The European Union (EU) has taken a significant step in its fight against climate change by launching the first phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). This mechanism is a pioneering system designed to impose carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions tariffs on imported goods like steel, cement, electricity, hydrogen, aluminium, and fertilisers.

Saudi Arabia’s market regulator is taking another step in its long, staged opening of the Tadawul by removing the “Qualified Foreign Investor” (QFI) gatekeeping regime for the main equity market and letting all categories of foreign investors access the market directly from February 1, 2026.

In practical terms, the reform simplifies entry. Under the old structure, many foreign institutions could already invest, but they typically had to qualify under the QFI framework (and/or use intermediated routes). Scrapping the QFI concept reduces friction and administrative overhead, and it is designed to widen the investor funnel, particularly for smaller institutions, family offices, and other non-resident categories that may have been deterred by qualification requirements.

China’s failure to reach its target for electric-arc furnace (EAF) steel production is more than a technical miss, it highlights the deeper structural contradictions in Beijing’s industrial and climate strategies. The Chinese steel sector sits at the heart of the global energy transition challenge: it is simultaneously the engine of the country’s urbanization and industrial power, a cornerstone of global supply chains, and one of the most carbon-intensive industries on earth.

That makes the lagging shift to EAFs a bellwether for both China’s domestic green transition and the credibility of its role in international climate diplomacy. The reliance on blast furnaces, running at high capacity while EAFs languish, underscores the inertia of China’s coal and ore based system.