Today: Exclusive members club is one of the first companies to voluntarily deliver climate details ahead of California requirement; cold snap heats up coal vs. wind debate; move to ease deep-sea mining regulation boosts TMC. 

Welcome back: Soho House, which runs exclusive members clubs known for rules about not approaching or taking photos of its members, is one of the first companies to voluntarily submit a climate risk report online to a California agency ahead of a new law in the Golden State.

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson reports that the California mandate—the first of its kind in the U.S.—will require companies to divulge how changes in the climate put their operations at risk. The disclosures were expected to start flooding in late last year, until a U.S. court blocked the mandate following a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

While thousands of companies will need to report on climate risk once the rule takes effect, fewer than 100 have done so voluntarily so far.

Companies such as Toast, a multibillion-dollar restaurant tech company, and smaller businesses such as the Santa Monica Seafood Company, were among a handful of others in the service-industry sector to issue voluntary climate reports. But a range of businesses across industries including Lime, an electric-scooter rental company, Baker Tilly, an accounting firm, and Bausch & Lomb, one of the world’s largest contact lens suppliers, also submitted their inaugural California reports.

• Companies doing business in California have been awaiting a deadline to report on climate risk, starting in 2026. (WSJ)
• California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its move to restart the Las Flores oil pipeline. (WSJ)

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The brutal cold spell has reignited the political debate about what kind of power America needs. In emergency orders issued in the past couple of days, Energy Secretary Chris Wright essentially suspended environmental laws so that fossil-fuel plants can run without limits “to mitigate blackouts.”

Environmentalists counter that the Trump administration  has caused electricity shortfalls by blocking clean energy projects.

Barron's Avi Salzman reports that at PJM, which covers 13 states and Washington, D.C., natural gas, coal, and nuclear plants accounted for 83% of power around midday on Tuesday. But some fossil-fuel power plants appear to have faltered. Breakdowns and high gas prices during the storm show that Trump’s policy is misguided, some commentators say.

“While PJM didn’t suffer blackouts, Winter Storm Fern shows why the U.S. Department of Energy’s pro-fossil fuel policies are a problem,” wrote Silvio Marcacci, communications director at the think tank Energy Innovations. 

In other markets, there are signs that solar, wind and batteries kept the grid humming. In Texas, solar peaked on Monday at 25 gigawatts, wind at 18, and batteries discharged over 7 gigawatts, according to the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance, an industry group for alternative energy sources.

• Linemen are working around the clock to restore electricity after a winter storm that has completely upended the grid. (WSJ)

Shares in deep-sea miner The Metals Company climbed last week after the Trump administration eased the application process for companies seeking to harvest minerals from the deep sea.

Yusuf Khan reports for Dow Jones Risk Journal that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration finalized a rule that combines deep-sea commercial and exploratory applications into one to streamline the process. The aim is to cut the number of environmental assessment and public comment periods needed before companies can mine the deep ocean.

After the rule change, The Metals Company, a Canadian-listed deep-sea mining company with a U.S. subsidiary, filed the first consolidated mining application to mine rocks known as nodules from a 40,000-mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. TMC shares climbed on the news and finished the week up 30%. The shares have given back some of the gains this week, but remain above recent levels. TMC’s stock price has quintupled in the past 12 months.

• GE Vernova said the Trump administration’s efforts to halt construction of all U.S. offshore wind projects could hurt its wind division. (WSJ)
   
• A judge said a nearly completed, $4.5 billion wind project off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard can resume construction. (Bloomberg)
   
• Tesla’s new-car registrations in Europe decreased by 20% in December and by 27% annually, according to an industry body. (WSJ)
   
• Ford Motor Company announced the appointment of Lisa Drake as president of its new energy products and solutions unit. (ESG Today)
   
• General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Canada’s deal to import Chinese EVs threatens North American auto manufacturing and jobs. (WSJ)
   
• German commercial-vehicle group Traton and self-driving truck startup PlusAI agreed to expand their partnership. (WSJ)
   
• Clean energy firms Fervo and General Fusion, which are backed by Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, look to go public. (Barron's)
   
• Morgan Stanley’s new chief robot strategist is betting his reputation on robots and flying cars. (WSJ)
   
• A former Citigroup executive sued the bank, alleging sexual harassment by a top executive and misuse of HR. (WSJ)
   
• Stripe, Shopify and Google accelerate progress toward zero-emissions lime production. (Trellis)
   
• Meta is making a big bet on nuclear with Oklo. (Wired)
   
• U.S. formally exits the Paris Agreement (again). (ESG Today)
   
• Why global warming can bring more heat and more cold (Forbes)

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 perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.