Green Lights July 11: 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 considers the M&A outlook for energy companies, and what Elon Musk’s latest political moves mean for Tesla shareholders. Mark Hulbert unpacks sustainable energy stocks’ surprising year-to-date performance. Stay cool this weekend — if you can. Please subscribe to support our climate finance journalism.

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. . . . As financial giants look for ways to join their tech clients in growing AI, the attraction of energy providers — including nuclear — is leading to a search for large energy companies with underperforming stocks. David Callaway writes that’s a shift in market psychology that could help build the next leg on a bull market if it plays out. Of course, investors should always be wary that these stocks might be underperforming for a reason.

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. . . . Despite the onslaught of the Trump White House efforts against renewable energy this year, the average mutual fund focused on sustainable strategies has outperformed the average fund focused on fossil fuels, writes Mark Hulbert. Part of the reason may be that investors sold off sustainable funds ahead of the Trump election and are simply buying them back at lower prices. Another reason might be the broad nature of some of the funds, which might include full-service energy companies. But the performance data is a clear indicator that there is still money to be made in the broad energy sector, regardless of the headlines.

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. . . . Like with all markets, the Trump tariffs promise a sustained period of volatility for copper, which will be great for traders but perilous for equity investors in the copper miners, EV makers and now, the data center builders. Not to mention the tech companies trying to budget for all this growth.

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. . . . And he’s gone again. Elon Musk lasted just 38 days in his return to Tesla TSLA 0.02%↑ before announcing he would create a new political party and abandoning the troubled automaker’s priorities once again for a major new project not connected to selling electric vehicles. David Callaway writes that for Tesla shareholders, it may be just another disappointment and tough lesson in the business of following corporate celebrities.

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. . . . Large areas of public lands in Montana and Wyoming could be opened to new coal sales under a plan by the Interior Department. The AP reports the Trump administration is looking at selling leases for coal mining on more than 2,600 square miles of federal lands in what it calls the nation’s most productive coal fields — the Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana.

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. . . . Investors in battered solar and other renewable energy companies who thought they might get a short summer break after the savaging of their stocks during the run-up to the new tax bill last week were disappointed again after the White House immediately said it would take a hard line on even the scant extensions to subsidies the bill allows. It’s an example of how headline risk is still the principal driver of equities, even as market indexes rise to record levels and investors begin to ignore broad pronouncements on tariffs.

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More greenery . . . .

Sorry, honey: The bees are starting to disappear again (New York Times)

Tricky question: Why It’s So Hard to Link Extreme Weather Events to Climate Change (WSJ)

Saving the seals: Lithuania tries to protect marine mammal from worst effects of climate change (Al Jazeera)

Moving target?: EU sets sights on new climate target deal by September (Reuters)

National survey: 65% of Americans say they are at least “somewhat worried” about global warming (Yale Climate Change Communication)

Rising tide of trouble: It’s not just Texas. Extremely heavy rains hitting around the country (NPR)