First look: A carbon removal industry group is launching a domestic security-focused push for policies that stitch CO2-sucking tech into U.S. mining operations.

Why it matters: Adding carbon removal to mining can create revenue to help make U.S. development more competitive and counter China, the Carbon Removal Alliance argues in a new memo.

The big picture: Clean tech sectors are positioning their message around Trump-friendly, energy dominance and security themes as the White House looks to expand domestic mining.

How it works: Mining creates mineral byproducts that naturally absorb CO2. This can be greatly sped up via crushing them with existing processing infrastructure at mining sites and sometimes treating them to boost reactivity.

• This is known in the removal world as "enhanced rock weathering" and can both boost mineral extraction and reduce waste levels, the group argues.
• Removal could also occur via "pit lakes" at mining sites by adding alkaline materials. It boosts the water's CO2 absorption as the CO2 reacts with the materials, creating bicarbonates that sink to the bottom.

Driving the news: The group just unveiled suggestions for Trump's National Energy Dominance Council.

• They include prioritizing permits for federal lands projects that integrate CO2 removal.
• Another is ensuring the Development Finance Corporation — which Trump wants to assist U.S. mining — aids projects that weave in removal.

Follow the money: The idea is that selling removal credits in addition to underlying commodities — and sharing the revenue with removal startups — helps improve domestic project economics.

• "We're providing them a revenue backstop, increasing the profitability of each mine," CRA senior policy manager Eli Cain tells me. It's especially helpful when commodity prices are low and volatile, he said.
• The idea lends itself to integration with mining lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt and more, he said.
• The group sees a revenue opportunity for the mining sector in just a subset of mineral types analyzed that's north of $100 billion over the next 25 years.

Reality check: Yes, mining is a White House priority and the subject of a recent executive order. Tackling climate change isn't.

• But Cain notes there's bipartisan support for more domestic critical minerals projects.
• "We're talking about game-changing economics here," he said, adding that CRA is going to circulate the proposal on Capitol Hill.

What we're watching: Cain notes that removal startups like Arca are already working with mining companies in Canada and Australia.

The bottom line: The mining industry has been waning in recent decades as the U.S. is undercut on price by competition from areas with lower environmental standards, he said.

• "We won't hit our climate goals without carbon removal, but really this comes down to increasing the revenue potential from mines," Cain said.

Trump officials have dismissed hundreds of outside authors working on the country's flagship, congressionally mandated climate report, per an email sent to the scientists.

Why it matters: The National Climate Assessment, which arrives every four years-ish, is a key avenue for informing policymakers at all levels, researchers, NGOs and the public.

• The last appeared in 2023.

Driving the news: The scope of the sixth planned report is "currently being reevaluated in accordance with the Global Change Research Act of 1990," the email states.

• "We are now releasing all current assessment participants from their roles. As plans develop for the assessment, there may be future opportunities to contribute or engage."
• Rachel Cleetus, who works for the Union of Concerned Scientists, posted the email text via a UCS release, and it's circulating elsewhere too. Multiple outlets also reported on the emails.

Catch up quick: It comes weeks after NASA canceled a key contract supporting the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the multi-agency body overseeing the report.

What we're watching: As the email suggests, Trump officials appear to be weighing some kind of NCA6.

• A number of administration members have contrarian views on climate risks and damages that could be reflected in a re-shaped analysis. The NYT's piece on the dismissals delves into this.

Giulia Chierchia, BP's executive VP for strategy, sustainability & ventures, is leaving the company and will not be replaced, BP said this morning.

Why it matters: It comes as the company is pivoting away from the climate strategy it unveiled in February 2020. She joined in April of that year.

State of play: "As part of our continued drive to simplify our structure, the teams within the SS&V function will be integrated into other functions that will provide clear synergies, enabling quicker decision-making and clearer accountabilities," BP said.

Catch up quick: The announcement alongside BP's Q1 earnings comes roughly a month after board chairman Helge Lund — who helped oversee BP's green plans — announced he would step down.

• In late February BP said it was abandoning plans to cut oil and gas production and slashing low-carbon investment targets.

The intrigue: Per Reuters, activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management, which has a sizable stake in BP and wants further changes, had sought her exit.

• BP did not provide immediate comment to Axios on whether pressure from Elliott influenced the decision.

What we're watching: BP's efforts to improve financial performance that has lagged behind its peers in recent years.

• The company's Q1 earnings missed analysts' estimates. But BP touted steps like project startups in Namibia and elsewhere, and new discoveries in Trinidad, Egypt and Mauritania, and Senegal.
• CEO Murray Auchincloss told CNBC today that the company's reset unveiled earlier this year is going well.

🗳️ Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who's seeking the Senate's No. 2 post, is among the chamber's most outspoken advocates of tougher steps to tackle climate change.

• What we're watching: The whip job is more of an organizational than policy gig, but if he wins it would nonetheless put him in a powerful and high-profile role.
• State of play: Schatz unveiled his candidacy to replace the outgoing Dick Durbin via a Washington Post interview published yesterday.

🛑 The Business Roundtable, a powerful CEO group, wants "substantive reforms" from the SEC that prevent activist shareholder resolutions.

• State of play: Its paper last week says that should occur if Congress doesn't pass legislation that would bar "shareholder proposals relating to environmental, social and political issues in a company's proxy statement."
• Why it matters: Climate advocates and other activists use resolutions to press companies to adopt more robust efforts.
• The other side: The Business Roundtable and other critics say activist investors have "hijacked" the proxy system for political reasons that don't boost shareholder value. (H/t E&E News)

⛽ EPA is issuing a waiver that will allow summer sales of 15% ethanol blends in gasoline, calling it a boost for consumer choice and lower prices. The Hill has more.

China's dominance over key clean tech supply chains means there's enough overcapacity to create headwinds to U.S. projects, BloombergNEF said in a new report.

Why it matters: "Overcapacity depresses equipment prices, making it harder to onshore clean-tech supply chains," it states.

The big picture: China accounted for 76% of new factory investment last year across the sectors tracked: the solar and battery supply chains; wind nacelles and hydrogen electrolyzer stack assembly.

What we're watching: How this overcapacity intersects with other challenges to U.S. clean tech manufacturing growth.

• "The US is the leading provider of subsidies to support manufacturing, but political risks cloud the outlook with 25% of public clean-tech funding at high risk of repeal under the Trump administration," BloombergNEF said in a report summary.

"If I'm not president, you're f——d."

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, didn't confirm the quote but said if Democrats had another term to implement their "radical climate agenda," the U.S. industry would be "dead."

• Rogers said Trump is committed to giving industry leaders a seat at the table, saying this was absent the last four years, and giving them tools to make the U.S. "energy dominant."

Yes, but: The industry — which saw record production in Biden's term — generally backs Trump's proposals, but is chafing at tariffs' effect on demand and prices.