Daily Update — January 22, 2026
Nature-related Carbon Projects; January Economic Outlook; and the Rise of Private Credit
Today is Thursday, January 22, 2026, 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.
Energy Transition & Sustainability
Listen: The role of carbon markets in protecting and restoring nature
In this week’s episode of the “All Things Sustainable” podcast, hosts Lindsey Hall and Esther Whieldon coverered S&P Global Energy’s Global Carbon Markets Conference, which took place in Barcelona, Spain, in December 2025. Nature was a major topic, alongside how carbon markets can be a driver of investment in nature and how new data tools can encourage investment in nature-related carbon projects.
Hall and Whieldon sat down on the sidelines of the conference with Cain Blythe, founder and CEO of CreditNature, to discuss the approaches to making nature restoration investable. They also spoke with Douglas Eger, chairman and CEO of Intrinsic Exchange Group, about natural asset companies, a model Intrinsic created for nature-based private investments.
Economy
Global Economic Outlook: January 2026
Arguably, the key macroeconomic theme of 2025 was the remarkable resilience of economic activity — and financial markets, barring April — during a period of high uncertainty related to various US policy shifts. S&P Global Market Intelligence’s current forecasts imply that global economic conditions will be similar for 2026, with real GDP growth continuing near its potential. However, the AI spending-related boost to growth could be giving a misleading impression of how resilient economic conditions are to additional adverse shocks.
One escalating concern is that developments previously considered as tail risks, such as US-EU tensions over Greenland, have become more probable. Another is the US administration’s additional tariffs on countries “doing business” with Iran.
Private Markets
The Rapid Rise of Private Credit and the Expanding Role of BDCs
Private credit, broadly defined as nonbank lending directly to companies outside traditional public markets, has grown remarkably over the past decade. This segment of finance includes direct loans, mezzanine debt and other debt instruments extended primarily to middle-market companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion. The surge is largely due to regulatory changes that were made after the 2008 global financial crisis, which tightened banks’ lending capacities, especially to small and midsize firms.
Investors have increasingly turned to private credit, seeking greater diversification and higher yields amid a low interest rate environment. The global private credit market is projected to grow to about $2.6 trillion by 2029, with direct lending remaining the largest and fastest-growing category. Business development companies (BDCs) have emerged in recent years to manage about $500 billion of direct lending assets.
In case you missed it
- Stablecoins’ role in the financial ecosystem is growing alongside their rapidly expanding issuance, which reached $318 billion as of Jan. 18.
- As Colorado faces ongoing issues related to climate change and federal cuts to health insurance funding, State Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway and his team are pursuing more policy and legislative solutions in 2026.
- Asian steel markets are expected to face stiffer export competition pressuring prices as market participants contend with policy uncertainties in the first quarter of 2026. Taiwanese mills might maintain their preference for domestic scrap due to subdued long steel prices.
Upcoming events
- 2026 Outlook On Subnational Governments Outside The U.S. | January 26 (Webinar)
- Global Sukuk Market And Asia-Pacific Islamic Banks: Rebound Masks Regional Divergence | January 28 (Webinar)
- Sell-Side Signals & Supply Chains: What’s Worked & Looking Ahead | January 28 (Webinar)