Terence Jeyaretnam’s November roundup captures a sharp acceleration in global climate, sustainability and human-rights developments, with COP30 in Belém setting firmer expectations for Paris-aligned 2035 NDCs, just-transition integration and rising accountability, even as binding fossil-fuel phase-outs remain elusive. New science underscored escalating physical risks, from record fossil-fuel CO₂ and heat killing one person per minute, to quantified project-level harms from Scarborough gas and microplastic rain entering the water cycle. Regulatory and litigation pressures intensified: the CCPI downgraded the US, attribution science rendered climate damages increasingly foreseeable for directors, and greenwashing cases such as the JBS complaint signalled tightening enforcement. Meanwhile, corporate climate commitments showed signs of quiet retreat, and the IEA’s WEO 2025 flagged surging electrification amid uncertain oil-demand peaks. This article underscores rapidly evolving transition, liability and physical-risk exposures; the importance of scrutinising real-economy capex and emissions rather than pledges, and the growing centrality of health, justice and nature impacts in investment, governance and risk assessment.
Sustainable Finance Roundup November 2025: Transition Turning Points and Rising Accountability
This month’s sustainable-finance roundup highlights faster transition momentum, rising physical risks and a tightening focus on accountability. COP30 reinforced expectations for stronger 2035 targets, while national actions underscored diverging paths toward decarbonisation. Markets continued shifting toward clean energy and resilience, and new science made climate harms more visible. With regulatory scrutiny and litigation increasing, transition credibility and real-economy resilience are becoming core drivers of financial risk and investment decisions.
AUTHORS
Each month, we gather standout sustainable finance articles from our favourite writers. This curated selection brings together the most engaging ideas, timely analyses, and fresh perspectives published over the past month, so you can catch up on what mattered most.
Photo by Aline Massuca/COP30 on Flickr
Day Zero. A Few thoughts on Sustainability…
By Simon Rebbechi
Simon Rebbechi’s latest roundup surveys a series of energy, climate, and infrastructure signals with direct implications for sustainable finance. The DOE’s unusually large and rapid loan to restart Three Mile Island highlights a “large, fast, risky” federal nuclear strategy that could reshape US clean-energy risk allocation. Meanwhile, the IEA’s new deep dive confirms that global EV momentum is now driven by emerging markets, with internal-combustion sales in structural decline and price parity pushing EVs toward a social-adoption tipping point. Rebbechi also spotlights mounting “water debts,” from accelerating aquifer depletion to projected 50% declines in Chilean glacier melt. These risks reverberate through global supply chains, food inflation, and political perceptions of affordability. Consumers overwhelmingly view fossil fuels—not clean energy—as the long-term cost risk, even as more extreme weather drives outages, grid-resilience investment, and battery deployment. He flags growing Day Zero drought hotspots, continued economic deterioration of US coal assets, and rapid clean-tech leapfrogging across emerging markets. This piece underscores accelerating transition dynamics, physical-risk pressures on real-economy assets, and the expanding importance of resilience, water, and affordability in investment decision-making.
Relevant library resources
How just transition can help deliver the Paris Agreement
Landing the economic case for climate action with decision makers
Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries monitors a world out of balance
Climate-related litigation: recent trends and developments
Directors' liability and climate risk: Comparative paper - Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom
