Methane Finance & Nuclear Notes
EDF Methane Work
EDF launched a methane satellite ~2 years ago with 15 months of data from global oil and gas basins across 40 countries. Approach: “data to action” — making emissions data actionable for policymakers, industry, and investors.
Theory of change: You cannot solve what you cannot measure. Data problem solved = step one. Step two: do companies have capital, resources, and technical expertise to fix it? In national oil companies, often a question of political will rather than technical capacity.
Methane Finance Working Group: EDF published guidance with guardrails to prevent greenwashing risk from methane bonds. Requires: different tranches of capital providers (banks, concessional grants, commercial capital) + willingness from national companies to take on debt + identified revenue streams.
Key geographies: Central Asia, Mexico, North Africa — regions where energy security and supply continuity are primary objectives. Challenge: keeping methane reduction prominent on state enterprise agendas.
Investor activism: Key lever for engaging national oil companies — but increasingly constrained post-2025 (US union law, voting restrictions on investor stewardship).
Nuclear Notes
Key figure: Laura Holgate. ~60 SMR designs in the US. Hard to build an order book.
GW reactors vs. SMRs:
- GW reactors: optimized for producing electricity into a grid
- SMRs: can be optimized for one dedicated consumer — data center, process heat, remote operations
Financing mechanisms:
- Hyperscalers: buy directly or invest in companies (“we’ll buy your first 100”)
- Shift in international bank lending plans — now investing in nuclear
Carbon Accounting (Anushca Notes)
Role profile at carbon accounting firms: ~30–40% data handling/cleaning, highly client-facing, coordination rather than deep methodology. Clients lack knowledge to consolidate data; focus on compliance over genuine impact.
Relevant standards: GHG Protocol, ISO developing specific carbon accounting standard. Protocols are evolving — creates uncertainty and opportunity.
Assessment on the role: “Selling counts as operating experience” — client pitching is significant. But may not provide hands-on product work or path to investing within 1–2 years.
India Steel Decarbonization
Resource: IEEFA — Decarbonisation Readiness: India’s Steel Sector
India is the world’s second-largest steel producer. Steel decarbonization is a hard-to-abate sector requiring green hydrogen, direct reduced iron (DRI), or carbon capture — all capital-intensive. India’s steel transition is a major frontier for blended finance and industrial climate investment.
See also: how-the-world-works-smil | ai-governance-research