Uncommitted

Hi there,

Happy June. I’m writing to you from the jungle in Belize, where I’m happily camped out in a hut for a week. Nice to slow things down a bit and turn inward a bit. Wish me luck this week as I make efforts to see a jaguar; that’s my main goal this week; i’ll report back.

Today, let’s check out at what went down last week across the climate, energy, and sustainability circles I keep myself apprised of. The headline news is that, unfortunately, we’re seeing another wave of countries, corporates, and other groups and jurisdictions, like New York state, uncommit from sustainability and net zero pledges they once made. For the original piece in which I called out this waxing trend in Q1 2025, see here.

ONE STORY IN A SENTENCE AND A CHART

• According to new research from Pew American’s conviction that current climate change is driven in large part by human activities has fallen by 5% since 2022; the belief that “there is no solid evidence” for that claim is also down in parallel, however. Link.

NEWS, DATA, AND HEADLINES

Energy market x Iran war updates

• Oil prices spent most of the week reasonably stable and relatively subdued; they’re down markedly from recent wartime peaks but also still ~50% above levels seen before March. Still, it’s been more than three months since the Straight of Hormuz has been effectively closed, and several execs at major oil and gas companies spent the weekend warning that global oil inventory levels have fallen perilously low as companies and countries dip into them to offset shortages and high prices. If the oil doesn’t get flowing again soon, price dynamics could change again in a nonlinear fashion that’s otherwise been averted so far by using the inventories in question. Link. Link.

• Given how low oil reserves and inventories are globally, countries and blocs the world over are also taking even more initiative to reduce pressure on prices and encourage more production. The EU is reportedly drafting a plan to waive penalties for three years for oil and gas companies that breach its methane emissions law. Norway is also apparently lobbying the EU to lift its Arctic drilling moratorium to unlock resources representing nearly two-thirds of Norway's petroleum reserves. Link. Link.

Elsewhere in energy and electrification

• Fervo Energy, the next-generation geothermal developer that recently completed one of the hottest IPOs of the year (and of the decade, really, as far as climate and energy companies, especially outside oil and gas, are concerened) suffered a blowout at its first commercial power plant that it’s developing in Cape Station, Utah. The full extent of the damage was unclear at the time of reporting; blowouts—i.e., uncontrolled, high-pressure release of underground fluids, steam, or gases from a drilled well—are not uncommon at geothermal sites. This could delay this closely-watched project, but it’s not a disaster. Link.

• Last Energy became at least the fourth nuclear microreactor developer to receive Department of Energy safety approval for a pilot plant, namely its 5 MW demonstration reactor at Texas A&M University. A second unnamed company also received PDSA approval the same day, per a LinkedIn post from the DOE's Idaho operations manager. The DOE approval is a procedural step and does not cover commercial electricity production, which still requires NRC licensing. Dozens of fission startups have received approvals of various sorts over the past few months and years as they inch closer to commerical operation of various reactor designs, but all of them are also still multiple steps away from actually getting a novel, new reactor hooked up to and sending energy to a U.S. power grid (or even a behind-the-meter customer). Link.

• The Trump administration is also considering letting five VC-backed nuclear startups (Oklo, Standard Nuclear, Exodys Energy, SHINE Technologies, and Flibe Energy) negotiate access to surplus weapons-grade plutonium from dismantled Cold War warheads. Link..

• China’s Southern Power Grid reported a record-high power load in May, nearly a month earlier than typical summer peaks, as early heat waves drove electricity demand to 259 GW. China is also stockpiling more than a 30-day supply of coal in preparation for an anticipated El Niño-fueled summer power crunches. Link. Link.

• Another week, another speculative energy-focused SPAC. ProLogium Technology agreed to go public via a SPAC merger valuing the solid-state battery maker at approximately $3.8 billion, following a path taken by rivals QuantumScape and Solid Power, and by many other energy sector companies of late (X-Energy, for instance). Nuclear developer Newcleo is also preparing to public via SPAC at a roughly $2.4 billion valuation. There’s no shortage of these deals hitting public markets at multi billion dollar valuations for companies that are effectively pre-revenue. I doubt it’s a sustainable dynamic but it’s as they say: don’t hate the player, hate the game! Link.

• This week in audacious data center plans: Anchorage-based Stak Energy proposed building a $500 million, 3 GW data center complex on Alaska's Arctic North Slope, citing the cold temperatures for cooling equipment, inexpensive land, and plenty of natural gas supply. TBD if they can get past environmental reviews, source natural gas turbines and deliver them all the way out there, and make good on water consumption claims, which they forecast at 90% lower water than comparable facilities in the lower 48 given the reduced cooling needs if they can use cold Alaskan ambient air for that. Link.

