Today: A new project in Zambia aims to employ 50,000 farmers in an effort to protect the country's forests and remove CO2 from the atmosphere; how Chinese EVs are dominating the market; NASA's nuclear moonshot.

Welcome back: A carbon-credit project in southern Africa wants to embrace companies’ desire for climate neutrality while setting itself apart from the problems that have besieged the market on that continent in recent years. It thinks putting local farmers at center stage is the way to go.

The Miombo Woodland Restoration Project in Zambia aims to remove some 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2030 by planting tens of thousands of trees, while also creating 50,000 “ecopreneurs” to facilitate the work, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Yusuf Khan writes.

Every year in Zambia, an area about the size of Yosemite National Park is cleared to make charcoal. In an effort to try to reverse this trend, project developers want to encourage farmers to restore up to a million hectares of woodland, an area about the size of Puerto Rico.

Climate Impact Partners and Community Climate Solutions have registered 25,000 farmers and aim to double that amount by the end of the year. The farmers will be paid to plant trees and protect the local area.

• Netflix and Meta’s carbon credits are snared in a dispute with Maasai herders over access to grasslands. (WSJ)

In the age of tariffs, Chinese automakers have been able to increase their share of global sales, now accounting for more than half of the electric-vehicles sold in the world, the WSJ's Max Rust and Sean McLain write.

Companies such as BYD and Geely Automobile have been able to roll out models faster and more cheaply than established rivals, thanks to government subsidies and innovative manufacturing methods. That means a made-in-China EV often costs thousands of dollars less than one developed in the U.S. or Europe, while offering top-end features and long-range battery packs far cheaper than those of competitors.

Tariffs have slowed the expansion of Chinese automakers in lucrative markets, including the U.S. and Europe, but their footprint is still growing.

• Volvo Cars' CEO believes the future is electric and is bringing production of the company's most popular hybrid SUV to the U.S. (WSJ)

Call it a nuclear moonshot: The U.S. aims to deliver a reactor to the lunar surface and beat a push by China and Russia to do the same, the WSJ's Jennifer Hiller and Micah Maidenberg write.

In August, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy directed the agency to fast-track an effort to land a reactor on the moon by late 2029. The agency wants a 100-kilowatt system, about enough to power a small neighborhood—modest for Earth but unprecedented for space.

That gives the National Aeronautics and Space Administration a tight deadline to turn a wildly complex idea into something real. The agency expects to lean on U.S. industry to design a reactor, get it to the moon and operate it. But any companies that sign on will face steep engineering hurdles and financial risks.

• Putting data centers in space could reduce their carbon footprint, European study finds. (WSJ)

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.

• TotalEnergies said it agreed to sell a 50% stake in a North American solar business to U.S. private equity company KKR. (WSJ)
   
• A developer of technology to extract carbon dioxide from the air has signalled that its costs are falling slower than anticipated. (FT)
   
• DHL and Hapag-Lloyd sign deal to decarbonize ocean shipping with sustainable fuels. (ESG Today)
   
• Unilever and Oatly test drive a new framework for capturing corporate climate action. (Trellis)
   
• Watershed launches AI-driven product footprints to tackle Scope 3 supply chain emissions. (ESG News)
   
• European Union leaders say carbon fees on imports could help the rest of the world. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)

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.