Green Lights Feb. 21: Top stories this week

Don't miss a single story from the best of Callaway Climate Insights.

. . . . Welcome back to Green Lights. Here’s our roundup of the best of Callaway Climate Insights this week. David Callaway spotlights HBSC’s decision to push its net zero goals back by a full 20 years, and explains how the Ukraine peace talks — messy and controversial — could be a catalyst for a major market shift. Have a great weekend, and please subscribe to support our climate finance journalism.

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. . . . Not content with putting climate change and sustainability on the back burner like most of its financial industry brethren in the wake of President Donald Trump’s election, HSBC has pushed its net zero goals back by a full 20 years, to 2050. David Callaway says moving the goalposts back two decades is tantamount to kicking the entire problem down the road to the next generation.

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. . . . It was the one-time darling of the electric vehicle industry and a pioneer in the brief Wall Street fad of special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) four years ago. Now Nikola Corp. NKLA -3.33%↓, named for 19th-century electrical scientist Nikola Tesla, has filed for Chap. 11 bankruptcy protection, a sad end to another fallen investment trend.

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. . . . The Ukraine peace talks are messy and controversial, but also a catalyst for a major market shift. Some call them peace talks. Others call them an illegal and immoral violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. But the undercurrents in sustainable and mineral markets, after three years of a one-way flow, are starting to shift with these new developments.

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. . . . We’ve written much about how markets — not government — will ultimately dictate the pace of the global climate battle. Now that theory will be tested in the U.S., with the new Trump administration cutting any and all government efforts to decarbonize the economy. Citing a new study, Mark Hulbert writes that large companies owned by top institutional investors will become more incentivized to lead efforts toward a clean energy transition, if only to avoid onerous taxes and penalties later on when climate costs spike and the government is forced to act.

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. . . . Tesla’s plans to reignite its China business with new autonomous driving capabilities have become hostage to the wider U.S.-China trade dispute, putting Elon Musk again at the center of the drama. China’s situation is unique, as so much of Tesla’s business relies on that market. The next move in this complicated chess game will likely come from the Trump administration.

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. . . . Clean energy in the U.S. had another record-breaking year in 2024, according to Cleanview, a research firm. The nation added 48.2 GW of utility-scale solar, wind, and battery storage capacity in 2024. Cleanview said the U.S. is on track to add 60 GW of clean energy capacity in 2025, based on developer projections.

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More greenery . . . .

Turtles for climate change: Loggerhead and green turtles nest earlier to offset rising temps (Technology Networks)

Executive orders: RFK Jr. ends NIH climate change programs (Mother Jones)

Strong support: WHO member states push health-focused action on climate change (Health Policy Watch)

A mighty wind: Green Shipping And Climate Change (Forbes)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Trump pulls U.S. out of key global climate assessment (Reuters)