Daily Update — May 29, 2025
Climate Risk to Resilience; Causal AI; and Tariff Impacts on Recycled Materials
Today is Thursday, May 29, 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.
Energy Transition & Sustainability
Listen: Risk to Resilience
Globally, municipalities are facing challenges from extreme weather, aging infrastructure and more chronic issues, such as rising heat and sea levels. Some technologies can help them understand and improve planning for these challenges. The internet of things can play a role in sensing, and digital twins, or virtual replicas of real processes or systems, can aid in simulating climate-driven events. These tools, when effectively applied, can help build resilience.
At the same time, technological advances are challenging the resilience of utility systems. Increased power consumption by datacenters is affecting the load on electricity grids. The transition to renewables is changing grid dynamics and investment is needed to maintain stability. Climate impacts have differing effects across society, so it is important to manage equity in tackling these challenges.
Learn more about Physical Climate Risk Solutions from S&P Global Sustainable1.
Artificial Intelligence
Causal AI: How cause and effect will change artificial intelligence
Causal AI aims to transform AI from a predictive tool to one that can explain events and solve problems by understanding the relationship between cause and effect.
Causal AI has diverse applications across sectors and is expected to integrate with established AI models, playing a crucial role in the development of AI that is capable of human-level cognition, or artificial general intelligence.
Global Trade
Trump tariffs may hit exports to US as countries retaliate, warns US recycling body chief
Robin Wiener, president of the Recycled Materials Association, expressed concerns regarding potential retaliation from US trading partners to the tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Wiener highlighted that while the US imported $7 billion worth of recycled materials in 2024, the more significant worry lies in the effect of these tariffs on the country’s $27 billion of recycled material exports.
Wiener noted that the manufacturing sector generally opposes tariffs and advocates instead for a strong domestic base coupled with access to international markets.
In case you missed it
- South Africa's banks are bracing for further economic turmoil, which could dent their trade finance revenues and expose their overdependence on sovereign bond holdings.
- Deal activity in Asia-Pacific fell 3.4% in April from a year ago as tariff-related uncertainties and geopolitical risks create a murky outlook for M&A in the region.
- The prices of Thai Long Grain Fragrant Rice Hom Mali 100% Grade B have reached their highest level in more than six months due to dwindling supplies and increased US demand. Market participants expect further price increases in the coming months.
Upcoming events
- Quantifying the Financial Impact of Physical Climate Risk for Financial Institutions | May 30 (Webinar)
- Navigating the Future of AI in Third-Party Risk Management | June 3 (Webinar)
- Post-Earnings Reactions: What Moved, What Mattered | June 3 (Webinar)