This week: Delta Air Lines' CSO talks climate action; stormy times for U.S. offshore wind; M.B.A. gender parity

Welcome back. There is one month to go to this year’s United Nations’ climate summit—roughly midway between the 2015 Paris climate accord and 2030, when we are meant to have halved global emissions to meet that agreement’s target. Meetings in Abu Dhabi this week to set the stage have done little to raise the rock-bottom expectations for this year’s climate summit. Particularly with heightened geopolitical tensions over the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.

The climate fault lines are quite clear. The first is the standoff over agreeing to a phase-out of fossil fuels, not that surprising given the event is hosted in a petrostate and led by an oil-and-gas executive whose company has big expansion plans. Money is the second big, thorny issue: for the loss-and-damage fund agreed to last year, for the still-unfulfilled $100 billion-a-year promise to the developing world, and for investment in adaptation and resilience.

There is more support to target a tripling of investments in clean energy and doubling those in energy efficiency by 2030 as well as on making significant progress in cutting methane emissions this decade. Overall though, it seems likely to be a recipe for long nights and tense negotiations.

Why it matters

While it may feel remote or even irrelevant to many, gathering decision makers can sometimes lead to breakthroughs or new commitments and it also holds countries to public account. And in the backrooms of the summit, there will be negotiations on the detailed technical rules underlying things such as global carbon trading.

Beyond the politicians, COP also brings together corporate leaders across sectors and countries along with nonbusiness groups including nonprofits, youth campaigners, indigenous populations and philanthropists. Even the pope is making an appearance.

Key takeaways

Decarbonizing is tricky, and while politicians may squabble and delay decisions, companies face rising scrutiny—from investors, customers, regulators and others—on how they plan to transition. 

DeLuca puts it like this: “Two years ago, the net-zero commitments were made. Now, it’s becoming a business imperative and the conversation is really: How are you building this into your business? How are you making this economically viable? Only through having conversations with my peers can I better understand how to prepare Delta for the future.”

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A wave of impairments is sweeping through the U.S. wind-energy sector amid high interest rates, inflation and supply-chain woes, forcing developers to put off projects and casting doubts over the industry’s outlook, writes Giulia Petroni.

Governments around the world have set ambitious targets to increase the share of renewables in their energy mixes, but their plans are now under pressure as wind developers face a surge in financing costs. Orsted, BP and Equinor have collectively written off $4.8 billion against U.S. offshore wind projects in recent days

Danish renewable giant Orsted booked a 28.4 billion Danish kroner ($4.02 billion) impairment charge in the third quarter related to its U.S. offshore wind portfolio and said it would stop development of two wind farm projects off the coast of New Jersey amid spiraling costs and supplier delays, writes Dominic Chopping.

Women now make up at least half of full-time M.B.A. students at five top business schools, the most to reach that milestone in a given year, new data show. The rising share of female M.B.A. candidates reflects business schools’ concerted efforts to recruit more women in recent years, writes Lindsay Ellis.

• A carbon-offsets pioneer fighting the industry's crisis of confidence 
• Green concrete that stores carbon dioxide
• Climate risk is becoming uninsurable, but better forecasting may help
• The climate toll on Alaska's $6 billion-a-year fishing industry
• Panama Canal to halve daily sailings this winter due to drought
• A new California labor law expected to increase the price of your burrito
• The scorching Texas summer may have cost the state $24 billion
• Lawmakers press Costco on China forced labor
• Morgan Stanley backs plant-based food maker Huel

• Layoffs, budget cuts and general skimping are putting pressure on cybersecurity teams, which are pausing hiring and tech investment.
   
• Wall Street firms are struggling to capture staff communications as regulators require while the ways employees talk to each other change.
   
• The collapse of one of the largest U.S. trucking companies is propping up competitors in a lean freight market.
   
• 🎧 Listen to Ulta Beauty’s chief marketing officer discuss how the right price strategy can play into beauty consumers’ desire to experiment, even in an inflationary environment.

• Deep dive into the offshore wind industry's struggles (Financial Times)
• Largest U.S. offshore wind farm (yet) gets approval (NYT)
• Four best practices for using AI to reduce carbon emissions (Greenbiz)
• How the country's largest ferry system is going green (Axios)
• COP veteran Saleemul Huq’s final call for climate justice (Guardian)
• Operating data centers at a space temperature of 41°Celcius instead of the typical 22°C could provide 56% cooling-energy savings (Science)
• Philanthropic funding for climate-change mitigation was flat last year, after consistent growth in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (Climateworks)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business covers environmental, social and governance issues. Send comments to Bureau Chief Rochelle Toplensky at rochelle.toplensky@wsj.com and follow her on X @RToplensky.