Today: Tech companies in Virginia are investing in nature projects to offset environmental damage caused by energy-hungry AI plants; European Union sets the world’s first standard for carbon removals; the SpaceX-xAI tie up.

Welcome back: The rolling fairways of a now-defunct golf course in Northern Virginia are still visible beneath a blanket of crunchy leaves and unruly grass, writes WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson.

Far from its manicured past, the former golf course in Gainesville, Virginia, is now deliberately overgrown, bursting with trees—from sycamore to sweet gum and black cherry—wildflowers and other plants to create what’s known as a nutrient bank, where companies can buy credits to offset the harm they cause to the environment at their sites nearby.

A nutrient bank is a living purifier for the land. Root systems from the abundant assortment of plants act as a filter for nitrogen and phosphorus, helping to improve water quality and soil health by offsetting runoff from chemicals used in agriculture and other pollutants. Letting the land be and allowing plants to flourish also boosts biodiversity and air quality.

Nutrient banks in Virginia are overseen and approved by a state regulator and can’t be built on in the future. That’s especially significant in an area of the state now dubbed “Data Center Alley” amid a recent push to build a fleet of data centers for energy-hungry artificial intelligence.

Companies looking to offset data-center damage account for about 10% of credits at the former golf course, said ACRE Investment Management. 

• Landowners and property developers see gains in England’s habitat-preservation market—now the rest of the world is taking note. (WSJ)

The EU has created the first set of voluntary standards for carbon removal and climate-friendly farming, setting a baseline for technologies used to sequester CO2, Yusuf Khan writes for Dow Jones Risk Journal.

Last week, the European Commission outlined its inaugural set of methodologies for direct air capture, biochar and biogenic emissions capture—technologies that are used to remove carbon from the atmosphere. Biochar is charcoal produced by heating organic matter in a low-oxygen environment, while biogenic emissions capture involves storing the greenhouse gases generated during biofuels processing.

The move represents the first time a government has set minimum standards for carbon-removal technologies. In doing so, it demonstrates support for the techniques used for carbon removals. This includes what counts as a ton of removal, how performance is ensured and how risks such as carbon leakages are addressed.

• Scientists in Europe are building a computer simulation of the planet’s atmosphere, oceans and land to improve weather forecasting.  (FT)

Global electricity demand for artificial intelligence can’t be met with data centers on the ground without big impacts on communities and the environment, wrote Elon Musk last week as he announced that his rocket company SpaceX had acquired his AI business, xAI, The Wall Street Journal's Micah Maidenberg reports.

Using solar power from space will be a transformative way to power computing resources needed for AI, the tech billionaire said. In a U.S. regulatory filing earlier this month, Space X said it wanted to deploy an orbital AI data-center network consisting of up to one million satellites.

Such an accomplishment could help Musk catch up with the significant head starts Google and Microsoft have in AI with their valuable cloud infrastructures, writes the Journal's Tim Higgins.

The move is reminiscent of Musk’s plans in 2016 to merge Tesla with troubled solar-panel company SolarCity. Today, the solar business is almost an afterthought, though it has taken on new importance as Musk talks about a galaxy in which his orbital data centers need solar panels.

• Tesla is evaluating multiple sites across the U.S. to begin manufacturing solar cells, according to people familiar with the matter. (Bloomberg)

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• Clarity, a new startup, offers technology to help retailers identify counterfeit merchandise in returned goods. (WSJ)
   
• Bloom Energy’s latest earnings report cemented its status as a major data-center power player. (Barron's)
   
• Fidelity's CSO said the investment case for adapting to climate change is far less straightforward than for reducing emissions. (Bloomberg)
   
• TotalEnergies signed its biggest U.S. renewable energy deal to power Google data centers. (ESG Today)
   
• Thermal batteries inch closer to replacing fossil fuels. (Latitude Media)
   
• GM’s 2021 commitment to eliminate tailpipe emissions by 2035 looks out of reach. What can it do? (Trellis)
   
• Aggressive immigration enforcement in South Texas has led to significant construction delays and economic disruption. (WSJ)
   
• A federal court blocked a Texas anti-ESG law, delivering a setback to efforts to push back against climate-focused investing. (ESG News)
   
• Germany plans to charge renewables companies for connecting to the electricity grid as part of efforts to meet demand for expansion. (Reuters)

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 perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.