Net Zero

1. Trump goes nuclear
2. BYD’s highs and lows
3. Exxon vs Chevron
4. Rigs shut down
5. King Coal on life support

Hydrogen and solar execs step down, and why biofuels need to step up.

Trump goes nuclear

US President Donald Trump signed executive orders aimed at speeding up the deployment of nuclear power stations. The orders will fast-track new nuclear projects and technologies through federal permitting, and deploy DOGE cost-cutters to scale back the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They also invoke the Defense Production Act to facilitate federal purchases of nuclear fuel, in order to stoke the domestic supply chain and weaken Russia’s grip on it.

The orders were lauded by nuclear industry advocates, and share prices of nuclear-heavy utilities and advanced nuclear startups jumped. But the plans are in conflict with draft budget legislation passed last week by the House of Representatives, which called for an accelerated phaseout of tax credits for new and existing nuclear plants.

BYD’s highs and lows

Chinese electric vehicle stocks plummeted after BYD, the world’s biggest EV maker, announced that it would slash prices by up to 34% amid a global price war.

EV sales have recently reached an all-time high, but growth is slowing. A backlash against Tesla over CEO Elon Musk’s controversial role in the White House, the scrapping of government incentives globally, and rising tariffs on Chinese-made EVs have further kneecapped demand: Last week, producers in Brazil — one of the world’s biggest car manufacturing countries — called for sanctions on BYD in response to the company’s dominance, Nikkei reported. BYD accounted for 70% of EVs sold in Brazil in the first quarter. The company also beat Tesla’s monthly sales in Europe for the first time in April.

Exxon vs Chevron

Arbitration hearings started this week in the high-stakes fight between ExxonMobil and Chevron over offshore drilling rights in Guyana. When Chevron moved last year to acquire rival Hess for $53 billion, the gem in the package was a 30% stake in one of the world’s most attractive new drilling sites. With oil prices low and opportunities for low–cost production few and far between, Guyana is poised to be the site of a $180 billion gold rush — and Exxon believes it is entitled to a first bid on Hess’ slice before it gets handed to its biggest competitor. Arbitrators in London will decide that question by September. In the meantime, Wall Street traders seem to think the odds are in Chevron’s favor.

Rigs shut down

Number of oil and gas drilling rigs operating in the US this week, down 34 from a year ago. The US oil price is hovering around $61, just below what many producers need to turn a profit and leaving them no choice but to shut rigs down. Smaller independent drillers are the most at risk, as the Trump administration’s courting of OPEC and global trade wars increasingly come into conflict with its “drill, baby, drill” ethos. “We’re on high alert at this point,” Devon Energy CEO Clay Gaspar told shareholders.

King Coal on life support

The Trump administration is taking new steps to keep King Coal on life support. The Department of Energy ordered that a Michigan coal plant delay plans to close this month, and stay open at least until the end of the summer. The reason is ostensibly to prevent blackouts during the months of peak power demand. But state regulators and the company operating the plant had already worked out a plan years ago to replace the coal plant with a different gas one. DOE’s order is effectively “making up a manufactured emergency to accomplish a crass political outcome,” said Tyson Slocum, energy director at the nonprofit Public Citizen.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to scrap all limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, saying they don’t constitute “dangerous pollution,” The New York Times reported. The rollback will likely face legal challenges, but if successful would make it easier to tear down many other climate-related regulations. They’re not likely to engender a coal renaissance: Global coal prices hit a four-year low as overproduction in China and India has collided with shrinking demand.

New Energy

• Italy’s Enel plans to increase its renewable energy holdings in the US.
• Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam are exploring a deal to trade wind power between themselves.
• Clean biofuels for the shipping industry are in a major supply deficit, Rystad Energy warned: Demand in 2028 could reach 140 million metric tons, with only 40 million available.

Fossil Fuels

• South Africa is the latest country to consider buying US LNG shipments as a way to avoid tariff disputes with Trump.

Finance

• Cuts to clean energy tax credits proposed by congressional Republicans are making some of Europe’s top investors feel nervous about putting money into US energy projects.
• Deutsche Bank is pausing a plan to implement new restrictions on its lending to oil and gas projects, saying the plan could expose it to lawsuits.

Politics & Policy

• The EU is very close to being on track for its 2030 carbon reduction targets, even as political pressure grows to scale back clean energy plans.

Minerals & Mining

• If Greenland can’t make a deal on minerals with European or US mining companies, it is more than happy to open its doors to China.

Personnel

• Mark Hutchinson stepped down as CEO of green hydrogen startup Fortescue Energy. The company recently slashed 90 jobs as it looks for new ways to cut hydrogen production costs.
• Chinese billionaire Li Zhenguo is stepping back from managing the solar manufacturing giant Longi, following a string of quarterly losses.

An identity crisis is tearing through the “anti-woke” media, Semafor’s Ben Smith and Max Tani reported.

The Free Press, in many ways the movement’s flagship publication, is emblematic of the schism, as it attempts to walk the thin line between criticizing US President Donald Trump’s excesses and doubling down on its trademark anti-wokism. “It’s perfectly possible to be very anti-woke and very anti-Trump. In fact it’s the only coherent liberal and old-school conservative position,” veteran online journalist Andrew Sullivan told Semafor. “But it’s hard in our tribal age to find an audience that wants to read — let alone support — both.”