on Thursday, the American highway safety agency (NHTSA) indicates that, on several models of the brand, the detection system supposed to reverse the direction of the windows after having encountered an obstacle is likely not to engage properly.This potential malfunction increases the risk of injury to drivers or passengers, whose fingers could become trapped.The vehicles concerned are certain Model 3 built between 2017 and 2022, Model Y (2020-2021), Model S (2021-2022) as well as Model X (2021-2022).Read alsoTesla puts battery factory project in Germany on holdTesla will perform a free, remote software update to comply with federal motor vehicle regulations.Letters to notify owners will be sent from November 15.Increased attention from authoritiesElon Musk's group says it has no knowledge of any accident, injury or death caused by this possible failure.Tesla has already issued several recalls in the United States this year to modify potentially problematic software remotely.Read alsoComplaint against Tesla, accused of lying about its autonomous driving functionsThe group has long made these updates without notifying users or regulators, but in recent months it has faced increased attention from NHTSA, which notably launched an investigation last year following several collisions with emergency vehicles.Russia's Gazprom shares rose more than 10 percentThe shares of Russia's Gazprom rose on the Moscow Stock Exchange today by more than 10 percent after it announced its intention to pay dividends for the first half of this year.Russia Today reported that Gazprom's stock rose by 10.42 percent to 236.37 rubles per share, after having previously reached its highest level at 237.14 rubles.The company's vice president, Famil Sadegov, confirmed earlier today the company's plans to allocate large funds for dividends for the 6 months of this year.Walmart, Target begin holiday early to ease inflation stingNEW YORK -- Walmart and Target plan to begin offering deals and price matching offers earlier this year to keep up with Americans pressed by soaring inflation and looking for ways to ease the potential sting of holiday shopping.For two years now, shoppers have started preparing for the holidays early but last year it was because the global supply chain had been scrambled as nations began to emerge from the pandemic. This year, experts believe it is a rapid rise in prices, also tied to pandemic stricken economies, that will drive Americans to shop early to avoid prices that they believe could rise even further and to spread out the spending as they pay more for gasoline, food, and just about everything else.The holiday sales strategies, announced on Thursday, come amid what is expected to be slower holiday sales growth compared with a year ago. AlixPartners, the global consulting firm, forecasts that holiday sales will be up anywhere from 4% to 7%, far below last year's growth of 16%. The current inflation rate of 8.3% means retailers would see a decrease in real sales.Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, is also expanding the window for returns by more than a month. Gift returns will now be accepted between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, compared with last year's return window of Nov. 1 to Jan. 24, the company said.Walmart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, is offering a wider assortment of items this year with more new brands and more Walmart-exclusives than a year ago, according to Tom Ward, the company's chief e-commerce officer. The company is deepening discounts on such items as toys, home goods, electronics and beauty. It said that more than half the toys on Walmart’s list of expected hot holiday toys are under $50 – with many under $25 — and nearly all of the toys are available to shop now or through pre-order on walmart.com.Boeing pays $200 million to settle SEC charges over 737 MaxBoeing Co. will pay $200 million to settle charges that the company and its former CEO misled investors about the safety of its 737 Max after two of the airliners crashed, killing 346 people.The Securities and Exchange Commission said Thursday that it charged the aircraft maker and former CEO Dennis Muilenburg with making significant misleading public statements about the plane and an automated flight-control system that was implicated in the crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.Neither Boeing nor Muilenburg admitted wrongdoing, but they offered to settle and pay penalties, including $1 million to be paid by Muilenburg, who was ousted in December 2019, nine months after the second crash.The SEC said Boeing and Muilenburg knew that the flight system, known as MCAS, posed a safety issue but promised the public that the plane was safe. The SEC said they also falsely claimed that there had been no gaps in the process of certifying the plane in the first place.“Boeing and Muilenburg put profits over people by misleading investors about the safety of the 737 Max all in an effort to rehabilitate Boeing’s image' after the crashes, said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division.Ford shuffles management, seeks new global supply chain headDETROIT -- Ford is restructuring its vehicle development and supply chain operations, shuffling multiple executives just days after announcing that it would build up to 45,000 vehicles with parts missing due to shortages.The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker gave some executives new roles and said that its chief financial officer will begin reworking supply chain operations until a new global purchasing chief is hired.The changes arrive at a time of profound change for Ford and the auto industry, which for more than a century have made a living by selling petroleum-powered vehicles. The company has plans for half of its global production to be electric vehicles by 2030, but like its main competitors, Ford will need to keep selling gas-burning vehicles to fund the massive transition.Earlier this year CEO Jim Farley split the company into two units, Ford Model e to develop electric vehicles, and Ford Blue to handle internal combustion cars, trucks and SUVs.Early Thursday, Ford announced that CFO John Lawler would run a makeover of its supply chain operations until the company finds a new supply chain chief.Toyota-Kenworth hydrogen-powered fuel cell truck capabilities ‘proven’ in trialToyota Motor North America and Kenworth Truck Company have today (September 22) said a project has “proved” their jointly designed, hydrogen-powered heavy-duty class 8 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) can match the performance of diesel.It comes after the completion of their operations in the Zero and Near-Zero Emission Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) Shore to Store project at the Port of Los Angeles, which tested 10 Toyota-Kenworth T680 FCEV truck, codenamed Ocean.Using a 2017 diesel engine operating around 200 miles a day as baseline, Toyota and Kenworth say the T680 has a range of approximately 300 miles when fully loaded to 37,200kg with no downtime between shifts for charging.The Ocean trucks were operated customers including, Toyota Logistics Services, Total Transportation Services, Inc., Southern Counties Express, among others.Offering a 15-20 minute refuelling time, the companies say the FCEVs could cover up to 400-500 miles per day. According to the partners, the Ocean trucks reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 74.66 tonnes per truck, annually, compared to the baseline diesel engine.H2 View understands, Shell provided hydrogen fuel infrastructure for the trials, which were funded by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). It is hoped the programme will pave the way for further development and commercial opportunities for hydrogen-powered fuel cell-electric transportation in California and beyond.Toyota in 2020 revealed its fuel cell technology was powering a set of Kenworth T680 trucks.