ESG and Of Interest News
A Tumultuous Year Tests Optimism Among American Retirement Savers
December 18, 2025-Surveying more than 3,000 Americans, PensionBee Happy Retirement Report finds retirement sentiment drops over 10% in 2025
Retirement optimism dropped by over 10% in 2025, according to new consumer sentiment data by PensionBee. Positive retirement sentiment peaked in March at 55% before dropping to just 44% by year's end.
2025 brought volatile markets, unprecedented tariffs, and the longest government shutdown in history.
PensionBee's 2025 Happy Retirement Report captures the impact of the year's events on 3,000 American retirement savers, with special focus paid to the actions and attitudes that underpin retirement sentiment.
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Source: PensionBee US
Mapping the global quantum ecosystem
December 17, 2025--A comprehensive analysis based on innovation, firm, investment, skills, trade and policy data
Abstract
Quantum technologies are moving from the lab to real-world impact, promising advances in computing, secure communications, and ultra-precise measurement. But who is driving this progress,and how is the global landscape evolving?
This joint EPO-OECD report offers an in-depth mapping of the worldwide quantum ecosystem,revealing where innovation is happening, how investment is growing, and what skills are most needed.
The report draws on unique data from patents, startups, investment flows, and workforce trends to show a fast-growing but uneven field. While the United States leads in innovation and funding, Europe, Asia, and other regions are building strong foundations. Both nimble startups and established companies play vital roles, and public support and international collaboration are key to future progress.
view OECD Mapping the global quantum ecosystem report
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Source: OECD
Quantum sector enters new phase after a decade of rapid growth, according to new OECD and EPO study
December 17, 2025--The quantum technology landscape has expanded rapidly over the past decade, with rising firm entry, increasing investment and strong growth in innovation across quantum communication, computing and sensing.
After this period of exceptional growth, the sector may now be entering a new phase where early rapid expansion gives way to more focused development and maturing technologies, according to a new study published today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Patent Office (EPO)
Quantum technologies harness the unique behaviour of particles at atomic scales to sense, process and transmit information, with applications across health care, finance and industry, and potential to help address global challenges, from boosting productivity to tackling climate change to strengthening food security.
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Source: OECD
International Standards Proliferate, Reshaping Global Economy: Too Many Developing Countries Are Left Behind, Report Finds
December 11, 2025--A proliferating set of international standards-covering everything from food labeling to the specifications of 5G cellular networks-s steadily reshaping the global economic order, delivering hefty benefits to the wealthy nations and large multinational companies that set them while leaving many developing countries on the sidelines, according to a new World Bank report.
Today, standards are foundational economic infrastructure, as vital to prosperity as roads or ports, according to the World Development Report 2025: Standards for Development, which provides the first comprehensive analysis of the landscape of global standards. By making the transportation of goods seamless, the standardization of the shipping container boosted global trade to a greater extent than all of the trade agreements of the last 60 years, the report notes. Since the turn of the century, however, standards have also become weapons in trade wars: non-tariff measures such pesticide specifications or labeling requirements, for example, now affect 90 percent of global trade, up from just 15% in the late 1990s.
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Source: worldbank.org
Understanding Stablecoins
December 4, 2025-Stablecoins, a type of crypto asset, have seen significant growth and attention recently. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of stablecoins. It discusses market developments, use cases, potential benefits, associated risks, and the evolving international regulatory landscape. Stablecoin issuance has doubled over the past two years, driven by their use in crypto trades.
The future demand for stablecoins could arise from other use cases supported by enabling legal and regulatory frameworks. Stablecoins are part of the broader interest in asset tokenization. Stablecoins offer several potential benefits. Through tokenization, they could increase efficiency in payments through increased competition. Stablecoins also carry significant risks related to macro-financial stability, operational efficiency, financial integrity, and legal certainty. Stablecoins may contribute to currency substitution, increase capital flow volatility. These risks could be more pronounced in countries experiencing high inflation, weaker institutions, or diminished confidence in the domestic monetary framework. The regulatory landscape for stablecoins is evolving.
