Welcome back. Europe is cracking down on the fashion industry’s pollution.

Clothing has become a bigger cause of waste and greenhouse-gas emissions in recent years. Shoppers have spent less to get more, as companies lowered both the price and quality of much clothing in the pursuit of profits.

Less than 1% of the world’s clothes are recycled into new garments. Every second, a truckload of clothes either ends up incinerated or in a landfill within the borders of the European Union.

Now, the EU has said it plans to put “fast fashion out of fashion” by 2030, referring to the trend of people buying and throwing away clothes in less than a year. Clothes should be “long-lived and recyclable, to a great extent made of recycled fibers,” the EU says.

Specifics aren’t yet available, but the coming regulations are already forcing companies to rethink how they design clothes and source materials. Rules would cover all clothes sold in the 27-nation bloc, which imports nearly three quarters of its textiles.

One challenge is the difficulty of recycling clothes made of a mixture of organic and synthetic fibers, as separating the materials is tricky. Experts say one of the best solutions would be to start making garments with one material, which the EU’s coming regulations could encourage.

This week: Waste at a coastal soda-ash plant; anti-ESG activist calls for more oil; Instagram fined over children’s data; a 1950s law to boost clean energy

Belgian chemical company Solvay’s namesake, Ernest Solvay, paved the way for industrializing soda-ash manufacturing more than 100 years ago, providing a valuable compound for soap, glass and many other products. Today, Solvay’s soda-ash business isn’t its biggest money maker—but it may be its biggest obstacle to reaching net zero. Last year, the company said it aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2040, excluding its soda-ash business, in large part because manufacturing the compound requires fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, which are hard to replace with renewables.

Solvay’s soda-ash plant on Italy’s Tuscan coast has been an environmental flashpoint in recent years, sparking discussion among European politicians and drawing criticism from environmentalists and a fund manager. Limestone flows into the Mediterranean from Solvay’s plant in Rosignano, Italy, giving the beaches their white color. The company says it will invest an estimated 15 million euros, around $14.9 million, to make improvements at the plant and cut limestone discharge. The plan hinges on a new soda-ash manufacturing method, which remains unproven at scale, that is designed to emit 50% less carbon emissions and reduce consumption of water, brine and limestone.

Strive Asset Management founder Vivek Ramaswamy has been a critic of Wall Street’s efforts to tackle climate change and other social issues, taking aim at loosely defined environmental, social and governance investing practices that promise to consider more than short-term profits. His firm counts tech executive Peter Thiel and investor Bill Ackman among his backers. Now he is urging Chevron to pump out more fossil fuels over this coming decade. Strive launched an energy-focused exchange-traded fund nearly a month ago, which holds a roughly 0.02% stake in the U.S.’s second-largest oil-and-gas company.

Mr. Ramaswamy says that Chevron could earn a higher valuation relative to earnings if it addresses possible supply shortages over the next decade. That approach is more appropriate than limiting output and devoting resources to the energy transition, he says. Still, Mr. Ramaswamy will need to convince other investors who increasingly want Chevron to change course into cleaner forms of energy.

Join us at the WSJ Pro Sustainable Business Forum on Oct. 13, where we will discuss the critical sustainability issues facing business executives. With the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission due to introduce stringent reporting requirements, the forum will explore the practicalities of reporting and standards, and other topics. Register for tickets here.

In the 1950s, former President Harry S. Truman signed the Defense Production Act at the start of the Korean War as a preventive measure to avoid shortages, giving the federal government the authority to build up supply of key materials needed for war and national emergencies.

The climate bill signed by President Biden last month allots $500 million under the Defense Production Act. But the bill didn’t specify programs. However, a Senate summary said money could be used for “heat pumps and critical minerals processing,” the latter of which is needed for electric-vehicle batteries. So far, the Energy Department is taking the lead in coming up with ways to spend the money and is in talks with corporate executives.

European subsidies for burning wood as clean energy are doing more harm than good. (New York Times)

Rich countries are promising more money to Africa as its climate warms. (Associated Press)

British department store Selfridges aims for half of its transactions to be resale, repairs, rentals or refills by 2030. (The Guardian)

Protests over fuel-price hikes are engulfing Indonesia. (Reuters)

Nike made a sweatshirt that has a 75% lower carbon footprint than traditional fleece. (Fast Company)