Welcome back: The corporate world's climate-targets referee, the Science Based Targets initiative, ran into some flak recently when it validated the emissions-reduction targets of Asian fast-fashion juggernaut Shein.

Some commentators suggested that by validating the goals, SBTi was in fact backing fast fashion itself. Shein uses its nimble supply chain to send dresses and T-shirts for as little as $2 in squishy bags directly from China to hundreds of millions of shoppers.

But how companies deliver on their targets is essentially out of SBTi's remit. The nonprofit said that its role is simply “to assess whether a company’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets are aligned with what science says is needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change—not to evaluate its decarbonization strategy.

Shein said the validation from SBTi shows that the clothing company's environmental targets are aligned “with the latest climate science consensus and the Paris Agreement ambition to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”

Landfills are becoming bloated with clothing waste. The Environmental Protection Agency said U.S. landfills received 11.3 million tons of textiles in 2018. This waste releases a range of harmful chemicals as it breaks down, including greenhouse gases and per- and polyfluoroalkyl, or PFAS, substances known as “forever chemicals.”

Now a group of lawmakers from across the aisle is pushing for policies that extend the life cycle of a product, cut down on landfill waste and “encourage environmentally responsible commerce.” In other words, they want us to buy more secondhand clothes.

Read on for more on this story and other sustainability news. 

In the age of the fast-fashion haul, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are trying on a more sustainable option, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson writes.

Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D., Calif.) and Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.) launched a new caucus this week aiming to promote the re-commerce economy, looking in part to help platforms like eBay, Etsy and Depop where consumers can buy and sell pre-owned items—often at hefty discounts. 

The bipartisan initiative will back policies that extend the life cycle of a product, cut down on landfill waste and “encourage environmentally responsible commerce.” It will also aim to support small sellers on digital platforms and promote access to apps like Poshmark and OfferUp.

The push comes as an onslaught of tariffs hit products and materials shipping into the country, sending retailers’ supply chains into disarray but also focusing U.S. shoppers’ minds on where their goods come from. A report from ThredUp found 54% of retail executives believe resale is a more stable source of clothing amid tariff turmoil.

• Are We Entering the Golden Age of Secondhand Shopping?
• How Vinted Went From Near Collapse to Worth $5 Billion
• Your Old Clothes Are Worth Billions

Oil executives enlisted President Trump in fights against clean-car rules, drilling restraints and climate laws from New York to California. Now, they have won his support in their effort to quash Europe’s flagship environment rules, the WSJ's Collin Eaton reports.

American oil chieftains and their lobbyists have urged Trump and his cabinet members to use ongoing trade talks with the European Union to push for a rollback of two major climate laws in the European Green Deal. Trump officials have pressed their EU counterparts to scale back those laws in recent negotiations, according to people familiar with the matter.

The administration’s willingness to give priority to the interests of the oil executives—alongside those of several other industries—in a dispute with a vital trading partner shows how influential they have become in Trump’s second term. Oil donors sent millions of dollars to Trump’s third presidential campaign last year, and the administration in turn has tried to shore up demand for their products and rescinded U.S. environmental rules.

Trump last month threatened to impose 50% tariffs on most goods from the EU unless they reach a trade deal by July 9. Many fossil-fuel producers quietly oppose Trump’s plans to place tariffs on countries that buy their fuels. But they have pounced on the U.S. trade dispute with the EU, which for years has tried to transition the bloc’s economy away from fossil fuels and curb emissions that contribute to climate change.

• U.S. Shale Is Growing Old. That’s a Problem for Trump.
• U.S. Drillers Say Peak Shale Has Arrived
• Trump Promised to Lower Energy Prices—but It Wasn’t Supposed to Be Like This

The bubble has burst on indoor farming. What not long ago amounted to billions of dollars in U.S. venture capital pouring into indoor farming dropped to just $277 million last year, according to data tracker PitchBook and this year activity has dried up to just five deals totaling $57 million.

Meantime indoor farmer Plenty, which had been backed by SoftBank, Walmart and One Madison Group, and at least five other businesses have gone bust since the start of January, WSJ Pro's Becky Yerak writes.

Profits have been tough to come by, however, because the hardware-intensive indoor facilities are generally harder to scale than, say, software developers. And increasingly costly multilevel facilities have relatively high energy costs as they grow commodity crops largely undifferentiated from those of field farms.

• Bezos-Backed Vertical Farming Startup Plenty Files for Bankruptcy
• High-Tech Farm Startups Are Laid Low by Financing Drought, Pests
• Ellison’s Half-Billion-Dollar Quest to Change Farming Has Been a Bust

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.

• AB Foods to shut English biofuel plant after U.S.-U.K. trade deal. (WSJ)
   
• JPMorgan sees China leveraging clean tech for geopolitical gain. (Bloomberg)
   
• Microsoft signs deal for 4.8 million tons of carbon removal generated through improved forest management. (ESG Today)
   
• Climate goals at Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft have "lost their meaning." (Trellis)
   
• How the next financial crisis starts. (FT)
   
• Climate change will hurt the richest and poorest farmers. (Economist)
   
• China is still choking exports of rare earths despite pact with U.S. (WSJ)

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.