Today: Protesters are working to keep nuclear power as a plant operator moves to shut a reactor down; Nobel prize-winning chemist sees the solution to carbon and water crises in the air; Nestle's methane withdrawal.

Welcome back: A 50-year-old reactor was about to shut permanently last week after years of antinuclear protests, when a mysterious projection appeared on its massive cooling tower: the title of the Queen song “Don’t Stop Me Now” next to an image of Freddie Mercury raising his fist in the air.

The stunt in Belgium was pulled off by activists aiming to save the reactor, taking a page from the antinuclear playbook of Greenpeace and other groups who long sought to close it. The government also wants to keep the reactor running—after repealing a 22-year-old law this year that required a phaseout of nuclear energy, the WSJ's Matthew Dalton writes.

The problem: Its operator, France’s Engie, says it is too late. The company shut the reactor at the Tihange plant last week and is pushing ahead with a plan to dismantle it. Engie wants out of the nuclear energy business, which for decades has subjected it to antinuclear protests and the changing whims of Belgian politics.

Belgium’s topsy-turvy nuclear debate is a reflection of how radically perceptions of nuclear power have changed across the West and beyond in just a few years. Where once governments and the public saw safety risks, some now see a source of low-carbon electricity that is crucial to help economies shift away from fossil fuels.

Omar Yaghi says he has solved the carbon crisis facing the world today. The Jordanian-American chemistry professor makes this claim in all seriousness. Oh, and he says he has solved the global water-scarcity crisis, too. “The issue now,” he says, “is simply engineering,” in an interview with WSJ Pro Sustainable Business.

Yaghi says the solution to both these planet-sized problems lies in a class of materials he has pioneered called metal-organic frameworks, or MOFs. For his work in these crystalline compounds, Yaghi and two of his colleagues on Wednesday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Yaghi describes MOFs as being like “molecular Lego,” saying, “You take molecular building blocks and stitch them together to form scaffolds that have enormous surface area and highly tunable chemistry.”

The result is like entering a new dimension. A single gram of MOF—which would look much like a sugar cube—can have an internal surface area equivalent to a football field. That’s enough space to trap vast amounts of gas, be it carbon dioxide or water vapor, says Yaghi.

Nestle said it quit a major alliance between the world’s largest global food companies aimed at reducing methane emissions from dairy suppliers.

A spokesperson from the Swiss maker of Nescafe coffee and Purina pet food said this week that Nestle decided to discontinue its participation in the Dairy Methane Action Alliance, following a review of its external organization memberships, the WSJ's Aimee Look reports.

The alliance is an international group that started at the 2023 United Nations climate conference, COP28, in Dubai.

It was launched by nonprofit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund to curb emissions in dairy supply chains, requiring companies to disclose methane emissions and form action plans. Nestle was a founding member, alongside other major food and beverage producers Kraft Heinz, Starbucks, Danone and General Mills, according to the group’s website.

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• General Motors will no longer use its finance arm to extend the $7,500 EV tax credit beyond its Sept. 30 expiration. (WSJ)
   
• Mars said it will launch more than 100 new solar projects in Europe to supply it with renewable electricity. (ESG Today)
   
• Danish renewable-energy company Orsted will cut its global workforce by approximately 2,000 jobs by 2027. (WSJ)
   
• The IMO will decide next week whether to ratify rules that would force the shipping industry to start paying for its emissions. (Bloomberg)
   
• Aluminum, one of the four key metals needed for the transition to new energy sources, may be about to have a moment. (WSJ)
   
• U.S. hydropower is at a make-or-break moment. (Canary Media)
   
• China’s latest restrictions on rare-earth materials threaten the supply chain for semiconductors and could disrupt the global economy. (WSJ)
   
• The U.S. is demanding the EU water down parts of its green legislation just months after agreeing a tariff pact. (FT)
   
• In the California desert, a home powered by the wind and sun is on the market for $14 million. (WSJ)
   
• TotalEnergies and Siemens have called on European governments to abolish one of the EU's flagship corporate sustainability laws. (Reuters)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send comments to bureau chief Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at wsjperry, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.