S&P Global Ratings
Sustainability Insights
S&P Global Ratings' sustainability insights provide transparency on established and emerging environmental, social, and governance risks and trends—and how they impact economies, companies, and markets.
Community Matters
Mining, Local Engagement and the Race for Critical Energy Transition Minerals
Demand for some minerals needed to power the energy transition is estimated to increase 200% by 2030. For many minerals, supply is not projected to keep pace.
Meeting that demand will rely in part on effectively managing relationships with the local communities most directly affected by mining activities. We found that 43% of mines for transition minerals sit on or near officially recognized Indigenous or local community lands.
Disputes with local communities can lead to operational disruptions and financial impacts for mining companies and undermine energy transition ambitions. Since 2005, based on our review of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence, we identified almost 800 reported community-related events at energy transition minerals mines, with negative events more acute in Latin America and for mines currently in operation.
Climate Transition Risk
Sustainable Finance FAQ
How S&P Global Ratings Supports Credibility and Transparency in Transition Financing
Sustainable finance is about more than funding activities and investments that already foster a greener, low-carbon, and more climate-resilient future in alignment with the Paris Agreement. It's also about financing those that aren't yet compatible to the same degree but do contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
In our inaugural Sustainability FAQ, we answer market participants’ questions on how we view green and transition financing through our coverage and capabilities.
Physical Climate Risk
Sustainability Insights
New Routes: Assessing Transportation Infrastructure's Vulnerability to Physical Risks
Data and scenario analyses show that many transportation infrastructure assets could face worsening climate hazard exposure by the 2050s, while progress on adaptation and resilience varies.
This research examines the vulnerability of rated transportation infrastructure—railways, roads, ports, and airports—to physical climate risks. We aim to provide insights into how worsening climate hazards might influence key credit factors for transportation infrastructure companies in our rated universe of corporate and project finance entities, and how they are preparing for and managing these risks.
Other Environmental Factors
Sustainability Insights
Global Company Emissions Grow, Intensities Decline
Our analysis is based on trends over 2016-2023, using data from S&P Global Sustainable1 on a representative cohort of over 11,000 companies that have annual data available for each year. This analysis aims to provide insights into the industry groups that are most exposed to climate transition risks such as policy, technology, and market changes in relation to potential shifts toward a low-carbon economy. At the same time, the financial impact of environmental risks on the sector and our ratings has so far been negligible, reflecting a lack of stringent environmental regulations and little change in consumers' buying behavior.
Full results of our analysis and details on our methodology are presented in "Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A Deep Dive Into Trends For Global Industries," Sept. 18, 2025.
White Paper
Credit Implications of Global Aging: A Complex Interplay
Aging populations, like other global megatrends such as increasing digitalization, are gradually reshaping our world, and often in unpredictable ways, as we describe in our White Paper: Assessing How Megatrends May Influence Credit Ratings, published April 18, 2024. Global aging, typically stemming from declining birth rates and longer life expectancies, is a measurable trend in most geographies. Yet it's difficult to predict the likely credit impacts, how material they may be, and when they might unfold. Some credit impacts have already emerged while others may take several years.
Sustainable Finance
Sustainability Insights
Global Sustainable Bond Issuance to Hold Steady at $1 Trillion in 2025
Green bonds will continue to dominate issuance, with transition and sustainability-linked bonds potentially helping to push total sustainable bond issuance to $1 trillion this year.
More than $900 billion of rated outstanding sustainable bonds mature in the next two years and nearly $2.5 trillion before the end of the decade, testing market participants' commitment to climate action and the strength of the sustainable bond market.
Materiality
Sustainability Insights
Climate Transition Trends: Electric Utilities Show Some Momentum
Electric utility companies are generally engaged in an ongoing transition toward a lower carbon operating model.
We estimate the proportion of electric utilities that we consider Green--those which have a majority of low-carbon generation--will move from about a third today to more than 50% by mid-2030s.
The global sector currently encompasses the full range of Shades, with outcomes distributed between Red and Dark Green both now and in the future, though we see considerable variation globally.
Social & Governance