Today: Trump and power-hungry AI data centers are giving the waning coal industry a boost, but it isn’t clear how long it will last; pollution rose sharply in 2025; Vanguard pays $29.5 million to settle Texas anti-ESG suit.

Welcome back: Coal-fired power generation is having something of a moment. It isn’t clear just how long it will last.

The Wall Street Journal's Jennifer Hiller writes that President Trump has been trying to throw a lifeline to coal, the once-dominant fuel source for the U.S. power grid that has been in steep decline for more than 15 years. His efforts, combined with the boom in construction of power-hungry artificial-intelligence data centers, could keep coal plants that were once slated for retirement operating years longer than expected.

Renewable energy projects can push wholesale electricity prices sharply lower, or even negative, for several hours every day. Generators pay grid operators to take power. Coal plants, which can’t easily shut down and restart, either operate at a loss during those hours or ramp down to levels that are inefficient and cause mechanical wear and tear, Dorris said. That makes coal operations difficult to sustain.

Pollution from U.S. power plants rose last year, a rare uptick in an otherwise long-term downward trend, partly because of more coal being burned to generate electricity, reports the Journal's Kris Maher reports.

Levels of sulfur dioxide emitted from power-plant stacks were up about 18%, with nitrogen oxide up 7% and carbon dioxide up 4%, according to an analysis of publicly available Environmental Protection Agency data viewed by the Journal.

The rise in emissions comes as President Trump has promoted the use of coal and worked to unwind Biden-era environmental regulations. Last month, the EPA reversed a finding that carbon dioxide poses a risk to public health and welfare.

It also repealed the Biden administration’s stricter emissions standards on mercury, arsenic and other air toxics, which would have applied to power plants and other sources. Standards from 2012 remain in place.

• China’s emissions from energy and industry fell slightly last year after a solar boom helped to meet a larger part of its growing power needs. (FT)

Vanguard Group agreed to pay several U.S. states $29.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it conspired with other index-fund managers to pressure coal companies to reduce their output, the Journal's Jack Pitcher writes.

The antitrust suit, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accused Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street of snapping up coal stocks and using their clout as top shareholders to press companies to adopt various green-energy initiatives that would raise energy prices. In doing so, Paxton and other states’ attorneys general asserted, the investors broke antitrust laws.

Paxton, a Republican, called the settlement agreement the first of its kind, and said Vanguard agreed to avoid putting any environmental, social or governance investing goals above its customers’ profits. The Texas attorney general’s statement didn’t reference any promise by Vanguard to reduce its holdings in coal companies, a demand in the suit. A person familiar with the matter said Vanguard didn’t agree to take that step in its settlement.

BlackRock and State Street are still fighting the suit.

• California’s air pollution regulator has set a date for businesses to start reporting on the greenhouse gas emissions they generate, Clara Hudson writes. The California Air Resources Board, or CARB, is rolling out two requirements for businesses: reporting carbon emissions and disclosing climate risks. It said the deadline for the emissions-reporting rule is Aug. 10. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)

The U.S. may be scaling back climate initiatives but other countries–and especially the European Union–are forging ahead with new rules. The Dow Jones Risk Journal Summit in New York on March 4 will include a discussion on how companies can manage this complex picture. Speakers are Tim Mohin, partner and director at Boston Consulting Group, and Beth Sasfai, from law firm Cooley.

Request a complimentary invitation here using code COMPLIMENTARY. Attendance is limited, and all requests are subject to approval.

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• Norwegian energy major Equinor and its partners have made a commercial oil discovery in the North Sea. (WSJ)
   
• Three solar stocks plunged more than 30% last week in a sign that the industry’s problems are starting to hit financial statements. (Barron's)
   
• Shine Technologies raises nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for commercial fusion. (Heatmap News)
   
• The EU’s push to blunt its flagship climate policies in the name of competitiveness is turning the green transition on its head. (FT)
   
• Sustainability leaders from Impact Pathways, Patagonia, Suntory and the Nature Conservancy share lessons learned in 2025. (Trellis)
   
• A judge approved a $345 million verdict against Greenpeace in the Dakota pipeline suit, potentially bankrupting the group in the U.S. (NYT)

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.