Daily Update — October 09, 2025
Climate Risk in Banking; Analyzing Data Centers; and Container Port Performance
Today is Thursday, October 9, 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: How the biggest bank in the US is approaching climate risk | All Things Sustainable
The “All Things Sustainable” podcast was at Climate Week NYC at the end of September, providing daily coverage of the event. The week included more than 1,000 events and convened an estimated 100,000 attendees from the private sector, governments, nonprofits and the broader climate community.
To understand how financial institutions are showing up in these climate conversations, we sat down with Heather Zichal, global head of sustainability at JPMorganChase. Sharing key takeaways from the event, Zichal explained why adaptation and resilience are growing areas of focus, discussed how conversations around insurance are being affected, and talked about the rising role of AI in the climate and energy transition. She also outlined how the landscape for climate and sustainability is shifting heading into 2026.
Artificial Intelligence
How Does S&P Global Ratings Apply Project Finance Methodology To Analyze Data Centers?
Global data center demand is likely to grow at an unprecedented pace in the coming years, driven by the proliferation of AI and the widespread migration to cloud services. According to the latest “Datacenter Services & Infrastructure Market Monitor & Forecast” report from S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research, global power demand from data centers is set to nearly double to 2,200 TWh by 2030 from about 1,120 TWh in 2025.
The investments required and the expansion of the data center sector into new jurisdictions — where financing structures are less mature — necessitates a reevaluation of funding strategies. Investors and lenders are increasingly exploring alternative vehicles to channel capital into the sector. S&P Global Ratings’ project finance methodology, which typically isolates the risk of a project from the creditworthiness of its sponsors, has emerged as a new way to assess construction and operational risks.
Global Trade
Container Port Performance Index 2020-2024 − Trends and lessons learned
Container ports are critical nodes in globally connected supply chains, handling merchandise and semifinished products. The Container Port Performance Index measures the time container ships spend in port, making it an important point of reference for stakeholders in the global economy and for the sustainable development of ports.
A timely turnaround of container ships is crucial to keep logistics costs low and supply chains efficient, ensuring that ports remain resilient catalysts for development. Time-efficient container ports enable ships to achieve fuel and emissions savings, making the index a key contributor to shipping decarbonization efforts.
In case you missed it
- Fifty-two US bank deals were announced in the third quarter of 2025, the highest quarterly amount since the third quarter of 2021, when 59 transactions were disclosed.
- Chinese buyers began preliminary negotiations with Indonesian suppliers for 2026 thermal coal deliveries, but they are opting for shorter-duration contracts — some as brief as a quarter — over traditional annual deals.
- The market capitalization of India's private sector banks slipped during the July–September quarter, underperforming that of government-owned peers, as trade uncertainties dragged on market sentiment.
Upcoming events
- What is EDM 2026, Product vision and strategy (APAC) | October 15 (Webinar)
- Uncertainty is the New Certainty: Q4 2025 Trade & Supply Chain Outlook | October 15 (Webinar)
- CERAWeek 2026 | March 23–27, 2026 (Houston)