Research & Insights
The Future of Office Space
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Hydrogen on the Horizon
As ESG factors become increasingly important to governments and companies around the world, hydrogen has solidified as a means to divest from fossil fuels across commercial, power generation, and transportation industries. Although it is not yet a perfect solution, as most hydrogen today is produced from fossil fuels, the global community is racing to research and implement hydrogen within the energy mix in efforts of accelerating the energy transition and achieving net-zero emissions.
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Gold's Silver Lining
During the current period of coronavirus-caused geopolitical uncertainty, global commodities markets have experienced unprecedented volatility. Throughout the crisis, while the price of oil plunged and equities benchmarks skyrocketed and plunged, gold has emerged as a safe haven for investors. Gold's rising market price, massive secondary supply, and expected Q2 success have cemented its shining status as uncertainty prevails.
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Panjiva's Q3 2020 Outlook: Heading into the great unknowns
This report is a three-part series providing a guide to developments we expect for global supply chains in Q3 2020. The impact of COVID-19 has been the defining factor for supply chains in the first half of the year. Recovery will mark the second.
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Global Credit Conditions:
July 2020The Shape Of Recovery: Uneven, Unequal, Uncharted
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Economic Forecasts:
July 2020The Global Economy Begins A Slow Mend As COVID-19 Eases Unevenly
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Social Justice as a Social Factor
Companies and investors around the world are confronting unprecedented economic and social disruption by prioritizing and promoting social justice through environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors—echoing calls for more workplace diversity and greater investment in social and green bonds.
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Analyzing COVID-19 Credit Risk with Supply Chain Data
This report considers the ways in which Panjiva’s global supply chain data may be useful for credit risk analysis before taking a look at evolution of supply chain risks from trade policy uncertainty through to the COVID-19 pandemic before taking a deep dive into three sectors.
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Transition to a 1.5°C World with the S&P Paris-Aligned & Climate Transition Indices
The landmark Paris Agreement marked a sea change in the global fight against climate change.1 Backed by empirical evidence from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), ambition has since grown to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C since pre-industrial levels.
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Spotlight On Utilities
The coronavirus pandemic has presented utility regulators with a set of obstacles they have never before confronted, challenging them to adapt regulatory tools to balance the interests of ratepayers struggling through unemployment and gas distributors juggling unanticipated costs and lost revenues.
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Women in Metals and Mining
Women leaders from metals and mining industries share experiences and views on diversity.
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Climate Risk and Energy Transition
The coronavirus pandemic hit the brakes on global economies, but as the pandemic becomes a constant and not a crisis, opportunity lies in recovery. If governments direct their nations’ recovery spending plans to align with green principles, plunging emissions could refocus growth in clean energy initiatives and companies can adopt ESG policies to help fight climate change.
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Coronavirus Flash Survey: June 2020
Combining 451 Research’s industry-leading analysis with a proprietary global panel of IT decision-makers, Voice of the Enterprise: Digital Pulse tracks the disruption occurring in the market and exposes the major impacts and opportunities for enterprises, IT vendors, suppliers and investors. This survey was designed to measure the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak on businesses. It was conducted between May 26 and June 11, 2020, and represents approximately 575 completes from pre-qualified IT decision-makers.
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The EU Capital Markets Union: Turning The Tide
The CMU has the potential to turn the tide in Europe. At present, its substantial savings are ineffectively allocated in a fragmented financial sector dominated by banks. As a result, investment, innovation, and growth are subdued.
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Europe Charts a Different Path
As countries around the world reignite their economic activity, Europe is navigating transitional challenges with a sustainable perspective. While the EU's proposal for an unprecedented €750B spending package is explicitly to green principles and the EU’s Capital Markets Union has the potential to turn the tide in the region, there is still little certainty over the length or full impact of the coronavirus pandemic on European businesses.
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China Looks Forward
The global pandemic and economic crisis have served to accelerate long term changes in the markets. This is especially visible in China where early signs of recovery and a post-COVID status quo are emerging. China's economy and role in the world have evolved in a few short months, giving market observers a sense for the future.
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COVID-19 Is Testing The Resilience Of Global Structured Finance
Extended coronavirus-containment measures are pushing the world into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. Although we expect the drop in economic activity to be sharp but fairly short, the path to recovery remains very uncertain.
