The US “makes no apologies” for the $396bn-worth of green tax credits, grants and loans included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), President Joe Biden’s senior clean energy advisor has told the Financial Times. 

“American taxpayer dollars ought to go to American investments,” said John Podesta, one of the architects of the US government’s green subsidies package. Hitting back at European criticism that the landmark law will divert investment away from the region, he said: “We hope the European industrial base will succeed, but it’s up to Europe to do some of the work.”

This coincides with comments from the CEO of UK biomass firm Drax regarding the power of the US’s IRA. In a statement on February 23, Will Gardiner said the firm is ready to invest billions of pounds and “following the introduction of the US Inflation Reduction Act, we are increasingly excited about the opportunities in the US”. He called on the UK government to accelerate its support for the sector.

Maersk sells Russian assets

Denmark’s Maersk has sold its two logistics sites in Russia. The shipping firm’s sale of its facilities in St Petersburg and Novorossiysk executes its pledge in March 2022 to exit the country following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Throughout the divestment process, we have as a company felt a strong responsibility towards the remaining 50 employees at the two sites, and we are happy that they will be offered employment as part of the new set-up,” said the company’s chief commercial officer, Karsten Kildahl, in a statement on February 20.

The buyer, IG Finance Development, has reached an agreement with Russian food importer Arosa to operate the sites.

Rothschild enters Miami

Investment bank Rothschild is opening its first office in Miami. In a statement announcing the launch on February 23, the new office’s chief Eric Hirschfield described the city as “a growing, dynamic financial centre which is attracting the interests of our key clients”. This makes the new office an important hub for the firm, he said.

This will be the French bank’s ninth office in the US and will provide advisory services on mergers and acquisitions, equity solutions, debt and restructuring.

The announcement comes less than three weeks after its largest shareholder, the Rothschild family, laid out plans to take private the Euronext-listed bank in a deal that values it at €3.7bn.