Welcome back: We have been out at London Climate Action Week this week, gauging the mood and listening to delegates discuss today's biggest sustainability challenges. The annual gathering also serves as a forum where sustainability professionals can share what they’ve learned in their roles (more on this later). Here are some of the most compelling perspectives we've heard so far this week.  

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, in his opening speech, said: “I want you to take a moment to think about waking up in a net-zero future. You get up, cycle to work, jump on an electric bus, your kids breathe clean air as they walk to school...Your energy bills are low, your spirits high. This future is possible. It's within our reach. Now is the time for doers not delayers.”

Climate and Nature Solutions CEO Catherine McKenna, speaking about climate change, said: “We have done a lot since 2015. We were driving to 4.5 degrees of warming. But if everyone does what they say they’re going to do it's 2.6 degrees. We have to fight for this, folks. We have to fight things like disinformation. We can do this, we just have to be disciplined and of course we have to listen to people.”

E3G CEO Nick Mabey, speaking on the state of climate politics, said: “Climate action done right, is popular. Populism doesn’t have a problem with climate, it’s opportunistic. But climate has a problem with populism. We need a bit of humility, in a mega project like climate we’re going to make mistakes.”

Gurin Energy CEO Assaad W. Razzouk, speaking about financing, said: “Right now if you actually look at the total manufacturing capacity of only solar panels and batteries in China and what the manufacturers in China have already announced, you’ll see from 2030 China is going to add every year an entire U.S. worth of electricity. That means there is going to be an overabundance of energy. The opportunities are infinite. This is like when we were buying from Blockbuster video and had no concept Netflix was coming. We are going to a scale which is perhaps unimaginable.”

ICVCM CEO Amy Merrill, speaking on the introduction of core principles and high integrity carbon credits, said: “We need to help companies choose to take action. Those on transition pathways, on ways they can decarbonize ... What we need to see is companies enabled to act, speaking on why having high integrity credits is important.”

Read on for more on the seemingly ever-changing role of the CSO plus other sustainability news.

A year ago, chief sustainability officers were taking stages at company events and conferences to present bold climate strategies as a very public face of their business. Now, many are having to rethink how to do their jobs from the backroom, WSJ Pro Sustainable Business reports.

Recent months have brought a wave of backlash against ideas like sustainability and net zero, with many investors pushing for faster returns, rising share prices and more investment in artificial intelligence.

Startups have ditched sustainability language from their websites in favor of terms like “defense” and “security,” while other companies tout initiatives in “resilience” and “risk mitigation.” Meanwhile, references to “climate,” “ESG” and “carbon-neutral” have dropped from corporate statements amid a general rollback in green commitments.

For many CSOs, the first half of 2025 has required a degree of soul-searching—not only in how they go about doing their jobs but also in what exactly corporate sustainability looks like these days.

• Sustainability Chiefs Say Job Is More Complex and Relevant in 2024
• Don’t Call It ESG, Call It Resilience
• Climate Startups Are Now Talking About Jet Fighters

New York intends to build a large nuclear-power facility​, the first major new U.S. plant undertaken in more than 15 years and a big test of President Trump’s promise to expedite permitting for such projects, the WSJ's Ryan Dezember and Jennifer Hiller write.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said in an interview that she has directed the state’s public electric utility to add at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear-power generation to its aging fleet of reactors. A gigawatt is roughly enough to power about a million homes.

The project could help jump-start a new era of U.S. reactor construction. The nuclear industry has struggled for more than three decades to do much more than manage existing plants because of safety concerns, huge cost overruns and permitting processes that move at a glacial pace.

The project will also offer an assessment of the executive orders Trump signed in May that aim to accelerate development of nuclear projects. Trump’s orders outlined plans to overhaul the U.S. nuclear regulator, fast-track licenses for new projects, boost domestic fuel supplies and use federal lands for reactors for the military or data centers for artificial intelligence.

• Nuclear Power Is Back. And This Time, AI Can Help Manage Reactors.
• Meta Signs Nuclear Deal to Fuel Its AI Ambitions
• ‘It’s Time for Nuclear’ to Meet Growing Power Needs, Trump Declares

The Senate is weighing a major change to federal fuel-economy rules that would kneecap the policy that dramatically reduced gas consumption and helped create fuel-efficient cars like the Toyota Prius hybrid.

Republican senators are proposing a change to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules as part of President Trump’s wide-ranging tax and spending bill. If enacted, the proposal would eliminate fines for violating CAFE, all but nullifying rules that for generations have pushed automakers to churn out ever cleaner and more fuel-efficient vehicles. That technology has saved two trillion gallons of gasoline over the past 50 years, according to the journal Energy Policy, the WSJ's Ryan Felton and Sharon Terlep write.

Automakers including General Motors and Jeep-parent Stellantis support the measure, while some of their rivals don’t. Consumer advocacy groups warn that the move could result in dated technology remaining on the road and further dependence on foreign oil sources.

Trump came to office promising to cut regulations across the government, leading to a significant unwinding of automotive clean-air and fuel-economy regulations. Congress last month struck down the nation’s most aggressive emissions rules, and the Environmental Protection Agency has said it aims to loosen restrictions on automobile greenhouse-gas emissions.

• GM Is Pushing Hard to Tank California’s EV Mandate
• Blocked by GOP and Trump, California Pivots in Clean-Air Fight
• Heat Coming Out of Your Car’s Tailpipe Can Be Turned Into Electricity

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.

• Ford still scrambling to get rare-earth magnets. (WSJ)
   
• Tesla’s EU sales slumped in May despite EV market growth. (WSJ)
   
• Rio Tinto agrees to settle Mongolia copper mine lawsuit. (WSJ)
   
• Nvidia goes nuclear, investing in Bill Gates’ startup. (Barron's)
   
• Iberdrola names U.S. business head Pedro Azagra as new CEO. (WSJ)
   
• The Trump-era rollback of transgender rights is gaining steam. (WSJ)
   
• The great Scottish tea swindle. (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.