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The Growing Importance of 'S' & 'G' in ESG
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities are taking on new shapes as the coronavirus pandemic continues. While companies are accounting for the material impacts of environmental risk and countries prepare to invest in sustainable energy solutions to aid in the post-crisis recovery, the additional ESG components are increasing in importance. Disruptions to daily life and the global economy are illustrating the significance of social factors, including health and safety management, communities, inclusive workforces, and customer engagement, and governance factors like structure and oversight, cores and values, transparency and reporting, and cyber risks and systems.
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Infrastructure: What Once Was Lost Can Now Be Found — The Productivity Boost
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the longest U.S. economic expansion in U.S. history has abruptly ended: We forecast that U.S. economic activity will shrink by 11.8% ($566 billion) in real terms, peak to trough. The well over 30 million jobs lost at the trough will wipe out all the jobs created in 23 or more years. Economic damage will be three times greater than the Great Recession, in one-third the time.
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COVID-19 is Taking a Bite Out of Food Supply Chains
Initial assurances by authorities that food supply chains would remain robust during the COVID-19 outbreak are giving way to a more complex reality. At this time, food shortages are not a problem in most of the world. But the pandemic and the economic shutdown are starting to reveal systemic weaknesses in the supply chains that bring food to markets and may be pointing the way towards trouble ahead.
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Global Credit Conditions:
April 2020Rising Credit Pressures Amid Deeper Recession, Uncertain Recovery Path
Government measures to stem the spread of coronavirus have escalated in the past three weeks amid a tripling of confirmed cases globally, to more than 2.5 million. These measures, together with business and consumer behavioral changes, are resulting in wider and deeper economic effects— and worse credit conditions—than we estimated our previous report published April 1. We also see the post-pandemic recovery taking longer, based on the experience of China, the first major economy to emerge from the crisis.
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ESG in the Time of COVID-19
Amidst the coronavirus pandemic’s turbulent implications, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues have taken on new shapes. Read our latest round-up of essential intelligence on ESG in the time of COVID-19.
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Global Credit Conditions:
March 2020Containment measures to stem the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed the world’s largest economies into near-hibernation. While China shows early signs of re-emerging from this, Europe and the U.S. aren’t yet past the viral peak. We have also yet to see the full impact on vulnerable emerging markets. Combined with historical collapse in oil prices, and record volatility in the markets, this put significant pressure on creditworthiness around the world. Industries most exposed to the dramatic drop in global demand and much tighter financing conditions have experienced the most downgrades so far.
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Coronavirus: Economic & Credit Market Implications
Countries’ measures to stem the spread of coronavirus have escalated in the past two weeks amid a doubling of confirmed cases globally to more than 2 million. These efforts, together with business and consumer behavioral changes, are having wider and deeper effects on economies than previously estimated. We also see the post-pandemic rebound taking longer, based on the experience of China, the first major economy to begin its recovery from the crisis. Our special report is updated daily with research and reports that examine the effects the pandemic are having on the global economy and financial markets.
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Oil Markets in Crisis
With the world locked down for the coronavirus, global oil demand is seeing its sharpest plunge on record. Current estimates have 2020 oil demand contracting by as little as 6.8 million b/d, as predicted by OPEC, to as much as 9.3 million b/d, according to the International Energy Agency. Still further downgrades are possible based on when economic activity starts to return. But so much is unknown about that timeline all across the globe. Our analysts, researchers, and reporters are assessing the situation on a daily basis.
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Coronavirus Flash Survey: March 2020
The Voice of the Enterprise: Digital Pulse, Coronavirus Flash survey wave was conducted in March 2020. The survey represents approximately 820 completed interviews and 15 hour-long interviews from pre-qualified IT decision-makers. This survey focuses on the impacts to businesses of the global COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
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#ChangePays in Tech
Our latest report on gender diversity in the global technology industry features original research charting the progress made and challenges that remain in reaching equality, alongside interviews with women leaders blazing a trail through the sector.
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ESG Monthly: Utilities in the Crosshairs
As political and social pressures grow to transition away from carbon intensive sources of electricity, utilities find themselves torn between the need to produce cheap power and the need to meet the challenges of a changing climate.
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Cyber & Insurance
The insurance industry faces threats from cyberrisk in more ways than one. From battling extortion attacks to wrestling with war exclusions, cyber insurers are combatting risks beyond database breaches. Our latest technology research roundup explores the cyber and insurance space, where technology and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risks converge.
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Oil Majors Face a Shifting Landscape
Despite publicly acknowledging the scale of the challenge, most integrated oil majors continue to pursue their traditional business at all cost. Read our latest round-up of ESG essential intelligence on the shifting landscape oil majors face.
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Sustainable Development Goals: A Misunderstood Market Opportunity?
