Category: 3. Business

Air pollution is a major environmental and health threat. To tackle it, the Italian company ISCLEANAIR has developed an industrialised APA – a unique innovative air cleaning system that reduces the broadest spectrum of harmful pollutants, including ammonia, methane, and CO₂, directly from the air. To scale up and reach new markets, ISCLEANAIR turned to Green Assist for tailored advisory support.

APA (short for Air Pollution Abatement) is a modular, water-based system that cleans the air without filters or chemicals in places such as farms, factories, buildings, industrial sites, urban areas, and transport hubs. Recognised as a Best Available Technology (BAT) under EU environmental frameworks, APA has already been deployed across Europe with demonstrated impact in indoor and outdoor sectors, helping to significantly to reduce emissions, support biodiversity, improve energy efficiency, and actively combat climate change.

Although the technology was already proven, the company needed support to refine its business model, attract new partners and investors, and continue expanding its areas of value creation and target markets. To support its scale-up, ISCLEANAIR turned to Green Assist for assistance. Between August 2024 to April 2025, Green Assist provided tailored advice on strategic planning, business and financial modelling, market validation, and investment planning. This helped ISCLEANAIR to strengthen its value proposition, build a compelling case for international growth, and align with EU climate goals and biodiversity strategies.

The project is now moving into its next growth phase, with APA solutions recently included in the latest European Innovation Council Initiative. Strategically, it has already been operating in Europe, but also in the UK, India, the US, and soon Turkey. In addition, ISCLEANAIR recently completed a series of demonstration projects on UK farms, showing strong results in reducing livestock emissions. These outcomes confirm APA’s effectiveness in capturing CO₂ and ammonia in livestock settings – an innovation that could play a key role in decarbonising agriculture and improving animal welfare.

Fabio Galatioto, Chief Technology Officer of ISCLEANAIR, shared:

“We are fully prepared to meet new needs and proactively engage with emerging markets. Green Assist’s ongoing strategic support has been crucial to defining next steps and driving evolution: their experts not only recognised our challenges but also offered new insights, ideas, and concrete, actionable solutions. Their guidance has strongly strengthened the foundation of our growth and new plans, ensuring they are perfectly aligned to capture wide real market opportunities. Thanks to our rigorously validated and certified solutions, supported by robust industrial know-how and asset-backed business models, we can confidently expand our operations to new sectors and achieve sustained growth across all continents.”

ISCLEANAIR at Ecomondo

As a Green Assist success story, ISCLEANAIR was also prominently featured at Ecomondo on 5 and 6 November. The company joined CINEA at their stand to showcase APA, and also participated in the Green Assist session, where a representatives shared their experience with the advisory support and inspired potential beneficiaries. The event provided valuable visibility to the project and facilitated technical meetings with prospective industrial and commercial partners.

Giuseppe Spanto, Programme and Project Officer and Managing Director, stated: 

“Our joy and pride in sharing the successful experience with Green Assist at Ecomondo are immense and fully supported by the entire ISCLEANAIR team. More than 10 years ago, at Ecomondo, our environmental idea received the national award for the green economy. Now, more than a decade later, participating in Ecomondo as a testimonial and a recent international success story means not only celebrating the results we have achieved over time but also expressing our gratitude for the support we received from institutions and partners throughout the years for the impact and undeniable value created, which has enabled solutions also to eliminate costs of inaction. Green Assist’s support has helped us turn some complex challenges into real opportunities for new growth and European innovation.”

More information on the project

Visit their website and watch their explanatory video!

Green Assist aims to build a pipeline for high-impact green investment projects in sectors related to biodiversity, natural capital and circular economy, as well as in non-environmental sectors. 

Learn more about how Green Assist can help you get free tailored support for your green project or contact us at cinea-green-assistec [dot] europa [dot] eu (cinea-green-assist[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu). To request advisory services from Green Assist, simply fill out this short form.

Furthermore, the bills of lading incorporated MSC’s terms printed on the reverse. The front-facing page of the bills of lading referred to the terms on the reverse as well as to a larger, more accessible version on MSC’s website. The court held that reference to the location on the website alone was deemed sufficient. Thus, the bills of lading incorporated the jurisdiction clause.

Issue 2

Interglobal was bound by the terms via the application of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 (“COGSA 1992”). They were subject to the same rights of suit and liabilities as if they had been a party to the original contract. The court gave three reasons, any one of which would suffice.

