Issuance of green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bonds was 10% above 2023. 4,490 notes issued in 2024 were the most ever, thumping the old high of 3,729 set in 2023. Sales of green bonds, the largest category by volume, reached $571 billion, but issuance of controversial sustainability-linked bonds dropped for a third year.

On the morning of 27 December, wind power accounted for 6.2% of the electricity demand in Germany and solar for 0%. Wind provided less than 2.9 GW or 4% of the nominal installed capacity of 71.7 GW. Most of German power generation came from coal and natural gas. Germany was also heavily dependant on expensive electricity imports.

Corporate borrowing climbed by more than a third from 2023 to $7.93tn. While yields for investment-grade US corporate debt is at 5.4% compared with 2.4% three years ago, they are only 0.77 percentage points above government debt, the lowest level in decades. This convinced companies to pull forward bond issuance originally planned for next year.

The EU’s storage levels are now at only 75% due to cold weather, low seaborne imports and less wind, which increases the demand for gas for power generation. Europe has faced more competition for LNG from Asia. The biggest supplier of LNG is the US. European gas prices are now 90% below the €300 per MWh during the summer of 2022.

Investors poured record amounts into global bond funds as they bet on lower interest rates by major central banks and because equities, particularly in the US, have become increasingly expensive. Bond prices increased in summer and dropped at the end of the year on concerns that the pace of global rate cuts will be slower than previously expected.

EU has received 16.5mn tonnes of liquefied natural gas from Russia. In 2022, the EU decided to stop imports of any Russian fossil fuels by 2027. EU previously imported 40% of its gas from Russia. This is now down to 16%. Imports via pipelines have dwindled, but LNG from Russia has a “significantly lower” price than the gas shipped from the US.

Switch, a US-based provider of AI, cloud and enterprise data centres, has selected nuclear technology company Oklo to deploy 12GW of Oklo Aurora powerhouses by 2044 to supply its data centres. Oklo will be responsible for the development, construction and operation of the powerhouses. This long-term partnership is expected to support Oklo's growth.

Sweden’s energy minister said that the additional 700 MW connector planned to link the German and Swedish electricity markets would be postponed until Germany splits its internal market into bidding zones that would increase the efficiency and lower the prices. Due to German demand, prices in southern Sweden jump from zero to €1 per kWh.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a start-up founded by MIT scientists is planning to build its first fusion power plant with a 400 MW capacity in an industrial park near Richmond in the early 2030s. It has not yet secured regulatory approval. It is first building a pilot machine in Massachusetts that will demonstrate the feasibility of its technology in 2027.

When the wind was barely blowing, they announced a cut off in electricity production and then offered to keep producing at a higher price to meet a potential shortfall they helped create. The price was £3,105 per MWh, more than 10 times the intraday market price. The plants are owned by Vitol and the Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky.

Norway wants to cut the interconnector to Denmark and renegotiate links to Germany and the UK. A lack of wind in Germany will push electricity prices in southern Norway to $1.18 per kWh on Thursday, 20-times their level last week. Critics argue that Norway should only send electricity abroad after it has ensured low prices at home, as it used to be the case.

The new British government aims to reform rules on planning and connecting to the power grid to reach the goal of relying less than 5% of the time on natural gas for electricity generation by 2030 to reduce price volatility. The estimated investment requirement is £40 bln per year. This includes 50 GW of offshore wind, more than triple today’s level.