Company says it is reducing production for few hours where possible as ability to cool plants with river water is restricted. However, half of EDF’s 56 nuclear reactors are offline due to planned maintenance and work to repair corrosion which was delayed by the pandemic. France is relying on expensive imports from the neighbouring countries.

The share of green and sustainable bonds rose from 2% of all bonds globally in 2018 to 12% at the end of 2021, but investors have become less willing to pay the premium. They have wised up to bogus environmental claims, or so-called greenwashing. But the outflows from ESG bond funds in 2022 have been much lower than outflows from other bond funds.

It has become more difficult for European companies to raise money in the bond market. Bond transactions are being withdrawn. Fund managers are demanding much higher returns, but companies are balking at this higher price tag. The Bank of England wants to sell down its corporate bond portfolio and the ECB asset purchase programme is finishing.

Greening of “grey” industries offers interesting investment opportunities to withstand a high-inflation regime. EU’s green taxonomy sees investments as either green or not. But only 2% of the revenues of Europe’s top 50 companies would be judged to have come from green operations under the EU taxonomy, according to a study by ISS ESG.

A scorching heat wave is pushing the Texas grid to the brink. Power demand is surging as people crank up air conditioners. But wind speeds have fallen to extremely low levels and that means the state’s fleet of turbines is at just 8% of their potential output. Texas may be America’s oil and gas hub, but it’s also long been the country’s biggest wind-power state.

The share of the EU's gas supply provided by Russia dropped to 20% in June 2022. The gap of over 300 TWh in the first 6 months of 2022 compared to 2021 has been filled mostly by 240 TWh of additional imports of LNG. Because the internal gas market is not perfectly connected, countries will need to reduce their gas consumption by 0-54%.

Electricite de France SA may have to reduce output at some of its nuclear reactors, as drought reduces the amount of water available for cooling. This adds further strain to Europe’s energy supply. France may have to import more power in the coming months because half of its 56 nuclear reactors are halted for repairs or planned maintenance.

Sales of stocks and debt decline. Businesses globally raised $4.9tn through new bonds, loans and equity in the first half of 2022, down 25% from the $6.6tn raised in the first half of 2021. The slide in new fundraising was concentrated among lower-rated companies, while high-quality, investment-grade issuance remained more in line with its historical trend.

The price of futures for baseload electricity delivered in France in Q1 of 2023 is over €600/MWh. For years, the baseload price was under €50/MWh. The jump in price is due to fears that the lack of investment in new power stations will mean a shortage during the coming winter. As France used to be an exporter, this affects the prices across Europe.

Article 8 fund is an EU “light green” tag on over 600 funds that “promote” sustainability. It is still unclear what that means. Even EU regulators do not see eye to eye. It is “impossible” to do a meaningful comparison across products. Clients withdrew more than $30 billion from such products. A stricter ESG classification Article 9 funds saw $6 billion of inflows.

Police searched the offices of Deutsche Bank AG and its fund unit DWS Group under the allegation of greenwashing. In the US, SEC is looking into the ESG claims of Goldman Sachs. The rules by which asset managers need to abide are uncomfortably vague and there is a “huge divergence” in how EU's SFDR rulebook is being interpreted.

The term ESG may be coming to the end of its useful life. ESG investing is the fastest-growing segment of the asset management industry. ESG’s critics say some companies are using the loosely defined term to make misleading claims. The term has come to mean all things to all people. On top of that, there is the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.