Daily Update — Decemeber 12, 2025
AI Context Engineering; Germany’s RED III Delays; and PE/VC Deal Values for November
Today is Friday, December 12, 2025, and here’s your curated selection of Essential Intelligence on global markets from S&P Global. Subscribe to be notified of each new Daily Update.
Artificial Intelligence
Listen: Next in Tech | Ep. 246: Context Engineering
Context engineering is emerging as a crucial aspect of AI, driven by the shift to agentic work, where AI agents perform tasks independently with deterministic guidance. It is a broader approach than prompt engineering, focusing on setting up large language models with the necessary tools, data sources and memory to succeed. This requires creating environments where agents can collaborate and maintain context through a shared layer.
In this episode of the “Next in Tech” podcast, S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research analysts Jean Atelsek and Alex Johnston joined host Eric Hanselman to explore this emerging discipline and its application to AI environments.
Energy Transition & Sustainability
Germany may miss target start date for implementation of EU’s Renewable Energy Directive III
Germany faces significant delays in implementing the EU's Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) by the Jan. 1, 2026, deadline. The legislation, requiring initial discussion by the executive Bundeskabinett branch before passage through the parliamentary Bundestag and Bundesrat, has been postponed since October due to a lack of consensus among ministries. This ongoing delay has left market participants uncertain about Germany's 2026 biofuel blending mandates, leading to volatility and making firm pricing "challenging."
Delayed or retroactive implementation of the legislation is likely, with one policy consultant calling the situation a "catastrophe for the whole market." With the Bundeskabinett not discussing the bill and the Bundestag requiring multiple readings, full legal assent before year-end is almost impossible. This situation creates regulatory ambiguity, particularly regarding double-counting incentives for advanced biofuels, and raises competitiveness concerns for neighboring markets, such as the Netherlands, where timely implementation is expected.
Private Markets
Global private equity deal value climbs 31% YOY in November 2025
Global private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) deal value increased 31% year over year to $50.11 billion in November, despite deal count dropping to 757 from 1,040. In the year through Nov. 30, deal value reached $828.96 billion, already exceeding the full-year 2024 total. The technology, media and telecommunications sector was the most active, recording 245 private equity-backed transactions and accounting for 25% of all deals. Within this sector, application software led with 117 transactions. November featured 11 private equity-backed transactions worth at least $1 billion, with the largest being Clayton Dubilier & Rice's $10.31 billion acquisition of bubble-wrap maker Sealed Air.
In case you missed it
- The UK launched its second carbon storage licensing round for 14 sites, aiming to enhance its carbon capture and storage capabilities.
- Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are setting record capital expenses, fueled by the build-out of data center capacity.
- The world's largest zinc producers increased output by 12.3% year over year in the third quarter, as rising prices incentivized more production, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.
Upcoming events
- 2026 U.S. Public Finance Outlook Series | Various dates in January, starting January 7 (webinars)
- Understanding the Global Petrochemical Industry | January 13–15 (Houston or virtual)
- S&P Global Mobility's New Year’s Briefing 2026 | January 22 (Frankfurt, Germany)