Sustainability Currents

AI’s rapid expansion is turning data centers into critical economic and energy infrastructure — and creating one of sustainable finance’s fastest-growing markets. Sustainable debt tied to data centers has more than doubled since 2023 as operators tap green bonds, loans and securitized markets to fund hyperscale growth. On this episode of Sustainability Currents, Romina Reversi and Patricia De Pauw from Crédit Agricole CIB join Bloomberg Intelligence’s Chris Ratti to explore how green financing is evolving alongside the AI infrastructure boom. The discussion examines rising power and water demand, grid constraints and community opposition, and why investors are increasingly looking beyond green labels to energy efficiency, clean-power sourcing, water use and asset-level performance. The conversation also considers whether sustainable finance can help fund the enormous data-center build-out while making projects more efficient, resilient and socially durable.

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A recent analysis by PwC of more than 3,500 companies finds that eight in 10 held steady or accelerated the timeline for their climate targets, and more companies increased their decarbonization ambition than lowered it. On this week’s episode of the Sustainability Currents podcast, David Linich, a PwC partner who leads the firm’s Decarbonization and Sustainable Operations offering, joins Eric Kane, Bloomberg Intelligence director of Sustainable Finance research, to discuss key findings from PwC’s third annual State of Decarbonization report, which challenges the perception that sustainability and climate ambition have peaked. They also explore the near-term outlook for sustainability at large, whether there’s a disconnect between stated climate targets and the carbon-intensive AI build-out, and much more.

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El Niño is already affecting weather around the world, with droughts in India, floods in Hawaii and a sinkhole in front of Nicolas Cage’s house in Malibu. Join Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Climate Analyst Andrew Stevenson and his guest, Hansi Singh, PhD and CEO of Planette AI to discuss what to expect from Niño over the coming months from the perspective of a long-term weather forecaster.

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New York City faces competing demands for capital as artificial intelligence reshapes the labor market, electricity needs rise, housing remains scarce and physical climate risks intensify. NYC Comptroller Mark Levine joins Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Sustainable Finance Analyst Chris Ratti to discuss how the city should weigh those pressures, from AI’s implications for jobs and tax revenue to grid investment, housing finance and climate resilience. They also examine the role the city’s pension funds can play and where New York may be dangerously underinvested.

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Gary Gensler, 33rd Chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (2021-25), professor of the Practice of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and co-host of the Power and Consequences podcast, joins a special crossover episode of Sustainability Currents and Votes and Verdicts to examine how the SEC can balance its three key mandates: investor protection, capital formation and fair, orderly and efficient markets. How should the commission weigh investor demands for climate disclosures against the cost to public filers? Do quarterly earnings reports drive market efficiency, or trading volatility? How do recent Supreme Court rulings (Slaughter, Loper Bright, West Virginia v. EPA) affect SEC rulemaking? BI analyst Nathan Dean and sustainable finance product manager Rob Du Boff discuss these topics and more.

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The chemical industry is a critical energy-transition industry, with hydrogen, jet fuel and ammonia being produced with a wide variety of inputs, from coal to renewable feedstocks like cooking oil and animal fats. On this episode of Sustainable Currents, Bloomberg Intelligence senior climate analyst Andrew Stevenson is joined by Elena Scaltritti, CEO of Topsoe, to discuss the importance of catalysts in optimizing energy consumption in the chemical sector and the firm’s green hydrogen project in Herning, Denmark.

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Emerging markets are expected to account for much of the world’s future economic growth, but meeting their infrastructure, climate and development needs will require trillions of dollars in new investment. As governments, development banks and private investors work to close that financing gap, sustainable investment strategies are evolving beyond traditional ESG approaches. Blended finance structures are becoming more sophisticated, capital allocators are shifting toward higher-impact sectors and advances in artificial intelligence, digital finance and other technologies are creating new opportunities to identify, scale up and monitor investments. On this episode of the Sustainability Currents podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Chris Ratti speaks with Ron Margalit, managing director at Lonomics, about the future of sustainable investing in EMs. They discuss the evolution of blended finance, where institutional investors are deploying capital, how early-stage sustainable businesses are attracting investment and the technologies reshaping both risk assessment and impact measurement. This episode was recorded on July 15.

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As global heat waves become more frequent and severe, climate-technology startups are playing an increasingly important role in innovation needed to accelerate decarbonization and create new economic opportunities. Financing these emerging companies has become a critical task for climate-focused venture capital funds. In this episode of the Sustainability Currents podcast, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Yasutake Homma is joined by Tomosaku Sohara, founder of NordicNinja, a climate-technology venture capital firm. They discuss the growing role of climate-technology investors, how portfolio companies are tackling climate change through innovation, and how government policies are shaping the future of the climate-technology ecosystem.

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Rising insurance costs, climate risk and new performance expectations are changing how commercial real estate is valued. In this Sustainability Currents episode, Bloomberg Intelligence Thematic Strategist Melanie Rua speaks with Breana Wheeler, director of operations for BREEAM USA about how independent building assessments are helping investors and owners evaluate resilience, operational efficiency and long-term asset value. They discuss why verified performance data is becoming increasingly important, how retrofits can improve both financial returns and resilience, and how AI and data centers are reshaping energy and water management. This episode was recorded on July 31. 

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Bloomberg Intelligence’s ESG Currents is now Sustainability Currents, reflecting a broader focus on the investment risks and opportunities emerging from themes including climate change, water scarcity, consumer expectations, and regulatory scrutiny. In this special episode marking the relaunch, BI’s director of Sustainable Finance Research, Eric Kane, brings together the full team for its 2026 midyear outlook. Melanie Rua, Andrew John Stevenson, Rob Du Boff, Gail Glazerman, Grace Osborne, Conrad Tan, Yasutake Homma, Chris Ratti, and Shaheen Contractor discuss key themes ranging from climate adaptation and resilience, sustainable debt, the ESG implications of AI, shareholder activism, water scarcity, sustainable-labeled funds and much more.

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