S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly — First-Quarter 2026 Edition
Balancing energy security and sustainability
Research in this edition of S&P Global's sustainability research journal explores the challenge of balancing energy security, affordability and availability against longer-term priorities like energy sustainability and decarbonization.
At the start of the year, as we looked ahead at the key sustainability trends to watch in 2026, we wrote that sustainability is becoming a story of how stakeholders balance near-term priorities with long-term realities.
In the first quarter of 2026, this turned out to be even truer than we anticipated. A war with Iran that started in February has continued to unfold across the region, with ripple effects for energy, supply chains and financial markets around the world.
In real time, we’re seeing companies and countries weigh immediate needs like energy security, affordability and availability against longer-term priorities like sustainability and decarbonization. The war is altering the energy calculus, putting energy security firmly in the spotlight. But that could reinforce some countries’ renewable energy rollout as oil and gas supply chains unravel and prices soar.
The research that follows offers insight into how markets around the globe are navigating competing priorities. We see a robust trajectory for clean technology in 2026, even as some markets roll back sustainability policies. We explore how the EU is revising some regulations to balance sustainability and competitiveness. Our research also shows that financial institutions are making some progress on decarbonization and Scope 3 emissions disclosure, even as the outlook for sustainable bond markets appears neutral in 2026. And we explore how some companies are responding to mounting physical risks from climate change with adaptation efforts.
As the year unfolds, we remain focused on how these dynamic forces will shape the evolving sustainability landscape.
S&P Global Sustainable1
Lindsey Hall
Global Head of Thought Leadership
Lindsey Hall is Head of ESG Thought Leadership at S&P Global Horizons, where she co-hosts the ESG Insider podcast and is a steering member of S&P Global's Diversity Research Lab.
She got her start in financial journalism writing for various Financial Times publications in London before joining SNL Financial in 2010, where she spent a decade covering financial news and regulation as a reporter and editor.
Lindsey holds a Masters from the London School of Economics.
S&P Global Ratings
Bruce Thomson
Director, Global Social Specialist, Sustainability Research
Bruce Thomson is a Director and Global Social Specialist in the Sustainability Research team at S&P Global Ratings. Bruce leads the global research and thought leadership agenda on social topics and sustainable supply chains, aiming to advance understanding of social factors and their sustainability and credit impacts across value chains. He advises the company’s global network of sustainable finance and credit analysts on the effective integration of sustainability factors into issuer, project, and sector analysis.
Previously, Bruce led the North America Sustainability Advisory practice at ELEVATE Global, an ESG services company, where he advised many of the world’s most recognizable brands on strategies to optimize their global supply chains to protect and create value through social risk management. In addition, Bruce worked with asset management firms on pre-investment ESG due diligence as well as investment stewardship. Prior, he founded and led BrightLabel, a supply chain transparency and sustainability software startup, and worked for seven years as a trade economist at the World Bank, the UN, and the Office of the US Trade Representative during the Obama Administration, where he focused on driving economic advancement, protecting human rights, and alleviating poverty through international trade and value chain development.
Bruce received a master's degree in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University, where he concentrated in International Economics and Finance, and he graduated with honors in Political Science from Wake Forest University.
Project Leads & Contributors
S&P Global Sustainable1
Lindsey Hall
Global Head of Thought Leadership
Lindsey Hall is Head of ESG Thought Leadership at S&P Global Horizons, where she co-hosts the ESG Insider podcast and is a steering member of S&P Global's Diversity Research Lab.
She got her start in financial journalism writing for various Financial Times publications in London before joining SNL Financial in 2010, where she spent a decade covering financial news and regulation as a reporter and editor.
Lindsey holds a Masters from the London School of Economics.
S&P Global Sustainable1
Matt Macfarland
Senior Editor, Thought Leadership Editorial Manager, S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly
Matt MacFarland is the industry editor for nonbank financial services news at S&P Global Market Intelligence. His coverage includes investment banking, asset management, financial technology and capital markets. A particular focus is equity market structure, which he covered as a reporter for SNL Financial.
Matt holds a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in English from Hampden-Sydney College.
S&P Global Ratings
Yogesh Balasubramanian
Sector Lead
S&P Global Ratings
Bruno Bastit
Director, Global Corporate Governance Specialist, Sustainability Research
S&P Global Ratings
Beth Burks
Director, Sustainable Finance Markets
Beth is one of S&P Global’s team of delegates that participates annually in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference of parties (UNFCCC COP). Her research primarily focuses on net zero targets, water risk, and the social implications of climate change. Investment Week nominated her paper on spatial finance in the Thought Leadership category of its Sustainable & ESG Investments Awards 2020. This paper quantitatively linked satellite data on ecosystems to the debt metrics of water utilities in the United States. She holds an MSc Geographical Information Science from Birkbeck College, and a BSc Mathematics from Imperial College in London. Born to British parents, she grew up in Belgium and South Korea.
S&P Global Ratings
Patrice Cochelin
Head of Analytical Governance, Sustainable Finance
S&P Global Ratings
Terry Ellis
Director Climate Transition Risk
S&P Global Ratings
Pierre Georges
Managing Director, Credit Ratings
Svenja Husing
S&P Global Energy
Conway Irwin
Senior Director, Investing in Energy, S&P Global Energy
S&P Global Energy
Roman Kramarchuk
Head of Energy Transition Narratives & Policy
Prior to joining PIRA, now part of S&P Global Energy, he was at the U.S. EPA, developing key power plant and industrial emissions regulations at the Clean Air Markets Division. With both PG&E NEG and PA Consulting / PHB Hagler Bailly, he evaluated strategies regarding fuel choice, capital investments and trading. Roman also worked on international projects to develop power markets and regulatory capacity in the former Soviet Union and India. At the Federal Reserve Board, Roman analyzed trends in industrial production.