Emerging Trends and Analysis of the SDG Impact of Companies in the S&P 500® - It has been four years since the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit. During this time the SDGs have garnered widespread backing among companies and investors who have made modest progress towards aligning business strategies and capital allocation with the SDGs.
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Accelerating Progress on Climate Risk
Investment management professionals used to focus on portfolio risk and returns. We now must consider returns along three dimensions: risk, return and impact.
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The Big Picture on Climate Risk
While the extent and effectiveness of the global response to climate change remain uncertain, one thing is very clear: Companies and investors must prepare for a range of possible outcomes with diverging transition and physical risks. We look into these risks in our latest research, which debuted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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Davos 2020: What you need to know
In the next few decades, millions of lives and trillions of dollars will be at risk because of a single issue: climate change. Our research and analyses look at the related risks — and opportunities — that countries, companies, and investors face in addressing the changing climate.
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Coal and the Energy Transition
What is the future for coal-fired generation in the face of the energy transition? Even as regions move to evolve their energy mix towards primarily renewable sources, the demand for coal won’t disappear. Read our latest round up of ESG essential intelligence on coal and the energy transition.
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Top Industry Trends and Outlooks for 2020
Our industry reports suggest a difficult operating environment, as companies battle the headwinds of disruption, cost pressures, regulation and adapting to environmental concerns. Economic worries and trade disputes head the list of immediate concerns. Looking ahead, there’s a mixture of short- and long-timeframe risks and opportunities to consider for all sectors detailed in our collection of 2020 outlooks.
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Top Research & Insights of 2019
Looking back on our year in review, revisit our essential intelligence on climate risk, the future of banking, and more important topics that were read, watched, and listened to most in 2019 by S&P Global audiences.
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Precarious Balance – Global Credit Conditions
Amid an entrenched trade war, historic Asia-Pacific debt issuance, and a record U.S. economic expansion, world credit markets are being pushed and pulled in several directions.
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The S in ESG: Diversity in Clinical Trials
This series of articles examines the lack of diversity in human research for cancer, Alzheimer's disease and cardiovascular diseases and how simple things like a language barrier or a secondary disease can exclude a person from participating in a clinical trial.
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"Plastics."
Who will pay for a plastic-free future? What are the alternatives to single-use plastic? How are hoteliers moving to prevent millions of pounds of plastic waste? Looking back at our ESG research and analyses from November, we’re showcasing our most essential insights on plastics.
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COP25
As COP25 begins in Madrid, we're sharing our recent research and insights on climate risk, climate benchmarks, and energy transition.
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5G: Today and for the Future
5G service is slowly but surely moving from hype to reality. Though the networks have yet to reach more than a small fraction of current customer bases, wireless operators’ 5G strategies will soon involve price hikes, competitive global markets, expanded commercial services, and emerging technologies. Our latest technology research round-up showcases our most essential intelligence on what’s happening with 5G now and looking forward.
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The Forgotten Letters — S & G
Looking back at our ESG research and insights from October, we’re showcasing our most essential insights on social and governance factors — from the purpose of a corporation to fair labor practices. These “S” and “G” risks and opportunities can often be overshadowed by environmental factors, even though they also are crucial elements of sustainable investing.
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ESG: Going Beyond the Balance Sheet
What is ESG, what factors does it reflect, and is it a long-term trend or simply a flash in the pan?
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Spotlight on Shandong
In this five-part special report on China's small independent refiners, S&P Global Platts' extensive tour of the Shandong-based refining sector gauges the direction the region is headed and what this means for global oil markets. Shandong's independents have come a long way, having driven China's and global oil demand growth, but they also face new challenges as the country's overall refining sector evolves.
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Beyond Brexit
As the UK and EU grapple with the biggest change in post-War economic relations in Europe, we present a selection of our latest news and insights from across our divisions on the Brexit process and its implications.
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Ebbing Growth, Rising Risks
Global economic growth continues to slow and the U.S.-China trade dispute is weighing on business investment. We explore the heightened risks to credit conditions across the globe in a global summary.
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When Women Lead, Firms Win
In one of the most comprehensive studies of its kind, a new report from the S&P Global Market Intelligence Quantamental Research Team examines the performance of firms that have made female appointments to their CEO and CFO positions.
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Avoiding Garbage in Machine Learning
“Garbage in, garbage out” – it’s a cliché in machine learning circles. Anyone who works with artificial intelligence (AI) knows that the quality of the data goes a long way toward determining the quality of the result. But “garbage” is a broad and expanding category in data science – poorly labeled or inaccurate data, data that reflects underlying human prejudices, incomplete data. To paraphrase Tolstoy, great datasets are all alike, but all garbage datasets are garbage in their own, unique and horrible ways.
