“Africa is now for African banks and the Middle East is for Middle Eastern banks. The North Sea is the exception, where there is still an active international bank lending market, although with a reduced number of players lending.”
Bracewell’s managing partner in London Jason Fox said this was not new “but the noose is tightening quickly and ESG is the headwind. It’s not just the E that’s biting but also the G, for governance, with banks increasingly retreating from emerging markets because of additional risks, particularly concerns around corruption.”
European energy security faces a seemingly impossible task of meeting short-term demand with longer-term decarbonisation. Society does not have the luxury of declaring this to be impossible, though, so must take steps now to meet the challenges.
