Today: The Science Based Targets initiative gives financial institutions until 2030 to transition away from fossil fuels and reduce their exposure to deforestation; the climate impact of clothing companies is rising sharply, courtesy of the ultrafast retail boom; and battery makers facing a slump in electronic-vehicle business are finding new lifelines elsewhere.

Welcome back: The world’s leading corporate climate standard setter outlined a new methodology for financial institutions to align their activities to net zero, despite multiple banks and asset managers leaving green alliances and rolling back climate targets, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Yusuf Khan reports.

The Science Based Targets initiative said financial institutions would ideally secede from general purpose financing to oil-and-gas companies involved in expansion with an absolute cutoff of 2030. SBTi said this was designed to allow for dialogue with financial institutions and their fossil-fuel financing.

Meanwhile, it also asks that companies assess and publish their exposure to deforestation by no later than 2030. If companies have significant exposure to deforestation, then they will have to publish an engagement plan to mitigate those risks.

• Net-Zero Push Is Still On at Many Companies, Standard Setter Says
• Corporate Climate Targets Group Mulls Changes to Net-Zero Standard
• Sustainability Chiefs Recalibrate in Bid to Keep Decarbonization on Map

The digital detritus of discarded laptops, phones and other electronics contain much-sought-after resources hidden in plain sight, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson reports.

Lawmakers at a congressional hearing last week pushed for improved recycling infrastructure to secure critical minerals, such as lithium, that power electric vehicles and smartphones.

The race is on to secure critical minerals in the U.S., in part to offset China’s dominance in the ownership and processing of these materials. The U.S. is also lagging behind China on renewable energy and electric vehicles, driven in part by critical minerals.

• U.S. Rare-Earth Producer Makes Play to End China Dominance
• Your Junk Is Needed for the New Electric Era
• Does Everything in Your Blue Bin Really Get Recycled?

Big U.S. EV battery makers are stepping back from the market that got them started and betting on a new set of customers in an entirely different business, the WSJ's Christopher Otts writes.

Instead of carmakers, these companies have started making batteries for utilities, wind- and solar-power developers, and massive data centers that train artificial intelligence.

Tesla’s revenue from energy-storage batteries grew 67% to $4 billion last year, while EV revenue dropped by $6 billion. Last week, General Motors said it was exploring a deal to supply a mix of new and used batteries to startup recycler Redwood Materials for energy storage.

• Wall Street Wants In on America’s Battery Storage Boom
• A Battery That Lasts 50% Longer Is Finally in Production
• Rechargeable Batteries to Keep Appliances Running

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.

• EPA drafts rule to strike down landmark climate finding. (WaPo) 
   
• Fossil fuels ‘running out of road’ as clean energy catches up, says UN chief. (FT)
   
• Trump’s critical minerals obsession reignites deep-sea mining. (Bloomberg) 
   
• Why is Thea Energy, the fusion company, in New Jersey? (Heatmap)
   
• Can a steel boom revive this rural American county? (WSJ)
   
• Voluntary carbon market turns corner amid behind-the-scenes reform. (Sustainable Views)
   
• Supply-chain mapping: from ESG gold star to national security requirement. (Dow Jones Risk Journal)
   
• ‘Total infiltration’: How the plastics industry swamped vital global treaty talks. (Guardian)
   
• Trump’s fixation with Greenland has ended Denmark’s love affair with the U.S. (WSJ)
   
• U.K. government approves $51 billion nuclear power plant. (WSJ)

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.