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Although industrial metals prices have risen following the National People’s Congress (NPC) in China, we still think that prices will fall over 2025 and 2026 given that the policies outlined do not go far enough to address the structural headwinds facing …
5th March 2025
The events of the past two weeks have called into question whether the US is severing ties not just with adversaries such as China but also allies, including Canada, Mexico and the European Union. This would radically alter the shape of the fractured …
4th March 2025
The EU’s Clean Industrial Deal and Omnibus packages mark a shift in climate policy as pushback against the costs of climate action grows. With the EU less willing to impose costs on the private sector, there is a growing risk that it does not follow …
27th February 2025
Whereas political pushback against the cost of climate action is hindering policy in North America and Europe, the tailwinds from China’s low-cost green technology exports are becoming more concentrated in emerging markets more aligned with China. The …
19th February 2025
The renewable rollout in Saudi Arabia is set to accelerate on the back of cheap solar panel imports from China. Given that Saudi Arabia is one of a few countries that directly burns crude oil for electricity, this could add further downward pressure on …
5th February 2025
Although European natural gas prices will still influence EU carbon prices in the near-term, investors’ recent optimism suggests that expectations for a tighter carbon market down the line are starting to drive a wedge between carbon and gas prices. The …
28th January 2025
China’s exports of the “New Three” ended last year at a new record high as US firms continued to ramp-up imports of Chinese-made batteries. Meanwhile, the backdrop of heightened tariffs and slowing green transitions in developed countries has resulted in …
20th January 2025
While commercial real estate insurance premiums remain elevated, their growth dropped back substantially last year. But as the West and Gulf coasts still face the greatest threat from climate risks, we expect continued rapid premium growth in those …
13th January 2025
On the face of it, the fact that the world is installing more renewable electricity generating capacity than seemed likely just a few years ago is encouraging for the green transition. That said, one must not lose sight of the fact that non-renewable …
Whilst Donald Trump is threatening to slam the brakes on the green transition in the US, state-level officials have the tools to continue making progress on the climate front. This Update uses our Regional Climate Databank to highlight the extreme …
9th January 2025
The Cold War was defined by geopolitical blocs – the Soviet or Eastern bloc against the Western bloc. Geopolitics retreated with the collapse of the Soviet Union. The period from the early-1990s to the early-2010s was instead an era of globalisation: most …
7th January 2025
China’s exports of the “New Three” held up in November, although this was solely due to the strength of lithium-ion battery exports to the US as firms prepare for the imposition of tariffs. Looking ahead, alongside gains in competitiveness, tariff …
20th December 2024
We held an online session on US import tariffs on 26th November. (See a recording here ). In this Update we answer the questions we were most asked. What are Trump’s motives for threatening tariffs and will he follow through? Trump has spoken about using …
29th November 2024
The failure of COP29 to deliver on ambitious climate finance targets means that developing economies still lack sufficient low-cost finance for climate adaption. That leaves them reliant on debt-based finance, adding to debt burdens and raising the risk …
27th November 2024
President-elect Donald Trump’s first threatened tariffs since the election are designed to extract concessions on drug trafficking and illegal border crossings, which means it may be possible for the countries targeted – Canada, Mexico and China – to head …
26th November 2024
Unsurprisingly, a second Trump presidency will support oil and gas production while rolling back environmental regulations. The fate of the Inflation Reduction Act is less certain, given that the support for manufacturing investment aligns with Trump’s …
22nd November 2024
China’s green export volumes rose in October and were just 3% shy of the record high reached in August. Chinese battery makers could be hit hard by President-elect Trump’s tariff proposals. But the surge in battery exports following the announcement of a …
20th November 2024
President-elect Trump’s distaste for trade deficits surely does not extend to worrying about the US’s large-scale import of carbon emissions through trade flows. The global imbalance between importers and exporters of CO 2 emissions is likely to shrink …
14th November 2024
The recent floods in Spain have inflicted huge personal and financial costs. But in terms of GDP, the effect is likely to be quite small as the temporary loss in activity will probably be offset by increased government expenditure. Similarly, while the …
12th November 2024
COP29 – which is set to kick off in Baku next week – has been dubbed the ‘finance COP’ given that the top priority for negotiators will be to agree on a new climate finance pledge. However, Trump’s election victory looms large over the event and adds to …
7th November 2024
The monetary “day job” is going to get harder We have argued in the past that, although central banks have some tools to help propel the green transition along at the margin, responsibility for tackling climate change is best left to fiscal and regulatory …
31st October 2024
There is growing concern about how the green transition may create stranded real estate assets, impacting negatively on both lenders and investors. We can get some idea of the scale of the problem in Dutch markets where EPC targets have been more …
23rd October 2024
Following a record high in August, our proprietary measure of China’s green export volumes edged down in September. Meanwhile, China’s exports of EVs to Europe surged despite the recent EU tariffs, and we expect continued strong performance in China’s …
22nd October 2024
While electric vehicle (EV) rollouts in Europe and the US have stalled and are set to remain sluggish over the next few years, the uptake of EVs in China has surged beyond expectations. So, for all the focus on the near-term supply risks to oil, the …
9th October 2024
Ahead of COP29 in November, discussions have been taking place at events in London and New York this week on all things climate. We attended the LSE’s Environment Week to hear the thoughts of academics and policymakers on carbon offsets, CBAM, and US …
