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This week’s Current Climate, which every Saturday brings you the latest news about the business of sustainability. Sign up to get it in your inbox every week.

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The Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that it is proposing new carbon pollution standards aimed at power plants run on coal and natural gas. These include establishing lower emissions guidelines for existing power plants that use both steam and combustion turbines, as well as strengthening standards for new power plants to be built in the future.The agency also intends to encourage the use of carbon capture and hydrogen co-firing to help fossil-fuel powered plants meet these standards, and estimate that the standards could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by over 400 million metric tons. The standards are also aimed at reducing other pollutants from the plants as well, which the agency estimates could prevent hundreds of deaths as well as other disease events such as asthma attacks.

“EPA’s proposal relies on proven, readily available technologies to limit carbon pollution and seizes the momentum already underway in the power sector to move toward a cleaner future,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a press release. “Alongside historic investment taking place across America in clean energy manufacturing and deployment, these proposals will help deliver tremendous benefits to the American people—cutting climate pollution and other harmful pollutants, protecting people’s health, and driving American innovation.”

The Big Read

Meet The Texas Startup That Recycles Rare-Earth Magnets, Bypassing China

Rare earth magnets are everywhere, even if most people know nothing about them. They go into everything from electric vehicles to wind turbines to consumer electronics to missile guidance systems. Yet for years, the U.S. has been largely dependent on China for rare-earth processing. Noveon Magnetics, has a grand plan — and some patented technology — to make a dent in that dependance through large-scale recycling efforts.

Discoveries And Innovations

In its ESG report, video game maker Activision Blizzard says that 61% of its electricity use was generated by renewable sources in 2022, up from 0.04% in 2021, though its carbon emissions increased slightly due to increased travel and return to office operations. The company said that it’s begun implementing decarbonation measures with an aim to getting to net zero by 2050.

Biotech startup Mycocycle is using mushrooms that can break down waste generated by construction and demolition operations, eliminating most of their toxins and creating composite materials that can be used for other applications.

Researchers at the University of Chicago determined that U.S. fishing policies adopted in the late 1990s have successfully restored fish populations while allowing fishing operations to continue to be profitable.

Sustainability Deals Of The Week

Green Hydrogen: Hydrogen producer Modern Hydrogen raised a $32.8 million series B-2 round led by NextEra Energy. The new capital will be used to scale up the company’s production capacity.

Cultured Meat: Netherlands-based Mosa Meat opened its fourth production facility in Maastricht, which is aimed at scaling up its production of lab-grown burgers.

On The Horizon

In 2022, the U.S. used 5.25% less oil than it did in 2019, even though the economy has grown by about the same amount in the intervening years. What does that suggest for the future? A number of reasons for this are related to the pandemic, notably reductions in the amount of miles traveled by Americans as many of them continue to work from home. But it may well be that even if demand goes back to pre-pandemic levels, actual oil consumption will continue to decline thanks to improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency.

What Else We’re Reading This Week

4 reasons to let your lawn grow wild (Popular Science)

Fusion power by 2028? Microsoft is betting on it. (Washington Post)

Some Crabs Are Losing Their Sense of Smell as Oceans Acidify (Scientific American)

Green Transportation Update

With California’s recent announcement that diesel-burning semis will be phased out of the Golden State in the years to come and generous incentives for zero-pollution commercial vehicles it should be primetime for Tesla to grab a big lead in the new market for electric heavy-duty trucks. But in the five months since Elon Musk celebrated the December launch of his long-delayed Tesla Semi, the company doesn’t have much to show yet: one customer and about three dozen trucks on the road. And big trucking companies like JB Hunt, Ryder and UPS don’t know yet when they’ll get vehicles ordered after its 2017 debut.

The Big Transportation Story

Nikola’s CEO Is Upbeat On Outlook For Hydrogen Trucks As Its Shares Take A Beating

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One of the company’s hoping to outdo Tesla in emission-free trucks, Nikola, has delivered more semis than Musk’s EV powerhouse but its finances are growing tight and its shares are taking a beating as investor worries mount. CEO Michael Lohscheller thinks a more focused business strategy, which includes production of fuel cell trucks this year and “green” hydrogen to power them, can turn things around.