How private capital can bridge gaps in sustainable, climate finance
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
Release Date: 01/31/2025
How mining giant balances energy transition, nature and sustainability priorities
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
Building out the infrastructure needed for the low-carbon energy transition will require a substantial increase in the production of critical minerals and metals such as copper, nickel, zinc and lithium. These minerals are needed for many different technologies including electric vehicles and battery storage, clean hydrogen, geothermal, wind, solar and electricity networks. In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we'll hear how one of the biggest producers of critical minerals, Vale Base Metals, is approaching this increased demand. And we'll explore how the company...
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Talking AI, climate goals with one of the largest US natural gas companies
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
The rise of AI means more datacenters, and that means huge increases in electricity demand. In the US, natural gas is expected to play a prominent role in powering the AI boom. In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we’re talking with EQT, one of the nation’s largest natural gas companies, to understand what’s ahead for AI, the energy transition and sustainability. We sit down with Courtney Loper, EQT’s Head of Government Relations and Public Affairs, on the sidelines of S&P Global’s CERAWeek energy conference. She says natural gas can...
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How one of the largest US utilities is building climate resilience
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we sit down with Shinjini Menon, Senior Vice President of System Planning and Engineering at Southern California Edison, an investor-owned public utility operating as a subsidiary of Edison International. Southern California Edison is one of the largest US electric utilities, and Shinjini explains how it is prioritizing energy reliability and affordability while also building climate resilience — a topic that is particularly urgent in Southern California, where the risk of wildfires is so high. “We have put...
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Energy transition discussions shift to pragmatism amid policy uncertainty
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
To understand how companies at the heart of the energy industry are approaching the energy transition, we took the All Things Sustainable podcast on the road to Houston, Texas to cover CERAWeek, the annual S&P Global conference informally known as the industry’s “Super Bowl.” As we’ll hear from today’s guests, many discussions at CERAWeek 2025 March 10-14 focused on pragmatism and realism. We talk with S&P Global Ratings Chief Economist Paul Gruenwald about balancing near-term concerns around energy affordability, security and reliability with longer-term...
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Exploring tech giant Amazon's approach to water stewardship
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
The United Nations’ annual World Water Day observance took place on March 22, with a focus on supporting the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6: water and sanitation for all by 2030. In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we dive into the water stewardship practices at Amazon, one of the world’s largest companies with a market cap of more than $2 trillion dollars. Amazon Water Sustainability Lead Will Hewes outlines the company's approach to water in the communities it serves and across Amazon's business lines, which range from e-commerce to online...
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How oil major ExxonMobil is approaching the energy transition
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
In recent episodes of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we’ve interviewed some of the world’s biggest financial and technology companies about how they’re approaching sustainability and the energy transition. But how is the energy industry thinking about these topics — including the world’s largest fossil fuel companies? To answer that question, we traveled to Houston, Texas, to cover the annual CERAWeek conference hosted by S&P Global — an event informally known as the ‘Super Bowl’ of the energy industry. In today’s episode we sit down on the sidelines of...
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How EU proposals could change the sustainability reporting landscape
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we're unpacking new proposals to simplify sustainability reporting in Europe. Released in February 2025, the European Commission's Omnibus Simplification Package would drastically reduce the number of companies subject to corporate sustainability reporting requirements in a bid to slash red tape, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The proposals include measures to simplify the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the EU...
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How the Sustainable Markets Initiative convenes the public and private sectors to drive solutions
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
Welcome to the Terra Carta Series of the All Things Sustainable podcast, a collaboration with the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI). Throughout 2025, we’ll be interviewing SMI member CEOs from around the world and across industries about how they’re approaching sustainability challenges and opportunities. The SMI is a network of over 250 global CEOs across finance and industry. It facilitates private sector diplomacy with the ambition of making sustainability the driving force of global markets and value creation. S&P Global is a proud SMI member. ...
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Unpacking the intersection of gender and climate solutions
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
This week, the All Things Sustainable podcast delves into the intersection of climate change and gender equality with Rachel Vestergaard, Founder and CEO of Empower Co. Empower Co. is a brokerage firm that is building a global voluntary market for women’s empowerment as measured by the W+ Standard, which is hosted by the S&P Global Commodity Insights Environmental Registry. Studies have showed that the climate crisis is not gender neutral, with women and girls experiencing the greatest impacts of climate change. As we approach International Women's Day on March 8,...
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Why JPMorganChase is 'steadfast' in its focus on sustainability
All Things Sustainable (formerly ESG Insider)
This week, the All Things Sustainable podcast (formerly ESG Insider) reached 2 million downloads. Today, we bring you an interview with the largest bank in the US. We sit down with Brian DiMarino, Managing Director and Deputy Director of Global Sustainability, Strategy and Operations at JPMorganChase. He explains how the bank is navigating a challenging sustainability landscape, including its decision to exit the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, and why he believes it’s time for a “rebrand” of some of the language companies use when communicating about sustainability topics. At...
info_outlineThe UN estimates that the annual financing gap for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is in the trillions of dollars. The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance estimates developing countries’ investment needs to address climate change and the energy transition at $3.2 trillion a year by 2035, excluding China.
Closing these gaps will require private sector investment, and in this episode of the ESG Insider podcast we’re talking with Sebnem Sener, the Head of Private Finance for the SDGs at the UN Development Programme (UNDP) Sustainable Finance Hub. She explains the challenges and opportunities of bringing in private capital to address sustainability challenges like climate change, stressed food systems and poverty.
"We work at UNDP in many different ways to unlock the private capital that goes beyond profit and that actively contributes to sustainable growth for people and planet," Sebnem says.
At the same time, she notes that the private sector should not function like philanthropy.
“Profitability needs to be there,” she says.
Read research from S&P Global Sustainable1 on the need for climate finance: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/insights/featured/special-editorial/narrowing-the-climate-finance-gap-will-take-more-action-from-banks
Listen to our interview with Marcos Neto, Assistant Secretary General and Director of the UNDP’s Bureau of Policy and Programme Support here: https://www.spglobal.com/esg/podcasts/un-official-says-credibility-of-climate-cops-at-stake-heading-into-2025
Join us to celebrate the 7th season of this podcast with a live event in NYC on Feb. 6. Register here: https://events.spglobal.com/event/075966b7-f60b-4a45-b489-c35e954d8baf/summary-full-event-info-?RefId=S1EMAIL
This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.
Copyright ©2025 by S&P Global
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