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Source: imf.org
International Debt Report 2025: When relief isn’t enough-LMICs face their largest external debt outflows in 50 years
December 3, 2025--A paradox is unfolding across low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Inflation is receding and the punishing interest rates of recent years are finally easing, offering some relief. International market bonds issuances are gradually returning-at more sustainable prices -providing countries with much needed financing that helps reduce the risk of default and temporarily eases fiscal strains.
Yet for most LMICs, these are modest consolations - and far from sufficient to offset the profound setbacks of this decade. After all, LMICs paid out $741 billion more in principal and interest on their external debt between 2022 and 2024 than they received in new financing-the largest amount in at least 50 years.
The 2025 edition of the Debt Report (IDR), the World Bank's flagship annual publication on debt, reveals that the growth of LMICs' external debt stock slowed significantly in 2024, increasing just 1.1 percent to reach US$8.9 trillion. However, there's more to this story than the headline number suggests.
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Source: worldbank.org
Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy
November 28, 2025-As the global economy shifts under mounting inflation,fractured supply chains and rising inequality,the pace of climate action faces new pressures. The World Economic Forum's Executive Opinion Survey of 11,000 businesses found that 37% consider higher energy and commodity costs as barriers to competitive green business models,while more than half worry about affordability for consumers-warning that without economic feasibility and social alignment,climate ambition may falter.
Written by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with McKinsey & Company,Making the Green Transition Work for People and the Economy explores how to align climate action with positive socioeconomic outcomes. It presents a framework for integrating socioeconomic factors into corporate transition plans and identifies six archetypes of national transition pathways,reflecting diverse challenges and opportunities across economies.
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Source: WEF (World Economic Forum)
Visualizing How Much Gold Is Left to Mine on Earth
November 5, 2025-Key Takeaways
Roughly 216,000 tonnes of gold have been mined, with about 64,000 tonnes of reserves left underground.
Gold prices have surged more than 50% in 2025 amid global economic uncertainty and rising investor demand.
Gold's scarcity is one reason it remains a sought-after safe haven. In 2025, the metal has seen its strongest rally in years, climbing over 50% as global investors react to uncertainty in the world economy.
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Source: elements.visualcapitalist.com
UNEP Emissions Gap Report 2025
November 4, 2025-UNEP's Emissions Gap Report 2025: Off Target finds that available new climate pledges under the Paris Agreement have only slightly lowered global temperature rise over the course of this century, leaving the world heading for a serious escalation of climate risks and damages.
What's new in this year's report?
The sixteenth edition of the Emissions Gap Report finds that global warming projections over this century, based on full implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), are now 2.3-2.5°C, while those based on current policies are 2.8°C. This compares to 2.6-2.8°C and 3.1°C in last year's report.
However, methodological updates account for 0.1°C of the improvement, and the upcoming withdrawal of the US from the Paris Agreement will cancel another 0.1°C, meaning that the new NDCs themselves have barely moved the needle. Nations remain far from meeting the Paris Agreement goal to limit warming to well-below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to stay below 1.5°C.
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Source: unep.org
Explainer: Five Megatrends Shaping the Rise of Nonbank Finance
September 27, 2025--Half of all financial assets worldwide are now held and intermediated by companies that are not classified and regulated as banks
The global financial crisis of 2008 froze the financial system. Banks pulled back credit, families tightened their belts and companies laid off workers. It was a frightening time for everyone, and an extremely difficult moment for the financial services industry.
Today, the landscape of finance is quite different. Different types of investors and firms are providing businesses, consumers and governments with credit and liquidity. More than a billion more people have access to credit thanks largely to newer tech-based lenders. Families also have more options to finance purchases and to diversify retirement portfolios. Equity, fixed income, and derivatives markets have all seen strong growth.
But these developments have not been driven by banks. Instead, it is "nonbank" financial institutions that have stepped up, increasing their share of global credit and finance from 43 percent during the 2008 crisis to nearly 50 percent by 2023, our most recent data show.
This is a watershed moment: half of all financial services worldwide are now offered by companies that are not classified and regulated as banks.
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Source: IMF.org
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