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Green Shoots
This September, we’re showcasing our most essential insights on ESG that point out certain positive developments in the space that may signify an improving landscape for environmental, social, and governance issues — from energy transition to the climate bond market.
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Saudi Oil Attacks
The attack that damaged some of Saudi Arabia's biggest oil plants will continue to have wide-ranging effects across global oil and energy markets.
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Infrastructure Investment As An Elixir For Ailing U.S. Productivity Growth
For more than a decade, growth in U.S. labor productivity (as measured by output per hour of work) has generally declined—sometimes rather sharply. S&P Global believes this lost decade of productivity gains could have been far different had the federal government increased infrastructure investment to match the levels of just a few decades earlier.
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A Future For QE: Monetary Policy In Two Dimensions
The way we think about monetary policy has changed with the adoption of quantitative easing (QE): It has moved from being a one-dimensional problem of only setting the policy rate (PR) to a two-dimensional problem of jointly determining the PR and QE.
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Accounting for Climate: The Next Frontier in ESG
As investors and companies increasingly weigh climate risk into their investment decisions and strategic direction, the question persists whether regulatory or market-based solutions offer a better path forward.
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Climate Week 2019
In honor of Climate Week NYC, S&P Global highlights some of our thought leadership on climate risk, ESG, and energy transition to accelerate progress towards a sustainable future.
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Renewables Sector Acknowledges Uphill Climb
The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, and the Solar Foundation, a non-profit geared toward accelerating solar adoption, this year released a self-assessment based on two US surveys of employers and employees. The overall verdict: women and African Americans were under represented, and there was a major gender gap in wages and opportunities to move up the career ladder.
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Quantifying Climate Risk
Representatives of S&P Global, large institutional investors and corporate ESG experts gathered together in New York City this week to consider the challenge of quantifying climate risk for corporations. Beyond a shared concern over the issue of climate risk, there was a diversity of opinions over the best way to quantify climate risk and the best way for investors to act on their environmental concerns.
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The Benchmark that Changed the World
Celebrating 20 Years of the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices
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#ChangePays in Energy
Our latest report on gender diversity in the global energy industry features original research charting the progress made and challenges that remain in reaching equality, alongside interviews with women leaders blazing a trail through the sector.
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This Month in Tech and Innovation
How has Agile at scale impacted S&P Global? Is the world ready for the fourth industrial revolution? What is the best Sentiment Analysis approach? What is edge computing, and how are 5G networks involved? How are data science and Colorado connected? These questions, and more, are answered in this month's technology and innovation research roundup.
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Energy Transition: The Future is Now
In this review of ESG thought leadership from the month of August, we explore the challenges and opportunities that are driving reform and innovation throughout the global energy grid. As climate risk begins to impact the credit worthiness of different regions, a patchwork of regulations and new technologies emerge to meet the need for a greener future.
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China Credit Spotlight
Broad perspective and original research on China's credit markets from the only foreign-owned credit rating agency approved to work in China.
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New horizons: The forces shaping the future of the LNG market
The new decade will present LNG stakeholders with immense opportunities. As significant additions of elastic supply and demand challenge traditional business models, and the trend towards LNG commoditization gathers pace, what lies ahead?
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Realizing Regional Risk and Uncertainty Around the World
Pockets of risk are emerging in the United States and Canada. It's déjà vu all over again in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. And even as access to financing increases, political uncertainties persist in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. Our Mid-Year Corporate Credit Reports are essential for understanding credit changes, developments, and key drivers in important markets.
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Promises and Disruptions of Going Green
In this roundup of our essential ESG insights from July, we explore the impacts of ESG exposures and factor-based investing on indices, how ESG could weaken the performance of some benevolent companies, ESG’s emergence as a critical issue during the energy conference season, and the challenges seen in decarbonizing the U.S. grid.
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Trade Casts a Global Shadow
Trade tensions—in particular the tariff dispute between the U.S. and China—are casting a shadow on the global economy and financing conditions in all regions. On the bright side, central banks in the world’s biggest economies stand ready to goose growth with interest-rate cuts, and borrowers around the globe are still enjoying a historic run of benign credit conditions.
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China’s Quest for Balance
China’s supply-side reform agenda was launched by President Xi Jinping in late 2015 with a view to stripping out excess capacity that had built up in key industries during China’s emergence as an economic power.
