EU Dials Down Green Finance Rules as US Wages ESG War
The EU has taken an ax to its sustainable reporting regulations. While the bloc is widely considered the global leader for sustainable finance policy, this rollback could limit investors' access to climate data and their ability to push capital towards the energy transition. With the ramping up of anti-ESG laws in the US, fears over competitiveness lie behind the softening of these EU policies. Yet just as these regions are watering down their requirements, Asia Pacific is stepping up, strengthening its own sustainable finance policies and potentially filling the Western void. On today's show, Tom Rowlands-Rees is joined by BloombergNEF sustainable finance analysts Maia Mesanger and Jameson McLennan to discuss their recent notes 'Sustainable Finance Market Outlook 1H 2025: Back on Track' and 'EU Weakens Sustainability Leadership with Rule Rollback: React'.
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Yahoo
20 minutes ago
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Iran says to submit own nuclear proposal to US soon
Iran said Monday it will soon present a counter-proposal on a nuclear deal with the United States, after it had described Washington's offer as containing "ambiguities". Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear accord to replace the deal with major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The longtime foes have been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran's uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a "non-negotiable" right and Washington describing it as a "red line". On May 31, after the fifth round talks, Iran said it had received "elements" of a US proposal, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying later the text contained "ambiguities". Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei criticised the US proposal as "lacking elements" reflective of the previous rounds of negotiations, without providing further details. "We will soon submit our own proposed plan to the other side through (mediator) Oman once it is finalised," Baqaei told a weekly press briefing. "It is a proposal that is reasonable, logical, and balanced, and we strongly recommend that the American side value this opportunity." Iran's parliament speaker has said the US proposal failed to include the lifting of sanctions -- a key demand for Tehran, which has been reeling under their weight for years. - 'Strategic mistake' - Trump, who has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions on Iran since taking office in January, has repeatedly said it will not be allowed any uranium enrichment under a potential deal. On Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US offer was "100 percent against" notions of independence and self-reliance. He insisted that uranium enrichment was "key" to Iran's nuclear programme and that the US "cannot have a say" on the issue. Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead. Western countries, including the United States, have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes The United Nations nuclear watchdog will convene a Board of Governors meeting from June 9-13 in Vienna to discuss Iran's nuclear activities. The meeting comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report criticising "less than satisfactory" cooperation from Tehran, particularly in explaining past cases of nuclear material found at undeclared sites. Iran has criticised the IAEA report as unbalanced, saying it relied on "forged documents" provided by its arch foe Israel. Britain, France and Germany, the three European countries who were party to the 2015 deal, are currently weighing whether to trigger the sanctions "snapback" mechanism in the accord. The mechanism would reinstate UN sanctions in response to Iranian non-compliance -- an option that expires in October. On Friday, Araghchi warned European powers against backing a draft resolution at the IAEA accusing Tehran of non-compliance, calling it a "strategic mistake". On Monday, Baqaei said Iran has "prepared and formulated a series of steps and measures" if the resolution passed. "Without a doubt, the response to confrontation will not be more cooperation," he added. rkh-mz/ysm
Bloomberg
an hour ago
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Europe Must Defend Rule of Law Standards, ECB's Elderson Says
Europe can foster economic well-being and help increase the euro's global role by adhering to and even strengthening rule of law standards, European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson said. The European Union is 'a beacon of legal certainty, strong institutions and the protection of fundamental rights,' he said Monday in a speech at the Italian Constitutional Court in Rome, emphasizing that the connection between this principle and a thriving economy is 'well established.'
Axios
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Silicon Valley's not crying for Musk
Few tears will be shed in Silicon Valley or at Big Tech firms over Elon Musk's precipitous fall from White House grace. Why it matters: Musk's brief alliance with President Trump warped the usual dynamics of the relationship between America's most valuable industry and its center of political power. Between the lines: Musk himself is widely admired in tech's corridors of power for Tesla's and SpaceX's innovations — but also widely disliked for his unfulfillable promises, erratic behavior and social media addiction. Now that Musk is suddenly on the outs with Trump, a lot of tech leaders are quietly crossing their fingers that they can get back to dealmaking and policy-setting without worrying about a key competitor whispering in the president's ear. Tech giants can't be sure that whoever replaces Musk as Trump's favorite geek will bring stability or regulatory relief — but Musk wasn't delivering on those fronts either. On the other hand, any follow-through on Trump's threat to strangle the flow of federal dollars to Musk's firms would demonstrate that vendettas are the new normal. Such targeting of one person's business empire with the full force of presidential power would send a chill down any CEO's spine, pro- or anti-Trump. The big picture: Tech leaders see huge opportunities in Washington and government work right now. AI is exploding, defense tech is booming, and crypto firms are chomping at the bit. Plenty of CEOs resented what they saw as the Biden administration's hostility to deals, dedication to strict regulation and aggressive stance on antitrust. Yes, but: The long Republican tradition of business-friendly regulatory positions has mutated into a Trumpian realpolitik. The Trump administration has been forthright in its intention to help friends and punish enemies. Help comes as contracts and preferential treatment by regulators; punishment comes via canceled contracts, fines and even prosecution by the Justice Department. The terms of this week's Trump-Musk feud made starkly clear how serious Trump is about these carrot-and-stick moves. Losers: Musk himself obviously faces not only financial losses but a reputational reckoning. He has already alienated his liberal-left fans, who'd once been drawn to his electric vehicles. If Trump's MAGA loyalists abandon him too, he might be left with a thinned social media fan base, a pile of sinking shares, and not much else. Winners: Virtually any tech leader not named Musk can find satisfaction in his misfortune. Musk's businesses are all deeply entangled with one another but rarely partner with non-Musk-owned firms. His empire is a mostly self-contained Muskiverse, meaning its woes aren't likely to prove contagious. There are plenty of MAGA-friendly tech firms — think Palantir and Anduril in defense tech, Meta under a newly MAGA-fied Mark Zuckerberg, or the Andreessen-Horowitz portfolio in startups — ready to step in to the Musk void in D.C. if he and the president don't patch things up. U.S. leaders may decide it's time to broaden the supply of rockets that can launch satellites and astronauts into space beyond SpaceX — and that could benefit Jeff Bezos and his Blue Origin firm. One of the biggest winners, even though he has largely stayed mum on the Musk/Trump fireworks, is OpenAI's Sam Altman. Musk's role in the Trump administration gave his company an inside track on federal contracts. Altman, who wasn't ever known to be close to Trump, surprised Musk by repackaging his giant Stargate datacenter project as a Trump deal and winning an Oval Office photo op with Trump the day after the new president's inauguration. Altman and Musk have their own feud. Both were among the nonprofit's cofounders, and Musk has sued OpenAI, claiming that under Altman it has abandoned its original AI safety mission. Another winner: Vice President J.D. Vance, who during Musk's White House days seemed to fade into the woodwork, has a chance to reassert his primacy as the Trump administration's ambassador to tech. Still to be seen is where some of the other key tech players in Trumpworld — like White House adviser David Sacks — land when the firestorm subsides. The intrigue: You won't read expressions of tech leaders' relief at Musk's D.C. exit in their posts or interviews. There's nothing to be gained and lots to lose for most executives or investors to take sides in the Trump-Musk war of words. That's why the only sound from tech's normally boisterous social-media gallery has been an occasional wan plea of "be nice and make up." What's next: Trump White House dramas never end, they just go into new seasons.
