Earlier in the year, Greenpeace was warning about Europe greenwashing with north Africa’s renewable energy, extracting renewable energy from Morocco and Egypt to “greenwash” their own economies, while leaving north Africans reliant on dirty imported fuels.

Last year, ‘chaos’ was feared over the planned Morocco to Devon power cable link, in an area designated a national landscape; and this month, the government ditched its support for the Xlinks undersea cable project ending in North Devon, as it wanted to focus more on developing ‘home-grown energy’.

It is interesting, then, that charges of ‘greenwashing’ were not used against this proposal. And yet to what extent do we need to be wary about the promises made by ‘clean technology‘?

Another controversial area is battery technology – for example, the cobalt in your car battery and the ethics of mining minerals. And much of this debate also lies in questions around Electric Vehicles and Net Zero.

Nevertheless, looking to efforts to make battery technology a truly clean technology here in the West Country, whilst Cornwall ‘looks to become a global hub for sourcing’ lithium, there are various projects underway looking at creating alternative battery technologies in the South West.

One of these efforts is coming from the Devon-based cleantech group Altilium, offering “sustainable, low carbon battery materials” – “embracing a circular economy by turning old EV batteries into a domestic source of critical minerals”.

Or, as the Great South West private-public sector partnership says, Altilium are driving the South West’s green battery revolution, by “building a sustainable domestic supply chain of low carbon battery raw materials… where the critical minerals powering the energy transition are recovered from recycling end-of-life EV batteries, saving natural resources, reducing mining and helping to make EVs even greener”.

Over the last week, there have been several very positive pieces in the press about the project – which should bode well for clean technology in the South West and which look to real advances in net zero rather than the empty promises of greenwashing.

They include: a jobs bonanza, as a £30m tech factory is to open in Plymouth; a report from Altilium’s partners in Japan, where a minister heard how the firm’s battery recycling tech is helping the UK’s drive towards net zero; and how Altilium has secured government funding for a £1m ELV circularity project.

The final word goes to a local politician. As this tech company is set to open its game-changing facility that solves a major issue with EV batteries, Plymouth Councilor Tom Briars-Delve lauded the company’s mission and its “commitment” to investing in the city: “This is exactly the type of company we are keen to support as it is boosting the next generation of green, well-paid jobs for local residents. We look forward to the build out of this new facility,”

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