Today: Mexican dealers are selling cutting-edge Chinese cars that U.S. consumers can’t buy; Octopus Energy is getting into carbon credits; natural disasters are rewriting home-insurance costs—see how they impact you.

Welcome back: Just 5 miles from the U.S. border, a bustling commercial strip in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, offers the buzzy Chinese car brands currently blocked from the American market. A Geely dealership features the all-electric EX2, a sleek compact that starts at only around $20,000.

Luis Hernandez, a Geely salesman, said he has poached many longtime Ford and Chevrolet owners attracted to the affordable sticker prices and whiz-bang Chinese technology. He recently sold two Emgrand sedans, which start at around $17,000, to a Mexican family that regularly commutes to El Paso, where the sleekest Chinese cars are now attracting attention.

Without a clear plan to deal with Chinese competitors, some U.S. auto executives say the arrival of affordable, high-tech Chinese cars could upend a U.S. industry that contributes $1.3 trillion to the economy each year.

So far, the many Chinese car companies that want to expand into the U.S. have been kept at bay. The U.S. has applied sky-high tariffs to vehicles imported from China, and regulations make it nearly impossible for such vehicles purchased in Mexico to be registered in the U.S.

U.S. consumers, though, are warming to the Chinese car alternative. About 30% of American car buyers would be open to buying a vehicle from China, up by 15 percentage points from a decade prior, according to a survey by Strategic Vision, a market-research firm.

• More than 70 House Democrats urged President Trump to prohibit Chinese car companies from building vehicles in the U.S.
• U.S. electric-vehicle maker Rivian Automotive plans to increase initial production capacity for a plant it’s building in Georgia by 50%.
• Chinese EV giant BYD’s net profit dropped 55% to 4.08 billion yuan in the first quarter due to weak home-market demand.
• Geely reported a 27% drop in net profit to 4.17 billion yuan in the first quarter due to currency swings, but core profit rose 31%.
• Amazing battery range, customizable interiors and sleek software: I test drove a Chinese EV. Now I don’t want to buy American cars anymore. 

Octopus Energy, the British utility known for bringing renewable energy to U.K. and European households, is betting big on U.S. carbon removals, investing more than half a billion dollars in a California startup just as the market appears to be slowing, Sustainable Business's Yusuf Khan writes.

The Generation arm of the London-based clean-tech unicorn is taking a $13 million equity stake in Living Carbon, which aims to reforest degraded land across Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. On top of that, Octopus is making a $500 million investment in its projects, to ensure the startup can deliver the carbon credits it is promising.

The investment comes at a challenging time for the carbon-removals market. Most offtake deals have come from big tech companies looking to offset their emissions. In particular, Microsoft has made up some 80% of the market in terms of carbon-removal commitments. However, it recently began reaching out to buyers saying it is pausing new purchases of credits, a move that has spooked much of the market.

Kyle Harrison, global head of carbon and environmental markets at BloombergNEF, a clean-tech research arm of Bloomberg, said the slowdown in the market may not be as harmful as some fear. “Companies do take pauses,” he said. “It’s not an indictment on the carbon removals market or its quality, it’s just standard operating procedure.”

The old home-insurance rules are being upended. For decades, coastal states with hurricanes bore the brunt of rate increases, while inland states enjoyed cheap coverage. Now, hailstorms, wildfires and wind damage are hammering places once thought shielded from the worst rate hikes.

A Wall Street Journal analysis of premiums and natural disasters nationwide found that hail-prone Iowa has seen approved home-insurance rates increase 91% since 2021: In Florida, despite the hurricane risk, the increase is 35%, S&P Global Market Intelligence data through March show.

Forty-six of the 50 costliest counties nationwide, mostly strung along the Gulf Coast, count hurricanes as their primary threat, according to the Journal’s analysis of data from price-comparison firm Insurify. 

The next 50 most-expensive counties include areas of Oklahoma and Texas where hail, wildfires or tornadoes pose the biggest threat from nature.

Tell me what you think: Send me your feedback and suggestions at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com or reply to any newsletter. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can sign up here.

• Farmers from North Dakota to Kentucky are switching crops, cutting fertilizer purchases and using fewer seeds this season. (WSJ)
   
• A hedge fund manager generated a 39% gain on energy bets after ignoring President Trump's signals on Iran war. (Bloomberg)
   
• Following one of the toughest years in its history, Ford is recalibrating its sustainability strategy. (Trellis)
   
• CVS Health opened its first highly automated warehouse in Hainesport, N.J., using robots to replenish stores and boost efficiency. (WSJ)
   
• U.S. Steel says it will invest $1.9 billion to build a modern and lower-carbon ironmaking plant in Arkansas. (Canary Media)
   
• How to invest in the coming boom in clean energy. Which stocks to buy, which to avoid as demand for green products surges. (Barron's)
   
• More than 50 countries have agreed to work on trade measures aimed at cutting demand for fossil fuels. (FT)
   
• On May 1, Amsterdam became the first capital city in the world to ban ads for fossil fuel products and meat. (NYT)
   
• Increasing drought levels across the U.S. Plains lifted U.S. wheat prices near two-year highs. (WSJ)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send your comments to editor Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com. Follow the WSJ Pro Sustainable Business team on LinkedIn at perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.