Daily Update — July 24, 2026
Relief in EU Emissions Proposals; Changing Credit Risk Profile of Data Centers; and Improving Private Equity Fundraising
Today is Friday, July 24, 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.
Sustainability
Sustainability Insights: EU Emissions Trading System Proposal Could Provide Certain Sectors Some Breathing Room
The European Commission's proposed changes to the EU Emissions Trading System are expected to slow the overall rate of emission reductions after 2030, providing some relief to industrial sectors facing decarbonization pressures. The proposals aim to align with the EU's 2040 emissions reduction target of 90% while addressing competitiveness and security issues.
S&P Global Ratings expects the changes to marginally affect credit if enacted. Heavy industries stand to gain the most from additional time to decarbonize, while the transportation sector would be most adversely affected amid coverage increases. Simultaneously, the shift toward conditional free allocations may transform decarbonization from an operating expense into a critical capital expenditure requirement, according to S&P Global Ratings.
Artificial Intelligence
More Power, Less Cushion: AI and the Changing Credit Risk Profile of Data Centers
AI is changing how the North American data center industry is developing. Over the past decade, cloud adoption, enterprise outsourcing and the transfer of workloads from on‑premise infrastructure to third‑party facilities have driven the sector’s expansion. Now, data centers have become a core layer of economic infrastructure because of AI.
The shift is visible in the pace of investment, how capacity is utilized, how revenue is generated and how balance sheets are structured. As this transformation accelerates, credit risk dynamics across the industry are changing in ways that traditional technology‑centric analysis does not fully capture.
Private Markets
Buyout funds attract bulk of $306.8B raised by PE managers through June 30
Private equity fundraising is improving globally across buyout, growth equity, secondaries, general partner stakes, coinvestment and fund of funds. Fundraising in the first half totaled $306.78 billion, equivalent to 62% of the full-year 2025 total. Of the first-half 2026 total, buyout strategies accounted for 70%, while secondaries made up 15%, according to data from With Intelligence, a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence.
When it comes to successful fundraising, full exits are more attractive to limited partners than partial liquidity events, according to Kelly Phelan, partner at Asante Capital Group. "In a more benign exit environment, the [general partners] that are able to actually sell quality assets and prove that they have a durable strategy regardless of market conditions are really attracting a lot more capital these days," Phelan said.
In case you missed it
- Economies and sectors related to AI development fared better than the global benchmark by mid-2026, according to the Purchasing Managers' Index from S&P Global.
- Geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic instability are pushing up insurer costs and interest rates across Asia-Pacific.
- The US was the largest oil and gas producer in 2025, surpassing the Middle East, with production rising 4% year over year, according to the Energy Institute.
Upcoming events
- Orbit as the Next Data Frontier: Capital Flows, Risk, and Realities | July 28 (Webinar)
- Insurance In Focus: European Midyear Outlook 2026 | July 30 (Webinar)
- The APAC Digital Infrastructure Playbook: Mapping the Next Wave of Fiber, 5G FWA and Data Centers | August 13 (Webinar)
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