Author: omc_admin

New regional benchmarks: Platts introduces Shanghai and Rotterdam low-carbon methanol marine fuel (MMF) assessments to enhance transparency for sustainable shipping fuels. Strategic alignment with regulation: Launch follows global and EU regulatory pressure to decarbonize shipping, including IMO’s GHG penalties and FuelEU Maritime targets. Market growth catalyst: Expected rise in biomethanol and eMethanol capacity, especially in China, positions these hubs as critical players in the low-carbon fuel economy. S&P Global Commodity Insights has expanded its coverage of alternative marine fuels with the launch of low-carbon methanol marine fuel price assessments for Shanghai and Rotterdam, effective May 2. These assessments aim to…

Significant Growth: BBVA increased sustainable business funding by 55% in Q1 2025, reaching €29 billion. Climate-Focused Investment: 78% of funds supported climate and natural capital projects, reinforcing BBVA’s environmental priority. Ambitious New Target: The bank raised its sustainable financing goal to €700 billion by 2029—more than double its previous plan. BBVA mobilized approximately €29 billion for sustainable business initiatives in Q1 2025, reflecting a 55% year-over-year increase as the bank accelerates its ESG strategy. This surge supports BBVA’s new, more ambitious goal of channeling €700 billion by 2029, compressing the timeline from eight years to five and more than doubling…

Cold plate cooling reduces emissions by up to 21%, energy use by 20%, and water consumption by 52% over its full lifecycle. Switching to 100% renewable energy could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 85–90%, regardless of cooling method. Microsoft releases open-source tool to help the cloud industry adopt lifecycle assessments for sustainability planning. Microsoft is reshaping how the cloud industry evaluates sustainability by publishing the first comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of datacenter cooling methods in Nature. The study goes beyond operational metrics to quantify the total environmental cost — from raw material extraction to end-of-life disposal — of four…

Regulatory Delay: FCA halts plan to extend Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) to portfolio managers, despite strong industry backing. Operational Concerns: Feedback highlights complexity in applying rules to diverse portfolio types and alignment with other reporting regimes. Market Clarity Needed: The FCA seeks more time to address compliance challenges and ensure readiness across the sector. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has paused its plan to broaden its Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) and sustainable investment labelling regime to include portfolio managers. This decision comes despite “broad support” from industry stakeholders. The proposed extension, announced in April 2024, aimed to bring wealth…

The BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) launches consultation to enhance climate risk management frameworks in the financial sector. Proposals place stronger emphasis on scenario analysis, risk appetite alignment, and data governance. Review finds banks’ and insurers’ climate risk capabilities remain “in their infancy,” prompting a supervisory overhaul. The Bank of England has issued new proposals to reinforce its climate-related supervisory expectations for banks and insurers, citing patchy progress and immature risk frameworks since its 2019 guidance. The updates are laid out in a Consultation Paper open through 30 July 2025, and would revise Supervisory Statement 3/19. “Effective risk management at…

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the withdrawal of the determination of miscellaneous gas products as a covered consumer product under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA). This action is yet another step toward President Trump’s pledge to lower costs for the American people by expanding choice and cutting red tape. By withdrawing this rule, DOE will exempt miscellaneous gas products—a category that includes decorative hearths and outdoor heaters—from a range of unnecessary regulations on their manufacture and sale. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Department of Energy is returning to common sense – and that means giving the…

Block shares were on track for their second-worst day Friday, plunging more than 20% as investors digested a brutal quarterly report and a wave of analyst downgrades centered on one issue: Cash App.The first-quarter earnings miss rattled Wall Street, prompting multiple firms — including Wells Fargo, Seaport, BMO and Benchmark — to downgrade the stock overnight. Many flagged fresh concerns around stagnant Cash App user growth, muted consumer demand and a soft macro environment that may weigh on monetization.”Stagnation in the number of active users of the app is even more concerning than users’ reduced spending,” Benchmark wrote in its…

Industrial decarbonization-focused private equity investor Ara Partners announced that it has raised more than $800 million at the closing of the debut fund of its Ara Infrastructure strategy, and associated co-investment vehicles, aimed at investing in in mid-market decarbonization infrastructure assets. The fundraising significantly exceeded the fund’s $500 million target. Launched in 2022, the strategy, led by Ara co-Heads of Infrastructure George Yong and Teresa O’Flynn, focuses on the “overlooked middle” of the low-carbon infrastructure market, targeting critical assets that need to be built, repurposed or rebuilt, to decarbonize the industrial economy, with the firm noting that most market investments…

ESG ratings providers face stricter transparency, conflict-of-interest, and operational structure requirements under new ESMA draft rules. Supervision of sustainability disclosures will be risk-based, with a strong focus on greenwashing and double materiality. EU issuers must prepare for intensified scrutiny and harmonized enforcement across Member States. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has unveiled two major regulatory developments poised to reshape ESG data integrity and sustainability reporting across the EU. ESG Ratings Regulation: From Supervision to Separation Following the adoption of the ESG Rating Regulation in late 2024, ESMA has published its draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), outlining strict new…

As more companies race to automate their warehouses, a new report from MIT says they might be overlooking some major risks that could disrupt the entire supply chain. What’s RelatedThe Warehouse of the Future report, published by researchers at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics, outlines the top dangers facing highly automated warehouse operations. These include technical failures, cyber threats, new safety issues created by advanced robotics, and the loss of hands-on knowledge due to high employee turnover. “The more interconnected and automated warehouses become, the more exposed they are to disruptions,” said Miguel Rodríguez García, one of the report’s…