Both developers are asking state regulators to pause review of the contracts. Increases in interest rates, supply chain constraints and inflation have significantly increased the expected cost of constructing the project. They suggest tax incentives and an increase of prices under the power purchase agreements to make the projects viable again.

Poland has chosen Westinghouse to build its first nuclear power plant. Poland is planning to spend $40 billion to build two nuclear power plants with three reactors each, the first one to be launched in 2033 and the second one in 2043. Nuclear power plants will replace the ageing coal-fired plants in a country with some of the worst air pollution in Europe.

Hybrids do not affect credit ratings and they offer higher yields to investors. They have been used by energy companies. EDF has €13bn in hybrids outstanding. When they mature, issuers can repay them and issue new ones, or roll them over. Rising interest rate make the latter more likely, but that will make investors less likely to buy hybrids in future.

The 10th edition of the Global Green Finance Index (GGFI) evaluates the green finance offering of 84 financial centres. The index is based on a number of existing indices in combination with a survey of senior industry figures from around the world. The GGFI was developed by the Long Finance initiative with support from the MAVA Foundation.

European pension funds should have access to a central bank-backed facility as a last resort to help them avoid the fire-sale of assets forced on UK pension managers by margin calls due to the falling gilt prices. European insurance companies and pension funds had to pay extra €50bn in margin over a 12-day period in March 2020 when markets panicked.

Dutch central bank is calling on the country’s pension funds to boost holdings of cash and other liquid assets and to report any need for fire sales of assets, to ensure that they can avoid the turmoil that hit the UK, where pension schemes rushed to sell assets in response to a drop in government debt prices that sparked collateral calls in hedging strategies.

Italy withdrew in 2016. The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) protects energy investments by foreign companies. Three energy groups are suing three European governments over the closure of coal power plants. Spain is sued by renewable energy companies after it reduced the subsidies. A process to “modernise” the pact has been under way since 2018.

Sterling money market funds, which act as bank accounts for institutional investors, have gathered £53bn in just a fortnight as UK pension schemes rush to build liquidity defences against market volatility before the Bank of England’s emergency bond-buying programme ends. Managers of these funds anticipate large withdrawals related to LDI collateral calls.

Just replacing the H2 made from natural gas and coal with green H2 would require 143% of all the wind and solar installed globally to date. Add shipping, steel and energy storage, and it would require five times all the existing wind and solar installations – and that is before decarbonising the electricity supply or hydrogen use in heating and road transport.

The liquidity crisis of the UK gilts markets has put at risk the government initiative to use pension funds to drive economic the transition to a low-carbon economy. The UK approved a new type “long-term asset fund” for investments in illiquid assets from investors such as pension funds, but their capacity to be buyers of illiquid assets has now taken a blow.

Wind turbine manufacturers cut jobs as supply chain woes and higher prices for key materials bite. Turbine prices are locked in by customers years in advance. It is difficult for manufacturers to pass on higher costs. They are at risk of losing market share to Chinese competitors. New capacity added this year globally will be 94-95 GW the same as 2021.

A rush for cash by UK pension funds has weakened the UK corporate debt market and pushed up borrowing costs for companies. In future, businesses like Rolls-Royce could borrow in international markets, which would weaken trading in the sterling market further. The UK corporate debt market is already small compared with Europe’s.