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From billion-dollar climate finance deals to wildfire emergencies, this week’s ‘Week in Review’ shows just how high the stakes are for sustainability. Qatar stepped into the green bond market for the first time, Nuveen raised $1.3B for sustainable infrastructure, and J.P. Morgan backed a $210M U.S. afforestation push. Meanwhile, Europe battled raging wildfires, Occidental advanced its first large-scale DAC hub, and the ICVCM approved new methods to scale high-integrity carbon credits. And while plastic treaty talks stalled in Geneva, momentum across finance, carbon, and energy signals that ESG is evolving faster than ever. GOVERNMENT, POLICY & REGULATION CARBON WATCH CLIMATE…

Rystad Energy’s latest research shows the global amount of discovered, recoverable oil resources has increased by 5 billion barrels (bbls) over the past year, even though 30 billion bbls were produced globally in 2024. This net increase was driven primarily by the delineation of upside potential in Argentina’s Vaca Muerta play and the Permian basin in Texas and New Mexico.  Chart from Rystad Energy Global recoverable oil resources, including estimates for undiscovered fields, stabilized at approximately 1.5 trillion bbls. The most significant revision over the last 10 years has been in yet-to-find resources, where our projection has been…

Alternative carbon carriers are chemical compounds specifically engineered to store larger quantities of carbon molecules in subsurface formations. When these compounds are synthesized from carbon dioxide, it can help optimise the transportation, utilisation, and storage of this greenhouse gas.   A simplified figure from the study demonstrating the process of enhanced oil recovery with slugs of a formate solution and carbon dioxide. The formate solution is an alternative carbon carrier proposed by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. In modeling studies, this solution is better at producing oil and storing carbon than conventional…

John Krafcik, the man who led Waymo’s path from a research project to a commercial autonomous ride-hailing business, is skeptical about Tesla’s Robotaxi.Business Insider sought the former Waymo CEO’s thoughts on Tesla’s Robotaxi Bay Area launch. Krafcik led Waymo from 2015 to 2021. He now sits on the board for Rivian, a Tesla rival in the electric vehicle space.”If they were striving to re-create today’s Bay Area Uber experience,” he told Business Insider over email, “looks like they’ve absolutely nailed it.”Tesla rolled out a ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area in July, about a month after it began…

Superior Plus Corp. has reported a net loss of $14.7 million for the second quarter, compared to a net loss of $45.3 million for the corresponding quarter a year ago. President and Chief Executive Officer Allan MacDonald said the second-quarter performance was impacted by wholesale supply disruption due to a temporary plant shutdown in California, seasonally lower volumes for Superior’s propane business, and deferral of some of second-quarter deliveries, as part of its transformation initiatives. However, for the first half of the year, Superior reported net earnings of $131.7 million, up from $39.9 million for H1 2024. Superior attributed the…

When US President Donald Trump meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, one of his bargaining chips to encourage Putin to make progress toward a ceasefire in Ukraine will be to ease US sanctions on Russia’s energy industry and exports.Trump has also threatened tougher sanctions if there is no progress.Here is how sanctions have impacted Russian energy exports since the start of the conflict.Natural gas and LNG Russia was the top supplier of natural gas to Europe before the war. Most gas travelled through four pipeline routes: Nord Stream running under the Baltic Sea, the Yamal line crossing Poland, transit…

This week in ESG news: Danske Bank divests over 85% of oil and gas companies over transition plans; less than 40% of employees say companies are doing enough on climate change; Republican states warn SBTi, financial firms over setting net zero goals; Watershed and Stanford take over supply chain emissions database dropped by U.S.’ EPA; Amazon’s AWS signs renewable energy deal in India; U.S. to invest $1 billion in critical minerals, battery materials supply chains; UK financials regulator says the sustainability-linked loan market is growing up; U.S. drops antitrust investigation into truckmakers after agreement to not enforce California emissions rules;…

Henry, a boyish-looking AI researcher, believes there’s about a 50/50 chance that in the next few years AI will become so powerful and sophisticated it will pose an existential threat to all human life. For his day job, he’s trying to prevent this from happening by working for a small safety-focused AI research lab in the Bay Area. He takes this mission seriously: He’s sworn off romantic relationships to dedicate himself to the cause, and he donates a third of his income to AI safety nonprofits.In his free time, he’s preparing for the possibility of failure, by building DIY bioshelters…

With no formal statement released yet, attention now shifts to how the market digests the event into the Monday open. Trump-Putin Summit Could Reprice Russian Supply Risk Friday evening’s meeting between President Trump and President Putin (August 15, 20:00 GMT) looms large over the coming week. Trump signaled openness to easing sanctions if peace talks in Ukraine gain traction—but also warned of secondary tariffs if negotiations break down. The stakes are high for crude flows, particularly for China and India, who’ve been top buyers of Russian barrels. Traders will be watching closely for any fresh headlines over the weekend that…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a decree that could allow foreign investors, including top US oil major Exxon Mobil, to regain shares in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project.The signing of the decree comes on the day Russian president Vladimir Putin meets Donald Trump in Alaska for a summit where opportunities for investment and business collaboration will be on the agenda, alongside talks to find peace in Ukraine. Friday’s decree was published as a follow-up to one Putin signed in October 2022, which ordered the seizure of the Sakhalin-1 project.Exxon previously held a 30 per cent operator share…