Sustainability Quarterly

The first quarter of 2025 has been a time of flux amid a shifting geopolitical and policy landscape. Key sustainability topics, including the low-carbon energy transition and climate physical risks, remain on corporate agendas. At the same time, many stakeholders are slowing their implementation timelines as attention shifts to other priorities such as satisfying the energy needs of the AI boom, reindustrialization, and energy security and affordability.   

Many companies are relying on data to chart the course through this changing landscape. In this edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly, we explore how data and cutting-edge technologies can help manage risks and bring new opportunities associated with sustainability, physical climate risks and the low-carbon energy transition.   

For example, new remote-sensing technologies are revealing higher methane emissions from oil and gas activities than previously reported. Research from S&P Global Commodity Insights explores how this could lead energy companies to recalibrate their estimates of this important greenhouse gas, which traps more heat than carbon dioxide. Companies that adopt observation-informed estimates early can better identify and manage methane leaks, reducing the potential reputational risks of delayed action and creating a credible track record to substantiate reduction in methane intensity. 

S&P Global data also provides insight into how companies are approaching key sustainability topics like double materiality — in which a company considers both internal value creation and external impact on the environment and society. Research based on the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment shows that many companies consider climate transition and physical risks a top material issue from the perspective of internal value creation and impact on external stakeholders.  

We’re also using our data to assess potential future costs of climate change for companies. Scientists in the S&P Global Climate Center of Excellence have developed models to measure the financial impact of climate physical hazards on corporate assets. Research using this dataset projects that for the world’s largest companies, climate physical risks could have a $1.2 trillion annual price tag by the 2050s, assuming no adaptation measures are put in place.   

Our data also helps us understand the investment landscape. Research from S&P Global Ratings estimates that global sustainable bond issuance will hold steady at $1 trillion in 2025, with green bonds continuing to dominate issuance.   

As the landscape continues to evolve, one refrain we have heard is that collaboration across sectors and disciplines will be a key to addressing global challenges such as climate change. In that spirit, research from economists at S&P Global Ratings and S&P Global’s chief science officer explores the benefits of bringing together economists and climate scientists to enhance the field of macroeconomic climate modeling and improve the credibility of climate risk assessments.