Daily Update — September 17, 2025
Demand for Carbon Offsets; Oracle’s Cloud Growth; and Purchasing Managers’ Index in Focus
Today is Wednesday, September 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
Growing corporate demand for offsets despite policy headwinds
The voluntary carbon market is positioned to scale significantly, driven by improved project methodologies and growing corporate demand for high-integrity carbon credits, despite potential headwinds from shifting government priorities, Tom Montag, CEO of Rubicon Carbon, said in an interview.
"Amid the policy landscape, companies are continuing to pursue their sustainability strategies and increasingly recognize the role of carbon credits in those efforts," Montag told Platts, a part of S&P Global Commodity Insights. "Fortunately, the [voluntary carbon market] is not constrained by government regulation precisely because of its voluntary nature."
Montag said Rubicon Carbon's recent agreements with tech giants Microsoft and ByteDance prove that corporate demand for offsets is starting to climb steadily after a few fallow years.
Artificial Intelligence
Oracle bets big on cloud growth as AI demand accelerates
Oracle’s shares jumped Sept. 10 after the software group unveiled a string of multibillion-dollar contracts and reported a sharp increase in future revenue commitments. Remaining performance obligation — a measure of contracted sales yet to be recognized — rose 359% year over year to $455 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2026.
The company is accelerating investment in its cloud infrastructure business, where demand from AI customers has become the main driver of growth. Based on consensus estimates from Visible Alpha, a part of S&P Global Market Intelligence, analysts expect Oracle’s revenue to expand 17% year over year to $67 billion in fiscal 2026 and 23% in 2027, compared with just 8% in 2025.
Economy
Listen: PMI in Focus: Economic Signals in the Middle East and Asia | The Decisive
In this episode of “The Decisive” podcast from S&P Global Market Intelligence, host Andrew Harker, alongside economists David Owen and Usamah Bhatti, discussed the latest findings from the purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs) of various regions. They noted a positive trend in global business activity for August 2025, with strong growth in the services and manufacturing sectors. The panelists also addressed export weaknesses and subdued business confidence resulting from US tariffs.
Focusing on the Middle East and North Africa, Owen provided insights into slowing demand in the United Arab Emirates due to regional tensions and competitive pressures. Bhatti shared updates on the new Pakistan Manufacturing PMI, noting a gradual slowdown in operating conditions and the impact of recent flooding on the manufacturing sector.
In case you missed it
- Surging power demand, driven by data centers and the need to deliver energy to underserved people in developing nations, requires an "all of the above" strategy in which oil and gas continue to supply about half of global needs, executives and experts said.
- A Ukrainian attack damaged a ship at Primorsk, Russia, as part of a recent overnight drone campaign on various Russian targets.
- The African swine fever outbreak in South Korea’s Yeoncheon county, announced on Sept. 14, is unlikely to cause short-term volatility in the country's domestic pork prices.
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