Firstly, all rights of suit under the contract vested in them as the consignee under s.2(1)(b).

Secondly, by taking delivery from the carrier, Interglobal were subject to the same liabilities under the contract, including the jurisdiction clause, under s.3(1)(a).

Thirdly, they were also subject to the same liabilities after making claims in Nigeria under the bills of lading and for breaches of the contracts of carriage thereunder, in accordance with s.3(1)(b).  Adopting the position in The Berge Sisar [2002] 2 AC 205 per Lord Hobhouse and his own position in The Ulsoy-11 [2020] EWHC 3445 (Comm), Mr Justice Bryan confirmed that the effect of s.3(1)(a), (b) or (c) also extends to any jurisdiction or arbitration clauses.

Interglobal argued that they lacked notice because the scans of the bills of lading provided by the shippers omitted their reverse side, where the MSC Terms could be found. The court rejected this, confirming there is no requirement the consignee has specific notice of the terms of the original contract under s.2 and s.3 of COGSA. In any case, the court said that the references on the bills to the terms and conditions being available on MSC’s website with a URL would have put Interglobal on reasonable notice under the common law test (see Transformers & Rectifiers Ltd v Needs Ltd [2015] EWHC 269 (TCC)). Further, directing a party to standard terms found on a website constitutes sufficient notice, relying upon Parker-Brennan v Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 185.

Issue 3

All arguments submitted by Interglobal in this regard were rejected. Firstly, their reliance on the Nigerian Admiralty Jurisdiction Act 1991 was dismissed, as the court had to apply English conflict of law principles.

Secondly, their argument that Nigeria was the appropriate forum under the facts and circumstances of the case was dismissed. The question is what the parties agreed, not which forum is most appropriate, following the explanation of Lord Leggatt in UniCredit Bank GmbH v RusChemAlliance LLC [2024] 3 WLR 659.

Thirdly, MSC had not submitted to Nigerian jurisdiction as Interglobal alleged. The question of submission to foreign jurisdiction was held to be a question of English law. Under the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, a party does not submit only by appearing in proceedings to obtain the release of property seized.

Finally, there was no failure by MSC to give full and frank disclosure when they applied for the ASI. Interglobal raised concerns here that were ultimately held to be immaterial. Some of these related to Nigerian law, which was deemed irrelevant.

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Spain’s Hidalgo family, through Globalia, will continue to be the majority shareholder of Air Europa, while British Airways owner IAG will retain its current 20% stake through the purchase of shares from Globalia.

The transaction, which will close once regulatory requirements have been met in about 6 to 12 months, values Air Europa at approximately 1.2 billion euros ($1.4 billion).

The deal is a rare case of a non-European carrier buying a stake in an airline on the continent and comes as airlines are looking to consolidate the continent’s fragmented market by snapping up smaller struggling operators.

After announcing the deal, Air Europa said it had repaid a loan of almost 500 million euros from Spain’s state-owned industrial holding company SEPI one year ahead of schedule.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

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A&O Shearman has advised DSBJ PTE. LTD., a subsidiary of Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing Co., Ltd (DSBJ), an industrial group listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, on the acquisition of Groupe Mécanique Découpage (GMD), a leading French automotive supplier company with operations in France and internationally, and the restructuring of its financial debt. This operation allows DSBJ to develop its activities in Europe.

Air Liquide, CentraleSupélec, ITP Interpipe, Nexans and RTE have formed a consortium to develop a High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) superconducting power transmission system demonstrator.

The SupraMarine project will study the electrical connection between offshore wind farms and the coastline using High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) cables. Superconducting cables, cooled by liquid nitrogen, transport electricity with near-zero energy loss.

Such a system would offer major advantages for the energy transition by improving the competitiveness of offshore wind power installed far from the coast, compared to a direct current connection. It could thus contribute to developing the industrial sector of superconductivity, while helping to reduce Europe’s dependence on imports of electronic equipment.

The cutting-edge technology demonstrator would represent a breakthrough in energy transmission from offshore wind farms by adapting and simplifying part of the electrical grid connection. The SupraMarine project would offer an alternative solution to the growing offshore wind energy supply chain challenges, while sourcing most of its materials from Europe. The project is key to developing a subsea superconducting system, which will ultimately strengthen the competitiveness of offshore wind energy far from the coast.