ESMA has published a paper seeking feedback on possible changes to regulatory standards and reporting requirements when deploying distributed ledger technology (DLT) for securities trading and settlement. The consultation comes in the wake of plans for a pilot regime for trading and settling digital securities issued, traded and recorded on DLT.

In 2021 banks pocketed US$3.4 billion from green-labelled debt deals, compared with US$3.3B from their work with oil, gas and coal companies. In 2020, the split was US$1.9B for green and US$3.7B for fossil fuels. Analysts expect that US$2.5 trillion of debt advertised as green or ESG-oriented will be issued this year, up from US$1.5T in 2021.

The European Commission’s latest proposal to label natural gas and nuclear energy as green sources under the so-called EU taxonomy has reopened schisms within the bloc. Natural gas accounted for 22.3% of the EU’s energy mix in 2019, with nuclear power making up 13.1% according to Eurostat, but their use varies in every member state.

The crisis has left the EU at the mercy of the weather and Vladimir Putin’s wiles. Natural gas storage sites are only 56% full, more than 15 percentage points below the 10-year average. Russia is building troops on the border with Ukraine. The energy situation limits the scope of actions Western powers can take to counter Russian aggression.