Green Lights June 6: 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 looks at climate startups’ anxiety as the Trump administration slashes funding for renewables. Michael Molinski explains why getting people in Brazil to build with wood is a hard sell. Have a great weekend and we’ll be back on Monday. Please subscribe to support our climate finance journalism.
. . . . Months of anxiety among climate startups across the U.S. turned into panic over the past week after the Trump administration announced $3.7 billion in funding cuts to solar power, wind projects, and even carbon removal schemes favored by Big Oil. The concern is understandable, David Callaway writes, but likely overblown as clean energy growth in the U.S. continues despite the actions coming out of Washington.
. . . . For centuries, Brazilians have made their houses from bricks, masonry, mud and adobe. Only 4% of homes are made of wood. Lately, however, Brazilians are being asked by the lumber industry, the government and environmentalists to give up their centuries-old tradition and start making their homes from wood in order to save the environment. Wood is renewable, but its cost is key, writes Michael Molinski.
. . . . While the Trump energy team has been tromping through Alaska, bragging about plans to ravage environmental lands with renewed drilling and pipelines, a real energy crisis is developing on the East Coast. Three times in the past two weeks the Department of Energy has intervened in regional power markets; twice to keep coal plants open in Michigan and Pennsylvania and once in Puerto Rico to bring new fossil-fuel generators online. David Callaway explains the growing threat behind those coal plant extensions.
. . . . When Claudia Sheinbaum was elected president of Mexico last year, climate advocates rejoiced. She was a former climate scientist, after all, and dedicated to preserving the environment. A year later much has changed. As her popularity rises, so have her authoritarian moves, something observers did not anticipate.
. . . . Even as other renewable energy companies watch in panic as Congress prepares the “big, beautiful” tax bill, nuclear energy companies and ETFs are having a moment this summer as long-term deals with big tech companies continue. What’s the shelf-life for this rally?
. . . . The messy climbdown on ESG policies by financial giants on Wall Street in the face of red-hot political pressure from states such as Florida and Texas has finally begun to pay dividends in the form of billions in renewed business.
More greenery . . . .
Who’s wrong?: EPA’s new AI tool disagrees with Trump administration (Politico)
It gets in your eyes: What Canada's fires mean for the U.S. in the future (NPR)
Listen up: What animals are telling us about climate change (World Economic Forum)
Showers forecast: Australia to see more intense rains as climate change worsens (Mongabay)