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Industry Executives Confident About Diversity, Inclusion
More than three-fifths of C-suite executives in the commodities industry are confident their firms have the capacity to address diversity and inclusion issues, according to the findings of a recent survey commissioned by S&P Global Platts.
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South African gold loses its shine
South Africa’s gold production is in decline, with platinum group metals looking increasingly lustrous by comparison, and other countries such as Ghana becoming more attractive destinations for gold producers. Filip Warwick reports.
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Platts Insight Conversation with Jane Ren
The mainstreaming of artificial intelligence and machine learning will have a profound impact on the industrial sphere, not least in energy industries. Whether companies are active in the upstream, midstream or downstream segment, they face enormous pressures to control cost while living up to societal demands for environmental stewardship and a wholesale shift to cleaner forms of energy.
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Shareholders, Regulators Increase Impetus to Change
Energy companies are facing external pressures to lift their female leadership numbers from institutional investors, activist shareholders, and even potential employees and customers. But a number of female executives interviewed said the internal drivers at their companies were stronger.
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The Trouble with Tariffs
The US-China trade conflict has gone from being a tariff dispute to an imminent threat to the global economy, with growth in demand for oil and other commodities at stake. Eric Yep reports
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Women as Drivers of Economic Growth
S&P Global is committed to advocating for an inclusive economy as we work to power thriving global communities. Our data and analysis demonstrate that women are increasingly a force that moves the markets, and that an increase in women’s labor force participation has the potential to drive global growth.
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Uncharted Waters
Benjamin Franklin once said: “You may delay, but time will not.” This is certainly true for the international shipping industry as it prepares for a plethora of stricter environmental rules that are set to bring escalating costs and operational challenges.
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The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Are We Ready?
Rapid developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics— coupled with ubiquitous connectivity and vast, easily accessible processing power—are laying the groundwork for fundamental structural changes in the global economy. These mutually reinforcing catalysts are driving exponential innovation across a wide swathe of the economy, reshaping entire industries and creating new ones.
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Agile at Scale
S&P Global adopted Agile Scrum to help our divisions learn to collaborate effectively and work together as one, cohesive company. This adoption, like most big changes, has not been without its challenges. But the lessons learned can help other companies and professionals adopt Agile at scale within their businesses.
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Signal Failure
GPS is a pivotal technology for the shipping industry, but is proving vulnerable to malicious interference and military activity.
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A New Great Game—China, the U.S. and Technology
Technology is at the heart of a new "Great Game" between the United States and China and this is a game that matters. More than shrinking the bilateral trade deficit, the focus of U.S. trade and investment policies has turned to technology. There is a geopolitical dimension to this but economics are also prominent. U.S. grievances focus on areas where technology predominates, including protection of intellectual property, access to fast-growing Chinese markets for U.S. firms, and a level playing field versus domestic Chinese champions.
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The Financial Future is Female
Women are transforming financial markets and economies across the globe. Their risk tolerance, confidence, and willingness to invest will impact our world for years to come.
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Women at Work: The Key to Global Growth
The additional growth projected from increasing women’s labor participation translates into trillions of dollars in “extra” equity market value. The U.S., for example, could contribute an additional $4.5 trillion in market value over the next decade.
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Blockchain for Commodities
The shift to electronic documents and data in all areas of life is one of the key economic developments of this century, bringing new efficiencies, cost savings and opportunities far beyond anything that could be achieved with paper records. That shift is about to hit commodity trading, which has traditionally relied on vast paper trails to execute, authenticate, and process each transaction.
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Women in
CommoditiesIncreasing diversity and boosting the number of women in leadership positions can benefit the commodities sector and the wider economy. How can this be achieved? We ask five successful women for their thoughts.
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Adding More Women To The U.S. Workforce Could Send Global Stock Markets Soaring
The global bull market in stocks has been long. Historic, even. Will it end? Sure, someday, just as all such runs do. But S&P Global has found an underutilized source of growth that could send global market valuations soaring—to the tune of an extra $5.87 trillion over the next decade.
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The Key to Unlocking U.S. GDP Growth: Women
A dual-pronged effort of increasing entry and retention of more women to the American workforce, particularly those professions traditionally filled by men, represents a substantial opportunity for growth of the world’s principal economy, with the potential to add 5%-10% to nominal GDP in just a few decades.
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Global Credit Outlook
November 2018: Unresolved trade frictions are pressuring global supply chains and with economic headwinds also slowing growth, some borrowers -- especially in emerging markets -- are vulnerable to a financing squeeze from volatile debt, equity and commodities markets.
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Global Credit Outlook
