Today: Search giant Google is reviving the Duane Arnold Energy Center, the latest Big Tech move to fuel expansive AI ambitions; EIP raises over $400 million for environment-restoration bets; Exxon Mobil sues California over looming climate disclosure rules.

Welcome back: A nuclear plant in Iowa—currently out of action—is set to help Google reap reliable, low-carbon energy to feed power-hungry artificial intelligence, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson writes.

Google said this week that it is partnering with NextEra Energy to reopen the Duane Arnold Energy Center, a nuclear plant that closed five years ago after damage from a windstorm. The plan is to get the plant, which would provide over 600 megawatts of nuclear energy for the regional grid, up and running in early 2029 pending regulatory approval. The Central Iowa Power Cooperative will buy the plant’s energy output that isn’t used by Google.

The move follows a push by the tech industry to galvanize nuclear energy in the U.S., including a deal between Constellation Energy and Microsoft to restart Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island, the site of the worst nuclear power disaster in the country. And Meta signed a deal this summer with Constellation to secure power from the Clinton Clean Energy Center, an already-operating nuclear plant in Illinois.

For tech giants such as Google, nuclear energy is appealing because it can provide round-the-clock power while producing minimal carbon emissions. Expanding nuclear energy is also backed by the Trump administration and lawmakers across the aisle.

• South Carolina power provider Santee Cooper is in advanced talks to sell two inactive nuclear reactors to Brookfield Asset Management. (WSJ)

Ecosystem Investment Partners raised $401.3 million for its private-equity fund to invest in environmental restoration and conservation projects across the U.S., a strategy that benefits from infrastructure development and the need to reduce its impact, WSJ Pro's Luis Garcia writes.

The firm invests in the restoration of wetlands, streams and habitats for plants and animals, as well as projects that support biodiversity and water quality, with the aim of selling mitigation credits the work generates. Buyers of the credits include project developers in sectors such as oil-and-gas infrastructure, mining, data centers, renewable energy and real estate.

Federal and state laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act, require developers to offset the environmental impact of their projects, by buying mitigation credits or restoring the land themselves.

American companies and public organizations spend as much as $12 billion a year to mitigate the environmental effects of their activities, mostly through buying mitigation credits, said Nick Dilks, a managing partner at EIP who co-founded the firm in 2006.

Exxon Mobil says rules requiring it to disclose climate risks infringe on the company’s right to free speech, Clara Hudson reports.

The oil-and-gas giant made the argument in a suit filed against the state of California, which is rolling out requirements for businesses to report their climate risks as well as greenhouse gas emissions. The climate risk reporting rule will come into effect in a matter of weeks.

Exxon Mobil asked the court to halt the rules, arguing that they would violate free speech protections by forcing the business to use frameworks that put “disproportionate blame on large companies” such as the energy producer itself.

The rules would require Exxon Mobil “to serve as a mouthpiece for ideas with which it disagrees,” the company said in the complaint, which was submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

• Companies preparing to report their emissions and climate risk in California have a matter of weeks to publish some of the reports. (WSJ)

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• Fuel-cell startup Bloom Energy’s stock soared after reporting third-quarter adjusted earnings that exceeded expectations. (Barron's)
   
• BYD logged a nearly fivefold surge in Europe, as the Chinese auto giant’s electric vehicles increasingly appeal to the region's drivers. (WSJ)
   
• A startup backed by billionaire Vinod Khosla has drilled into the hottest rock ever reached by an enhanced geothermal system. (Bloomberg)
   
• Equinor reports narrowed losses at its renewable energy business thanks to lower development costs after completion of some projects. (WSJ)
   
• Meta acquires all of the energy produced from new $900 million solar project to power its Texas data center operations. (ESG Today)
   
• Investors are expecting to pay as much as $150 million to Jamaica, as Hurricane Melissa triggers “catastrophe bond” insurance. (FT)
   
• Businesses need granular hyperlocal data about weather risks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said. (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 perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.