26th September 2024
Our proprietary measure of China’s green export volumes continued to rise in August to a new record high. Given that the EU tariffs have so far barely made a dent into China’s electric vehicle exports, and the fact that US and Canada tariffs will only …
20th September 2024
New data released in the past week show that global greenhouse gas emissions rose by almost 2% y/y in 2023. Most of this increase was driven by growth in China’s emissions as its economy recovered from pandemic-related disruptions. Looking ahead, we …
12th September 2024
Several advanced economies have raised tariffs on imports of green technologies and semiconductors from China to address their growing trade deficits in these goods and tackle a perceived strategic weakness. As long as the process is gradual, this …
3rd September 2024
China’s announcement last week that it would curb exports of antimony, a critical mineral, was another example of global fracturing unfolding in the commodities arena. Recycling offers an obvious way for the US and its allies to shore up their own …
21st August 2024
China’s electric vehicle exports rose strongly in July despite EU tariffs coming into force. This, alongside the continued surge in battery exports, lifted our measure of China’s green export volumes to a record high. The US tariffs on Chinese-made green …
20th August 2024
The rise in severe weather events over the last five years has left property insurers scrambling to price-in physical risks, causing premium growth to reach a 20-year high. While we think the worst is over, growth will likely remain above the historic …
31st July 2024
We think that a second term for President Trump would probably worsen the outlook for sustainable energy equities at the margin, and also add to the pessimism around stocks in the beleaguered electric vehicle (EV) sector. We expect that both supply and …
25th July 2024
The electricity blackouts that have blighted Egypt this summer may be nearing an end. But in the absence of new major gas discoveries, in the longer run rising energy demand will result in renewed balance of payments problems from higher imports or will …
23rd July 2024
Increases in solar panel and battery exports propelled our proprietary measure of China’s green export volumes to a record high in June. Given the rapid expansion in Chinese manufacturing capacity, the large wedge between export values and volumes will …
22nd July 2024
The ~10% fall in EU carbon prices since the end of May has mirrored a similar-sized fall in European natural gas prices, and we forecast both to fall by a further 25-30% by year-end. That said, the fundamentals still point to large gains in the EU carbon …
17th July 2024
Hydrogen could play a key role in reducing emissions in hard-to-abate sectors such as steelmaking and be a boon for countries and regions that are well placed to produce a surplus of renewable power. But hydrogen is not the best option in many …
10th July 2024
The continued divergence between export values and export volumes of the “New Three” underlines the downward pressure on prices from the rapid expansion in manufacturing capacity in China. Meanwhile, as the EU and US impose greater tariffs on Chinese-made …
20th June 2024
The tightening of fiscal constraints is putting pressure on politicians to pare back green investment ambitions. But kicking the fiscal can down the road on measures that could accelerate the green transition will probably lead to greater macroeconomic …
18th June 2024
China’s rapid uptake of clean power means that it is on track to overachieve on its target of reaching peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030. That said, the pace of decline will be slow at first, not least because it will probably take time for …
13th June 2024
The green transition and the accompanying rollout of renewables means that global coal demand could peak this year, followed by oil around 2030. Meanwhile, the importance of natural gas as a transition fuel means that it will peak a few years later around …
12th June 2024
Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum’s strong environmental credentials mean that a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewables is likely during her tenure. We doubt that she’ll fully open up the energy sector to private investment and think …
10th June 2024
A return of La Niña could provide some respite for those commodity producers who have been hit hardest by El Niño. But it could also pose problems for others – not least in South America – and so assessing any potential impacts on commodity prices is …
6th June 2024
Whilst export values of the “New Three” fell for the sixth consecutive month in y/y terms in April, export volumes remained close to their record peak. Meanwhile, the sharp drop-off in China’s exports of solar panels to India following the re-tightening …
20th May 2024
This note answers some of the most frequently asked questions that we received from clients during a recent online briefing about the latest US tariffs on China. Watch the original briefing here . What has been announced? Yesterday was the end of a …
15th May 2024
The impact of the US tariffs announced today will barely register on the paltry flows of solar panels and electric vehicles that China directly exports to the US. However, the new tariffs could have a bigger impact on imports of Chinese-made batteries, …
14th May 2024
Extreme heat across parts of India could be particularly damaging to the agriculture sector through both a drop in crop yields and a fall in labour productivity. But industry and services aren’t immune; a surge in demand for electricity to power cooling …
9th May 2024
The sharp rise in the price of carbon under China’s Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) this year, to a record high, underlines that Beijing sees carbon pricing as a key part of its emissions-reduction toolkit. Although the price of polluting in China is likely …
7th May 2024
The rapid expansion in China’s manufacturing capacity of green technology is a symptom of the country’s investment-led growth model and so there is no reason to believe that any change in tack is imminent. Against this backdrop, western governments will …
23rd April 2024
Despite another large y/y fall in green technology export values from China in March, falling solar panel and battery prices mean that China’s export volumes of the so-called “New Three” were close to the peak recorded in September 2023. After the 12.8% …
22nd April 2024
El Ni ño is causing severe drought across much of southern Africa, which is likely to weigh on GDP, push up inflation and strain balance sheets. South Africa has also suffered water shortages, albeit more as a result of creaking infrastructure than low …
4th April 2024
