This week: Promise of pervoskite solar; debt-ceiling bill may boost renewables; big oil investors reject climate measures.

Welcome back. Students are excited about most green jobs, but not all of them. Copper, lithium and rare-earths are hot commodities critical to making electric motors, batteries, wind turbines and other clean tech; however, the jobs to supply those materials aren’t hot.

Some argue mining isn’t really green because innovations in technology and materials for batteries, along with better recycling of existing products, will reduce future needs for the materials it provides. However, few experts think the transition can happen without significantly more mined copper, lithium, rare-earths and a host of other critical materials.

The big three Western mining companies are trying to turn the tide, with some success. They have increased their graduate recruitment in the past year by changing their tactics, such as looking for people closer to where they operate, focusing on apprentice-style programs and looking beyond their traditional disciplines of university graduates.

Why it matters

Mining companies highlight the talent shortage as a risk in securities filings and warn that it could cut production, hurt strategic objectives and cause delays or underperformance.

Many politicians and manufacturers realize the risk and are racing to develop secure supplies of critical materials, but sources are highly concentrated in a few geographies—often with a dependency on China for processing—and new supplies take a long time to develop. Shortfalls are already expected in the coming few years, so any further delays from a talent shortage would likely slow the green transition and push prices up across a variety of industries.

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Crystalline minerals called perovskites are pushing the efficiency of solar technology to new heights, holding the promise of cutting energy costs for the transition to renewables and reducing reliance on China, Dieter Holger writes. Whether solar panels using the technology will overcome longstanding concerns in the industry is another story.

Solar-cell maker Oxford PV last week said its factory set a record for a commercial-sized solar cell that converted 28.6% of sunlight into electricity, compared with conventional cells offering up to 24%. The same day, Chinese solar giant LONGi said it achieved a 31.8% conversion rate.

Oxford PV, part of a crop of Western startups pitching perovskites, plans to start selling its solar cells for panels next year out of a factory in Germany. First, it needs to win certification and convince buyers that its solar cells are durable and reliable for at least 25 years.

The House passed a bill Wednesday night that would allow more energy projects to win approval without undergoing the most complex reviews, which could help spur renewable-energy investment, David Harrison writes. In a concession to Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.), a key vote in the Senate and outspoken supporter of permitting reform, the bill would expedite the Mountain Valley Pipeline.  

Still, the bill doesn't make it easier to build and pay for transmission lines to get wind-and-solar power from remote areas to urban markets, which the Democrats have called for, and it doesn't restrict opponents' ability to sue to delay projects, a priority for Republicans. Negotiations on those matters will continue leading up to the June 5 deadline. 

Shareholders at Exxon Mobil and Chevron rejected a number of climate issues, including cutting Scope 3 greenhouse-gas emissions from when customers, such as car owners, burn their fuel, Collin Eaton and Jenny Strasburg write. All but two of the 20 environmental shareholder proposals for the two companies garnered less than 25% of investors’ vote, according to preliminary results, with some performing much worse than similar proposals put forward last year.

The votes show how some shareholders have backed off pushing major oil companies to embrace certain climate goals. Investors said many voices pushing ESG measures have been drowned out following Russia’s war in Ukraine, which caused oil and gas prices to skyrocket as global supplies were crimped.

• U.S. cities are suing 3M and other companies over PFAS chemicals in their drinking water.
• The Ford Foundation is doubling down on increasing diversity in the asset-management industry.
• Wall Street is betting landfill companies can turn trash into treasure.
• VW plans to relaunch the iconic electric Scout SUVs and pickups. 
• A onetime paper maker is now the king of lithium.
• Coastal town brings mass litigation—and an ‘existential threat’—to chemical giants.
• Fast fashion’s curious comeback: Shein is getting buzz, but how sustainable is fast fashion as a business model?

• Board directors are playing an important role in cybersecurity. Michael Montoya from Equinix and Friso van der Oord from the National Association of Corporate Directors offer a workshop session to reinforce cyber knowledge for these executives.
• Has China’s slow postpandemic reopening changed the country’s outlook? Economics professor Keyu Jin and Zak Dychtwald, founder of Young China Group, discuss at WSJ’s CEO Council event in London.
• New truck-emissions regulations in California have drawn a clutch of startups that are racing to build electric-vehicle charging stations and cash in on the state’s drive to electrify truck fleets.

• Brazil's state-controlled oil giant Petrobras is touting the green credentials of storing carbon dioxide below the seabed to boost oil-and-natural gas output. (Bloomberg)
• India's government is pausing new coal plants for the next five years to focus on renewables. (AP)
• Big fund managers usually don't vote to support biodiversity at shareholder meetings. (GreenBiz)
• Advocates for rejecting economic growth to address climate change are getting heard more in EU institutions. (FT)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business covers environmental, social and governance issues. Send comments to Bureau Chief Rochelle Toplensky at rochelle.toplensky@wsj.com and follow her on Twitter @RToplensky.