Greenwheel insights – Distortion in the machine: Four new AI considerations for investors
Executive Summary Over the last year, the AI landscape has evolved rapidly as systems are embedded in businesses, labour markets, and infrastructure. This has led to new forms of governance and social risks and impacts for investors. In the world of work, AI is automating and augmenting roles. In some sectors, especially services such as […]
Greenwheel insights – Double in a decade: The EU’s new electrification action plan
Executive Summary Europe remains heavily exposed to fossil fuel supply shocks, with energy import dependency higher than most other major global economies. Against this backdrop, the European Commission’s new Electrification Action Plan sets a highly ambitious indicative target to double electricity’s share of EU final energy consumption by 2040 and backs it with several proposed […]
Greenwheel insights – The energy transition: metrics, expectations, and four structural tailwinds
Executive Summary The energy transition is further along than many think. Progress looks slow if judged on primary energy supply but is much faster and deeper when measured by rates of change in useful energy demand. Clean energy investment is double that in fossil fuels. Renewables now meet more than all growth in power demand, […]
Greenwheel insights – A framework for responsible investment in conflict-affected and high-risk areas
Executive Summary Today, the world is seeing the highest levels of conflict since the end of World War II, with an estimated one in six people living in conflict-affected areas. This turbulence means that businesses and investors face increasing exposure to conflict-affected and high-risk areas (CAHRA). Businesses are never neutral in CAHRA. Whether through supply […]
Greenwheel insights – Electricity systems in transition: Resiliency lessons from the Iberian blackout
Executive Summary On 28 April 2025, a rapid voltage rise on Spain’s grid triggered a chain reaction of generator disconnections, which plunged Spain and Portugal into a blackout in just 83 seconds. A new report concludes that Spain’s typically high share of renewables was not the primary cause but was just one factor in a […]
Greenwheel insights – Iran conflict: Cascading implications for fertiliser & food
Executive Summary The US-Israeli strikes on Iran and the retaliatory closure of the Strait of Hormuz have severed one-third of globally traded fertiliser supply and a quarter of global Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) at a single chokepoint. The timing is acutely damaging, coinciding with spring planting and fertiliser application windows across the Northern Hemisphere. A […]
Greenwheel insights – Counting Carbon (Part 2)
Executive Summary Investors may seek to reduce portfolio emissions in different ways, for different reasons. Some may prioritise reducing transition risk, while other may prioritise developing transition opportunities and impact. Guidelines suggest portfolio emissions should be ‘rebaselined’ once the influence of external drivers that may sit outside of an investor’s emissions-related objectives, such as large […]
Greenwheel insights – Counting Carbon (Part 1)
Executive Summary – The emissions profile of an investment portfolio is driven by a range of factors, including changing operational emissions by holdings, data characteristics, valuation movements, and portfolio composition. – Valuation movements can drive significant changes in emissions intensity, even if absolute emissions remain stable. Different financial metrics can also produce different results. – […]
Greenwheel insights – France’s PPE 3
Executive Summary The long-awaited energy strategy for France has been published. The role ofelectricity in the economy is set to expand, driven by adding new nuclearcapacity and pushing existing reactors harder for longer, along with substantial expansions in wind and solar. Renewable targets were scaled back from earlier drafts, and significant legal and political risks […]
Greenwheel insights – Simply the BESSt? A bright future for battery energy storage
Executive Summary Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are uniquely capable in delivering crucial services to electricity systems increasingly supplied by intermittent renewables. Annual installations nearly doubled each year on average for at least the last five years, while costs have collapsed with one of the fastest cost declines of any energy technology, ever Demand has […]