The world’s biggest wind turbine manufacturers have committed to eliminating their net emissions of greenhouse gases, but reducing the carbon footprint of their production process may mean customers have to bear some of the cost. Towers are particularly problematic, because of the large amount of steel they contain.

British government and the wind industry claim that costs are falling. The analysis finds that offshore construction costs rose until the early 2010s and show no sign of a sharp decline. Costs have increased by about 15% for every doubling in total wind capacity in NW Europe, mostly because of using sites that are more distant from shore and in deeper water.

European Central Bank executive board member Fabio Panetta said a digital euro might be the innovation that sees negative interest rates passed directly to consumers. Panetta said officials keen to prevent bank runs could make the hoarding of digital central bank money unattractive by “penalizing remuneration” of holdings in excess of 3,000 euros.

Cryptocurrencies play almost no role in the staid world of corporate treasury, where protecting a company’s financial liquidity and cash reserves are key. Their massive volatility has ruled them out. Corporations invest their cash in very high quality, short-term fixed income securities, and are willing to accept a relatively low rate of return.

The German federal government assumes that electricity consumption will remain largely constant over the next ten years. However, their own consultants see it differently. They warn against a miscalculation and demand that the German energy transition is partially relocated abroad. Germany will turn from a net exporter to a net importer of electricity.

In Europe, investors looking to escape a sea of negative yields are snapping up some of the longest-maturity debt on offer in an attempt to park their money in assets that still provide some sort of return. On both sides of the Atlantic, the lengthiest debt is the focus of a debate over whether trillions of dollars of stimulus will trigger a resurgence in inflation.

RTE, the operator of the national grid called on the French to reduce their consumption. The consumption was forecast at 88 GW, low compared to the 102 GW peak of 2018. Some of the nuclear power stations are under maintenance, two reactors and a coal-fired power station at Fessenheim had been closed and wind was very weak on Friday.

About $1 trillion of bonds have seen their yields turn negative this week, meaning 27% of the world’s investment-grade debt is now sub-zero. Bond bulls got a boost on Thursday when the European Central Bank boosted its asset purchase program by an additional 500 billion euros in a bid to support the region’s economic recovery.

Collapsing trading volumes are a worrying sign for the market’s future. European Central Bank has taken its purchases of debt to unprecedented levels. By the end of 2021, investors will be even more squeezed out. The ECB is set to own around 43% of Germany’s notes. Trading volumes in bund futures have collapsed 62%.

National Grid is struggling to keep the system balanced as demand rises with colder weather and wind generation is forecast to be low. Britain gets about 8% of its power supply from huge cables connected to Europe. The low electricity supply situation could be compounded by a planned strike by Electricite de France SA workers.

Funds that buy US Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities recorded $1.8bn of inflows in the week ending Wednesday, the largest amount since June and the ninth consecutive week the funds have been allotted new money from clients. The inflows have been dominated by large institutions like endowments and pension funds.

Britain more than halved the carbon intensity of its electricity over a decade to 2017. Racing to “net zero” risks losing political support if expensive. Tackling climate change will require massive amounts of clean electricity to electrify transport and heating. UK electricity demand will double by 2050, predicts Aurora Energy Research.