In the latest edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly, we explore how sustainability stakeholders are coming together on the world stage to address climate change.
Published: September 14, 2023
We’re heading into Climate Week NYC Sept. 17-24, and then the UN’s COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, later this year. As stakeholders from around the world gather at these big climate events, the latest edition of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly explores how companies and countries are approaching climate change and the energy transition.
Standard-setting bodies like the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) are changing the landscape for climate disclosure. The ISSB released its first standards this summer, and as companies prepare to implement them, research from S&P Global Sustainable1 finds that climate disclosure varies widely around the world.
Against this global backdrop, we examine how the world's most populous country is approaching energy transition in research by S&P Global Commodity Insights — India’s Energy Transition: More Energy, Fewer Emissions — that is also featured in “Look Forward: India’s Moment,” a collection of research about the challenges and opportunities facing India in the coming decades.
Managing sustainability risks in supply chains that span the globe has been a persistent challenge for companies, and new regulations in some parts of the world are putting more pressure on companies to ensure their suppliers act sustainably. We dive into this topic in research from S&P Global Market Intelligence about the global impact of the EU’s anti-deforestation law, which will require companies selling certain products in the EU to confirm that their goods do not contribute to deforestation.
Research from S&P Global Ratings also helps us understand how companies in particularly complex sectors such as chemical manufacturing are approaching the decarbonization challenge. This research finds that the sector’s medium-term decarbonization targets are unlikely to materially affect chemical companies' cost structures but could imply more significant disruptions to the sector post-2030.
Finally, we look at how climate and energy transition goals will be financed in research from S&P Global Ratings on the outlook for sustainable bond issuance through the end of 2023. Based on trends in the first half of the year, our Ratings colleagues reiterate their previous forecast for $900 billion to $1 trillion of green, social, sustainable and sustainability-linked bond issuance in 2023.
Richard Mattison
Vice Chairman
S&P Global Sustainable1
Following the release of climate standards from the International Sustainability Standards Board, S&P Global Sustainable1 data shows that Scope 3 emissions disclosure is still uncommon.
India is critical in the global push toward net-zero because of its large and growing energy demand. Its efforts to reduce emissions will also be a model for other emerging economies.
The European Union’s Regulation on deforestation-free products is likely to reconfigure trade and supply chains across deforestation-linked commodities over the next decade.
Medium-term decarbonization targets are unlikely to materially affect chemical companies' cost structures but could imply more significant disruptions to the sector post-2030.
While there are potential risks on the horizon for chemical companies, S&P Global Ratings views the sector's credit risks as manageable under existing regulatory policies.
Green, social, sustainable, and sustainability-linked bond issuance has risen this year, despite challenges posed by high global interest rates, while traditional bond issuance is stagnating.
Subscribe to ESG Insider, a podcast from S&P Global Sustainable1 that takes you inside the environmental, social and governance issues shaping the business world through in-depth analysis and interviews with sustainability leaders.
ESG podcasts
