The increasing gas and power price increase the volatility in energy markets and lead to a national crisis. It created an extremely difficult operating environment for energy business in the industry and urged the government to “act now to support energy consumers.”

The UK ministers consider a number of potential options to mitigate the impact including spreading the price rises over a long period, possible cut in the 5% value added tax on energy bills, expansion of the Warm Homes Discount Scheme that support vulnerable households. We also have to consider the international setting including cold weather, nuclear outages斷供?in France, and the lower outrages from Russian supplier Gazprom. These all lead to the energy costs driven up and add to inflationary pressure.

Let’s talk more about the Russian energy supply issues. Germany has suspended Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline which would double its reliance on Russian gas following growing geopolitical pressure. Some people consider Russia will use the pipeline as a geopolitical weapon in Europe amid the global gas crisis, while weakening Ukraine which relies heavily on revenues from shipping Russian gas to Europe via its gas transit network.

The scrutiny of banks’ lending has intensified, and the financial sector faces growing calls to scale back its business with carbon-intensive sectors. Some people argued that banks continuing to service the fossil fuel industry is a way to allow “systemic risk” to build in the global financial system. The ties between financial institutions and fossil fuel companies stretch from funding coal mines, backstopping debt issuance支持債務(wù)發(fā)行?and lending directly to power producers. In terms of the harsh restrictions to the bank, some believed the hard limits against financing fossil fuels are not realistic, since oil and gas will remain necessary for years, and could be counterproductive if carbon-heavy clients cannot access funding for green projects.