Daily Update — October 17, 2025
Tech-based Carbon Removal Credits; Oil Price Headwinds; and Exploring Stablecoins
Today is Friday, October 17, 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
Tech-based carbon removal credit activity surges in September on BECCS growth
Tech-based carbon removal credit retirements and issuances rose sharply in September, bolstered by credits from bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data. The surge came as biochar credit prices edged higher month over month, even though demand remained subdued. Tech-based, or engineered carbon removal, credit retirements increased to 57,417 metric tons of carbon credits in September, from just 980 metric tons in August and 11,817 metric tons in September 2024.
Across the tech-based carbon removal segment — reflecting technology projects that eliminate greenhouse gas emissions through initiatives such as biochar, mineralization, BECCS and direct air capture — BECCS credits comprised 86% of total retirements in September, according to Puro.earth data.
Global Trade
Oil prices continue to face headwinds amid tariff-driven slowdown: IMF
US trade policies have had a more modest impact on the global economy than initially expected, but tepid global demand growth for oil and increasing oil supplies are still expected to weigh on oil prices, the International Monetary Fund said Oct. 14 in its “World Economic Outlook.”
US futures markets indicate oil prices will average $68.90/b in 2025, a 12.9% decline from 2024, before dropping to $65.80/b in 2026 and gradually recovering to $67.30/b through 2030, the outlook said. Oil prices have already declined 5.4% between March and August 2025, with crude prices ranging between $60/b and $70/b since US tariff announcements in early April, the outlook said. The International Energy Agency forecast 700,000 b/d of global demand growth in 2025, compared with 1.4 million b/d of non-OPEC+ supply growth, the outlook said.
Digital Assets
Listen: Stablecoins | Next in Tech
Cryptocurrencies have experienced significant upheaval, but regulatory clarity in recent legislation has created opportunities. Stablecoins are gaining renewed interest in fintech as a means of reducing friction for global payments.
S&P Global Market Intelligence researchers Jordan McKee, Sampath Sharma and Nathan Stovall returned to the “Next in Tech” podcast with host Eric Hanselman to look at how stablecoins are being used. For applications such as cross-border trade and remittances, stablecoins can increase speed and reduce costs, becoming another payment rail for conducting business.
In case you missed it
- Data centers proliferating across the US will require 22% more grid power by the end of 2025 compared with 2024 and will need nearly three times as much in 2030, according to the most recent forecast from S&P Global Market Intelligence 451 Research.
- Japanese LNG buyers are boosting their optimization of LNG cargo trading to maximize profits amid declining domestic demand, sources said.
- In 2025, the US EV adoption rate and global trends highlight shifting consumer preferences, evolving policy and the rapid technological innovations shaping transportation.
Upcoming events
- Unlocking Network Alpha: How Supplier-Customer Intelligence Delivers Excess Returns | October 21 (Webinar)
- Tariffs on Trade: How it’s impacting economies and sectors | October 29 (Webinar)
- CERAWeek 2026 | March 23–27, 2026 (Houston)