Transportation

• The latest data (IEA) shows that China continues to account for roughly 75% of all new EVs produced globally as EV exports from China to Europe grew 62% year-over-year in the first two months of this year, pushing China's European market share to a record 22%, up from ~3% five years ago. EV sales across the developing world (ex-China) also surged 80% annually, with Southeast Asia more than doubling and Latin America up 75%. U.S. EV sales, by contrast, fell 27% in Q1 2026 after the federal tax credit expired, with total market share plateauing around 6%. Customers worldwide are on pace to buy ~23 million EVs this year, representing 28% of all light-duty vehicle sales; Outside of Europe and the U.S., Chinese models accounted for 55 percent of all EV sales last year. Link. Link.

• Waymo began offering free rides to select riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco in the Ojai, its new Chinese-made electric robotaxi. The goal is to slowly begin reducing its fleet-wide costs as it grows overall deployment. This rollout comes the same week Waymo suspended service in six cities after its vehicles drove through flooded roads during storms. There’ll be some hiccups along the road but, on the whole, the self-driving roll-out continues scaling without too much of a hitch. Link. Link.

Industry

• California Resources Corporation became the first company in California's history to inject carbon dioxide into an underground storage formation, as it started up its Carbon TerraVault I project in Kern County. The site is designed to permanently store up to 30 million tons of CO₂ in depleted oil reservoirs roughly a mile underground. Link.

• BHP quietly shelved billions of dollars in decarbonization projects at its iron ore operations in Australia, with an internal memo leaked to the Guardian and ABC News revealing that the mining giant's plan to hit net-zero by 2050 had a "low probability of success." Not exactly a tremendously startling revelation. Link.

Climate science

• .The UN's World Meteorological Organization now estimates there's an 86% chance at least one year between 2026 and 2030 will be the hottest ever recorded, as a strong El Niño is forecast to take effect as early as December. There’s also a 75% chance that the entire five-year average from 2026 to 2030 will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. Link.

• Meanwhile, a record heatwave, driven in part by a heat dome is already battering western Europe. Portugal saw temperatures hit 40.3°C recently, an all-time record for May. Turin (Italy) suffered blackouts which were blamed on grid strain from hieghtened cooling demand, and Italy generally issued a red alert due to heat for Rome. Link.

Policy

• New York's Democratic-controlled legislature effectively gutted the state's landmark 2019 climate law, swapping a 40% emissions reduction target by 2030 for a weaker 60% by 2040 goal. The shift is being couched in terms of feasibility and affordability. Governor Kathy Hochul, who is up for reelection, signed the rollback. Climate groups have already sued the Hochul admin for missed deadlines. Doubt they’re any happier now! Link.

• Tony Blair also published an essay calling for the U.K. to ditch its net-zero agenda, abandon clean-energy-first priorities, and extract all remaining North Sea oil and gas reserves. Separately, reports emerged that senior Labour cabinet ministers are increasingly questioning the party's opposition to new North Sea drilling. Link. Link.

• The Bezos Earth Fund has only allocated 28% of the $10 billion in philanthropic funding it committed to grant by 2030 to address climate change. The pledge was made in 2020, so more than half of the time in which grants were supposed to be made has now elapsed. Annual spending dropped to $183 million in 2025; while it has reportedly risen to ~$400 million this year so far, the fund still needs to pick the pace up markedly. Link..

• Burberry pushed its net-zero target back a decade from 2040 to 2050, citing supply chain complexities and alignment with peers like Kering and LVMH. The move is part of a broader retreat from ambitious climate commitments across corporate Europe. Link.

• In better news, California reaffirmed its 25-gigawatt offshore wind target for 2045, even as the Trump administration paid a developer to abandon its floating turbine project off the state's coast and has been waging a holistic policy jihad against wind generally. Link.

Honorable financing mentions

• Focused Energy, based in Darmstadt, Germany, raised a €240 million (~$281 million) Series A fundign round to develop laser-driven fusion energy systems using deuterium-tritium fuel capsules. RWE, SPRIND, and the European Innovation Council Fund invested. Link.

• Thea Energy, based in Kearny, New Jersey, raised $100 million in Series B funding for its stellarator-based fusion power company. Thomas Tull's U.S. Innovative Technology Fund (USIT) led; General Innovation Capital Partners, Linse Capital, Calm Ventures, Climate Capital, and others invested. Link. I also wrote about the business previously here.

• Endurance Energy, based out of Seattle, raised between $25 million and $30 million in seed funding led by Founders Fund to try and harness undersea geothermal energy. Not fully clear to me why you’d expect that to get cost competitive with other generation options longer term but as always, I’m ready and excited, even, to be wrong. Link.

OTHER COOL STUFF

Sightline Climate is partnering with Elemental Impact to create a 2026 climate founders and entrepreneurs survey. If you’re a founder in climate tech or consider yourself an entrepreneur in the space in any capacity they’d love your input. It only takes ~10 minutes, is fully anonymous, and you'll be entered to win a $50 gift card. Results will also be published in an upcoming CTVC newsletter and report. Hundreds of founders have already shared their perspective; join em here! The survey will close Friday, June 12th.

Adios,

— Nick