Net Zero

1. Tax credit fight hits Senate
2. A waning commodity rush
3. Nuclear gathers pace
4. How to protect shipping
5. BYD readies global price war

The end of LCOE is nigh.

The Senate fights over tax credits

Republican efforts to eliminate many clean-energy tax credits are facing opposition, including from the party’s own members, in the Senate. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a spending program that largely guts the Inflation Reduction Act credits for solar, wind, and hydrogen power, as well as incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles and other programs.

But trade groups and activists have pushed senators to reconsider the plan, arguing that the cuts will hit jobs at a time of economic uncertainty and potentially raise energy prices for consumers: Two groups this week launched major advertising campaigns targeting Republican lawmakers in an effort to preserve the tax credits. The GOP maintains a relatively narrow majority in the Senate, and three of its members in the chamber warned in April against a “full-scale repeal” of the credits.

“I think it’s really important that Senate Republicans… look at this not from the standpoint of ‘it’s in the IRA, therefore it’s bad,’ but rather what is in the country’s best interest and what is the best tax policy and make good, thoughtful decisions,” one told NPR.

China’s waning commodity demand

China’s demand for major commodities is waning, two European banks said. Imports of crude oil into the world’s second-largest economy and manufacturing powerhouse fell to a four-month low in May, while coal imports dropped slightly month-on-month, and gas imports via pipeline and LNG — though slightly up on the prior month — were significantly down compared to a year ago, Commerzbank noted. Metals imports also weakened in May, in part thanks to trade uncertainty globally and questions over the strength of China’s own economic growth, according to ING.

More progress for nuclear

The World Bank will finance nuclear energy once again, lifting a decades-long ban. The decision, announced by the lender’s chief Ajay Banga in an email to staff, comes amid a broader global acceleration in the development of nuclear power facilities and technologies: The UK said this week that Rolls-Royce had become the first company to win government backing to produce small modular reactors, and committed £14.2 billion ($19.3 billion) to build the Sizewell C nuclear plant. In the US, meanwhile, Big Tech firms — along with the government itself — are increasingly looking to nuclear to fill the coming gap driven by a buildout of data centers, as well as reduce overall dependence on China for industrial supplies and foreign providers of energy more generally. “It’s time for nuclear,” US President Donald Trump said at the White House last month.

How to protect shipping

Investment required by 2050 to protect global shipping ports from sea level rise. Ports are a critical link in the global economy that are overlooked for climate adaptation, according to an analysis shared first with Semafor by Sarah Kapnick, global head of climate advisory at JPMorgan. Already today, sea level rise, hurricanes, and other climate change impacts cause about $7.6 billion in damage annually to port infrastructure, not counting damage to traded goods and lost trading opportunities, the analysis found. Closing the investment gap, Kapnick said, will require more focus on ports from both governments and the private sector.

BYD price war goes global

BYD has launched its cheapest and smallest electric vehicles in Europe, as the Chinese EV price war spreads worldwide. The Dolphin Surf, a hatchback, will retail for around $25,000 in the UK and EU, three times the Chinese price, partly thanks to tariffs. European manufacturers including Citroën, Renault, and Dacia have anticipated the move by releasing their own compact EVs to compete, and analysts said that prices had room to drop further as automakers turn to cheaper battery types. The price war is bruising for China’s domestic auto industry, but the Financial Times argued that increased competition in the UK and Europe could boost vehicle demand, which is still below pre-pandemic levels, and bring EV prices in line with petrol cars.

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New Energy

• The Swedish truck manufacturer Scania is in talks to build a consortium to buy the failed battery maker Northvolt’s research laboratory, according to the Financial Times.
• Residential solar firm Sunnova filed for bankruptcy after laying off half its workforce.

Fossil Fuels

• Liquefied natural gas is unlikely to replace coal in India, the IEEFA think tank argued: Rather than viewing LNG as a transition fuel, Indian policymakers are building out renewable capacity.

Finance

• The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) — a common metric for tracking the cost of projects — is too narrow a gauge, the Clean Air Task Force argued in a new paper.
• The geothermal developer Fervo Energy said it had obtained $206 million in additional financing to build out a major project in Utah.

Politics & Policy

• Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would personally seek to convince US President Donald Trump to take part in COP30 negotiations in Brazil if Trump did not confirm his attendance.
• US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he was negotiating with Congress to retain funding for the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office.
• The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed repealing rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s split is the latest proof that conglomerates are deeply out of fashion, Semafor’s Liz Hoffman and Rohan Goswami write.

Glomming diverse operations together smooths out profits through business cycles, and it mutualizes economic risk — it also mutualizes scandal, tainting a corporate empire with the real or perceived sins of one subsidiary. And with US President Donald Trump looking for points of leverage, corporate sprawl is a real liability.