Today: Even the minute flapping of butterfly wings can tell companies how their buildings are inadvertently disrupting nature;  U.S. generals are the hottest commodity in mining; ConocoPhillips can keep drilling in Alaska.

Welcome back: The Empire State Building in bustling Manhattan is now equipped with super sensitive microphones, tuning into bird calls and the slightest flutter of insects amid the cacophony of the concrete jungle.

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson reports that the mics are attached to a nature-monitoring device collecting minute details on the cities’ bugs, birds and bats, which feed into an artificial-intelligence platform that can alert the building owners of any concerning patterns. It’s part of a broader real-estate industry trend to track properties’ surroundings, amid pressure to anticipate how everything from pollutants to window cleaning—and even strong lights—could harm living creatures.

Real-estate firms are turning to nature-monitoring because investors are paying more attention to biodiversity. There are also sustainability accreditations or initiatives which encourage reporting on biodiversity and nature, such as the Task Force on Nature-related Financial Disclosures.

Some companies renting office spaces or other sites need nature data to help them put together reports on their environmental impact or risk. That’s in part for requirements such as Europe’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which will require nature and biodiversity reporting.

Companies that mine critical minerals—needed to make everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to jet fighters—are looking more like defense contractors these days. One sign: Many are hiring retired generals.

The Wall Street Journal's Jon Emont writes that Western miners have added at least a dozen former American generals, colonels and admirals to boards or to senior leadership roles over the past year, hoping to tap the billions of dollars the Department of Defense is shelling out to rebuild domestic supply chains after China cut the U.S. off for much of last year.

The retired former generals guide the geologists and finance executives who run mining companies through the less-familiar terrain of Washington. They make introductions to defense companies, scrutinize business deals with foreign partners to make sure they won’t raise flags with the Pentagon, and give advice about whom to meet on Capitol Hill.

Almonty Industries, a North American company that mines tungsten in Europe and South Korea, picked up two retired American generals last year. Retired four-star Army Gen. Gustave Perna, a logistics expert, joined the company’s board in March and retired Army Brig. Gen. Steven Allen enlisted as chief operations officer in December.

ConocoPhillips Alaska can for now continue drilling for oil in the Western Arctic, despite a lawsuit raising concerns about harm to wildlife, a federal court in Alaska said, reports Clara Hudson for Dow Jones Risk Journal.

Earthjustice, which filed the suit along with other environmental and local groups in December, said the project would harm sensitive areas, including “one of the most ecologically important wetlands in the Arctic and home to tens of thousands of migratory birds and the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd.”

The suit said the U.S. Bureau of Land Management didn’t do enough to stop potential harm the exploration would cause in the area. The court halted the request for a preliminary injunction, but the plaintiffs’ challenge to the approval of the exploration program is pending.

European industrial operators have used free carbon allowances for financing purposes such as repurchasing agreements and as collateral for loans, and experts familiar with the deals say that rising carbon prices could encourage such practices. Free carbon allowances are handed to big emitters in several industrial sectors subject to the EU and U.K. emissions trading systems (ETS) to stop operators from being at a competitive disadvantage to imports from countries without carbon prices. But an investigation by OPIS's Nia Simeonova shows that such allowances are being used for wider financing purposes.

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• Oil company Liberty Energy’s stock hit a record after it announced plans to provide electricity to data centers. (Barron's)
   
• Trump administration restarts key permitting process for wind farms, while also pursuing enforcement actions. (Heatmap)
   
• Zelestra signs long-term power purchase agreement with AEP Energy Partners for 50MW Gem City solar project in Dayton, Ohio. (Renews)
   
• Drax manager raised concerns about the accuracy of U.K. power station's public statements on its wood pellet sourcing. (FT)
   
• Enfinity has begun commercial operations at a new solar project in Italy to provide clean energy to Microsoft. (ESG Today)
   
• U.S. ski resorts are spending millions on cloud seeding despite the technology’s checkered track record. (Bloomberg)
   
• Trafigura-backed alliance targets $1 billion investment in African carbon removal, woodland restoration. (ESG News)
   
• Before boarding the greenhushing train, companies should fully evaluate their historical goals and disclosures. (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.