Welcome back: President Trump described the legislation as the “green new scam.” Now congressional Republicans are seeking to end tax credits for wind, solar, storage and clean-hydrogen projects brought in under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

But rolling them back could prove tricky. About three dozen Republican members of Congress have pledged support of IRA provisions in recent weeks because most clean-energy projects are in Republican states. The proposed changes could slow a booming business and raise electricity prices in several states. See our story below for the latest.

Meanwhile, the U.S. looks set to see crude oil production decline next year for the first time in about a decade. Some observers are beginning to ask, have we reached peak shale?

And under the European Union's Emissions Trading System, free carbon allowances are handed out to industrial operators in "hard-to-abate" sectors such as steel and oil refining so as not to put them at a disadvantage with importers. But there is nothing stopping recipients simply selling their allowances on the secondary market and pocketing the money.

Read on for more on these stories and more sustainability news. 

President Trump has made no secret of his disdain for renewable energy. Just as challenging for the industry is fighting policy battles in parts of the U.S. where business has flourished, the WSJ's Jennifer Hiller writes.

Tax credits for clean-electricity generation and manufacturing are set to vanish under a plan proposed last week by congressional Republicans. Meanwhile, lawmakers in states such as Texas and Arizona—home to some of the country’s biggest renewable-energy projects—are considering clamping down with tougher permitting and rules.

The shifting political landscape threatens to slow a booming business. Developers have built $145 billion in solar, wind and battery-storage projects since expanded federal tax credits were approved in 2022, while manufacturers have invested $73 billion in 94 factories that are now operating, according to the industry group American Clean Power.

Now, congressional Republicans trying to meet Trump’s call for a “big, beautiful” tax-and-spending bill are scrounging for dollars in the clean-energy sector. To extend tax cuts from his first administration that would otherwise expire, they are searching for trillions of dollars in spending cuts and curbs on tax breaks.

President Trump, who promised to uplift oil and gas, is set to preside over a decline in shale production.

Drillers that made the U.S. the world’s top oil producer say they are hitting the brakes to weather a period of low prices and that the gusher has likely peaked. Some of the largest producers, including Diamondback Energy, recently told investors that they would be spending less this year and plan to drop rigs, the WSJ's Benoît Morenne and Collin Eaton write.

Trump had promised that his administration would bring a new dawn for America’s frackers by killing regulations and allowing them to build new pipelines. But even before he took office, U.S. oil production was on track to flatten out and fall by the end of the decade.

Now, the upheaval in the global economy induced by his tariffs, coupled with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies’ decision to pump more oil, have likely compressed that timeline, crude-oil CEOs say. The disruption has been most notable in the Permian Basin, the country’s biggest oil field.

Liberty Steel has not fulfilled its legal obligation to surrender carbon allowances to pay for the carbon emitted in 2023 at its Liberty Ostrava steel plant in the Czech Republic, even though the operator was handed free allowances that far exceeded its emissions, OPIS's Anthony Lane reports.

The plant owned by the U.K.-based company emitted 1,281,302 metric tons of carbon in 2023 and was handed 3,319,867 free EU carbon allowances (EUAs) by the Czech government at the start of the year, according to European Commission data. However, it did not surrender any of those allowances to cover its emissions by the deadline of September 30, 2024, sources familiar with the matter have confirmed.

The financially embattled steel operator owned by Indian businessman Sanjeev Gupta has repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether it opted to use its 2023 free allowance allocation for a different purpose rather than fulfil its legal obligation to surrender some of those allowances to cover emissions in 2023 at the Ostrava steel plant. Liberty is currently trying to sell the 3.6 million metric tons per annum plant after idling its blast furnaces in 2023 and appointing an insolvency administrator.

Potential other uses for the free EUAs could have involved surrendering the allowances to cover emissions at another installation or monetizing the EUAs by selling the allocation on the secondary market operated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). Selling 1,281,302 free allowances would have generated approximately €109 million ($121.18 million) in cash, taking the average OPIS-assessed benchmark EUAs price in 2023 of €85.43. 

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.

• Climate disasters are raising risk of US home repossessions, warns research group. (FT)
   
• Trump administration to uphold some PFAS limits. (NYT)
   
• First-ever commercial e-methanol plant begins shipping to Lego, Maersk, Novo Nordisk. (ESG Today)
   
• Energy Australia apologises to 400,000 customers and settles greenwashing legal action. (Guardian)
   
• Google announces deals for nuclear projects, cutting superpollutants. (ESG Dive)
   
• Norway opens floating offshore wind tender. (Reuters)
   
• Companies behind dairy industry’s first methane targets show early success. (Trellis)

Correction: Backers of the Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project projected it would lock in enough carbon to compensate for emissions created by millions of trans-Atlantic airline passengers. In Friday's newsletter we incorrectly said it would compensate for emissions from millions of trans-Atlantic flights.

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.