Welcome back. COP26, the United Nations climate conference to be held in Glasgow, is just over a month away. Key goals for the conference, as laid out by the U.K., include securing global net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and delivering on a commitment by developed countries to provide at least $100 billion a year to shift away from fossil fuels.

The U.K. is under pressure to ensure that delegates all have a chance to get vaccinated before they travel, and its preparations for the conference have been further complicated by an ill-timed energy crunch that points to vulnerabilities caused by the U.K.'s transition toward renewable energy. With all that to deal with, perhaps it isn't surprising that officials didn't have much time to spare for a musician lobbying to have his composition adopted as the conference anthem.🔒 Links require WSJ subscription.

As for ways in which what happens—or doesn’t happen—in Glasgow could affect business, a key area of uncertainty is a planned new system for international cooperation on climate change through carbon markets. The outline of that system, which would regulate trading by countries and companies in credits representing emission reductions, was agreed to in 2015, but the details still haven't been thrashed out. We have more on that below.

In the meantime, climate conference season is already here. Last week was Climate Week NYC, where businesses gathered to discuss their carbon-cutting promises. And Milan is currently hosting Pre-COP26, a kind of U.N.-endorsed amuse-bouche before the main meal. The topics up for debate at the gathering in Italy (on today’s agenda: “Towards Climate-Smart Alpine Forests” and “U.K. Fashion for a Sustainable Future”) underscore the sheer diversity of the climate agenda, but they largely skirt around the headline topics for Glasgow.

This week: Carbon-neutral whiskey; U.K.'s largest solar plant; Apple's e-waste fight. 

In the coming weeks, we'll be publishing interviews with people who can shed light on a key aspect of the COP26 agenda. First up: a former climate negotiator on some unfinished business from Paris.

As a senior climate negotiator for the European Union, Kelley Kizzier was closely involved in the development of Article 6, the part of the 2015 Paris agreement that lays out a plan for international cooperation on climate change, including through carbon markets. But the rulebook remains a work in progress, and finalizing it is a key agenda item for Glasgow.

Spirits giant pursues carbon-neutral production. Diageo opened a new whiskey distillery in Lebanon, Ky., where it plans to make around 10 million proof gallons of bourbon and American whiskey a year entirely using renewable energy. Perry Jones, Diageo’s president of North America supply, said the key challenge is the cost of securing a long-term supply of clean power. Diageo struck a 15-year contract with local power suppliers for wind and solar, but Mr. Jones said the distillery will cost about twice as much to run as a conventional one, although he expects the cost of renewables to fall. Diageo said last year it plans to get all its direct operations to net-zero emissions by 2030, a task that largely involves converting existing facilities. 

Solar, battery-storage facility planned in U.K. Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners said it will build the U.K.’s largest solar project in combination with a major battery installation as the investment firm bets that combining renewables and energy storage will be a winning strategy against a backdrop of volatility in the power market. Quinbrook said it plans to spend £270 million, or roughly $370 million, on setting up Project Fortress in the county of Kent in southeastern England. The deal reflects growing investor interest in energy storage infrastructure that helps overcome the intermittency of renewable power. It comes at a time when Europe’s energy crunch, the result of a lack of wind and surging natural gas prices, has put several U.K. consumer power suppliers out of business.

On Nov. 17 WSJ Pro will be hosting the first Sustainable Business Forum, looking at the critical issues facing business professionals as they incorporate sustainability into their strategy and operations. Discussion topics will include innovation, reporting, governance, green finance, supply chain and risk models. Register to attend here.

Apple, EU face off over chargers. The European Union proposed a bloc-wide common charging standard for electronic devices that, if adopted, would effectively bar🔒 the use of Apple's unique “Lightning” charging port.  European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager said the proposal comes amid consumer frustration about incompatible chargers for smartphone and mobile devices and concern over waste in the bloc. Apple said such a mandate would have the opposite effect on electronic waste, making more of it rather than reducing it. 

✍️ Feedback on this newsletter? We would love to hear from you, so please get in touch.

Ford to expand U.S. footprint. As well as two battery factories in Kentucky and a third in western Tennessee, Ford will build a new truck manufacturing plant in Tennessee—its first U.S. assembly plant in decades—amid high demand for a coming electric pickup. The move shows Ford isn’t ceding this ground to General Motors, which was earlier to commit to electric vehicles. Ford expects to spend $7 billion on the plan🔒 and will collaborate with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation, which will invest $4.4 billion.

More than half of the companies in the global S&P 1200 index companies are using Sustainability Accounting Standards Board standards in their communications to investors. (Value Reporting Foundation) 

How people make sense of Europe’s energy crunch says a lot about where they stand on global warming. (Bloomberg) 

The probability of default for the average eurozone bank’s corporate loan book could be 7.1% higher by mid-century if governments don’t act quickly to mitigate climate change, according to European Central Bank research. (Risk.net) 

Manufacturing sites using artificial intelligence and connected-device technology improved efficiency and productivity while cutting waste and emissions, according to research by the World Economic Forum and McKinsey. (WEF)

The European Parliament voted down attempts by some lawmakers to block a proposed rulebook for sustainable investments as Brussels edges towards completing the first part of the rules. (Reuters) 

Climate change and other environmental, social and governance factors are driving class-action lawsuits by investors. (Institutional Shareholder Services)

Airlines are increasing their carbon emissions by scheduling unneeded flights to protect their access to the most congested U.S. airports under a proposed Federal Aviation Administration rule change. (Quartz) 

A survey by a law firm found that 26% of private companies in the U.S. said that they hadn't adopted an ESG strategy and didn't plan to do so, compared with just 2% of their public counterparts. (Thompson Hine) 

We would like to hear your tips, suggestions and feedback.

This newsletter was written by Ed Ballard.

Contact the WSJ ESG research team at ESGresearch@wsj.com