He has an M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School and a B.A. in economics and B.S.E. in systems engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
S&P Global Sustainable1
Jennifer Laidlaw
Senior Writer
S&P Global Ratings
Victor Laudisio
Associate Director, Sustainable Finance
S&P Global Energy
Cecilia Moraes
Analyst, Sustainability Research, Research & Methodology
Anna Mosby
S&P Global Ratings
Paul Munday, Ph.D.
Global Climate Adaptation & Resilience Specialist
Paul Munday is a Director, Global Climate Adaptation & Resilience Specialist at S&P Global Ratings, where he leads and coordinates S&P Global Ratings’ research and application of climate adaptation and resilience analytics. He works at the interface between data and research, leveraging his expertise to help improve clarity of the credit impacts from climate risks.
Paul has over 10 years of experience in both the UK and abroad, providing advice to private and public sector clients across multiple sectors to help mainstream consideration of climate resilience into projects and programmes. Prior to joining S&P Global Ratings, Paul worked in climate risk consultancy.
He is a Chartered Scientist, Chartered Water and Environment Manager and certified expert in climate adaptation finance by the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.
John Murray
Senior Research Analyst
John Murray is a senior research analyst with the Clean Energy Technology team at S&P Global Energy. Focusing on North American wind energy, he specializes in competitor analysis, wind turbine technology, government policy and project tracking.
S&P Global Ratings
Azul Ornelas
Senior Analyst, Sustainable Finance
S&P Global Ratings
Renato Panichi
Senior Director
S&P Global Ratings
Zoe Parker
Senior Analyst, Credit Analysis
S&P Global Ratings
Bryan Popoola
Associate Director, Sustainable Finance
S&P Global Energy
Rida Rambli
Senior Research Analyst
Rida Rambli holds a master's degree in Engineering Mathematics from University of Bristol, and has been a Battery and Energy Storage Analyst at S&P Global Energy for three years. She focuses on Southeast Asia and Central Asia markets and oversees the battery cell manufacturing database and insights.
S&P Global Ratings
Bruce Thomson
Director, Global Social Specialist, Sustainability Research
Bruce Thomson is a Director and Global Social Specialist in the Sustainability Research team at S&P Global Ratings. Bruce leads the global research and thought leadership agenda on social topics and sustainable supply chains, aiming to advance understanding of social factors and their sustainability and credit impacts across value chains. He advises the company’s global network of sustainable finance and credit analysts on the effective integration of sustainability factors into issuer, project, and sector analysis.
Previously, Bruce led the North America Sustainability Advisory practice at ELEVATE Global, an ESG services company, where he advised many of the world’s most recognizable brands on strategies to optimize their global supply chains to protect and create value through social risk management. In addition, Bruce worked with asset management firms on pre-investment ESG due diligence as well as investment stewardship. Prior, he founded and led BrightLabel, a supply chain transparency and sustainability software startup, and worked for seven years as a trade economist at the World Bank, the UN, and the Office of the US Trade Representative during the Obama Administration, where he focused on driving economic advancement, protecting human rights, and alleviating poverty through international trade and value chain development.
Bruce received a master's degree in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University, where he concentrated in International Economics and Finance, and he graduated with honors in Political Science from Wake Forest University.
S&P Global Energy
Nick Trickett
Associate Director, Short Term Analytics, Critical Minerals
Nick Trickett is an associate director with the Energy Capital Insights team covering mining & metals, cross-commodity and macroeconomic dynamics within energy expansion, and cleantech value chains. A Russianist and political economy specialist by training, his work touches on most of S&P Global Energy's research lines, providing multi-disciplinary thematic insights with a focus on financial clients and the intersection of geopolitics, macroeconomics, and commodity markets.
Nick holds an MA in Russian studies from the European University in St. Petersburg where he focused on energy politics and an MSc in international political economy from the London School of Economics. He holds a broad range of professional experience following several years in the D.C. policy world, including extensive consulting work on Russia and Eurasia, relevant briefing workshops for the State Department, National Intelligence Council, and the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in the UK, a stint as an oil & gas consultant with Wood Mackenzie, a mining & metals analyst with Fitch Solutions, and the global BD lead for mining & metals at White & Case prior to joining S&P. He is the author of the forthcoming book Empire of Austerity: Russia and the Breaking of Eurasia with Hurst Publishers.
S&P Global Ratings
Emmanuel Volland
Global Sector Lead, Financial Institutions
S&P Global Sustainable1
Esther Whieldon
Thought Leadership Senior Writer
Esther Whieldon is a Senior Writer on the S&P Global Horizons Thought Leadership Team and co-host of the S&P Global podcast ESG Insider. Esther has worked at S&P Global for 14 years and was previously a Senior Reporter in the S&P Global Market Intelligence newsroom where she wrote about climate change, ESG and energy issues. Prior, Esther worked two years as a reporter at Politico and spent several years before that in the S&P Global Platts energy newsroom in Washington, D.C. Esther earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Thank you to Kurt Burger and Stephanie Oxford for contributing to the design, production and publication of the S&P Global Sustainability Quarterly.