UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for lower-carbon data center development in a major address on climate change as the COP30 summit draws closer.

Why it matters: It signals how AI's massive energy thirst is high on the climate world's radar as hyperscalers expand infrastructure for training and use of powerful AI tools.

Driving the news: "By 2030, data centers could consume as much electricity as all of Japan does today. This is not sustainable — unless we make it so," he said yesterday.

• "Today I call on every major tech firm to power all data centers with 100% renewables by 2030," Guterres said.

The intrigue: The comments come as everyone's grappling with how much data center capacity will grow, how much power they'll need, and how much energy access hurdles might slow development.

• Estimates vary a lot.
• Morgan Stanley analysts, in a new note, project 23% annual growth in worldwide data center capacity through 2030 and lots of continued growth through 2035.
• Contra the UN boss's goal, they see a mix of fuels powering it, including gas, renewables, and nuclear.

What we're watching: Whether new energy commitments and goals around data centers emerge at COP30 in November.

A heat dome is bringing dangerous levels of heat and humidity to much of the country east of the Rockies this week.

Why it matters: Heat warnings and advisories stretch from Louisiana and the Florida panhandle up to Chicago and beyond as of yesterday afternoon, covering nearly 85 million Americans.

The bottom line: Extreme heat is the most deadly weather event in the U.S., and research has shown that human-driven climate change is making such events more intense and frequent.

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🇯🇵 President Trump said last night that Japan is nearing a deal with the U.S. to support LNG exports from Alaska but did not offer specifics.

• Why it matters: Trump 2.0 and Alaskan officials are seeking investors and buyers for a big proposed pipeline and export terminal, but the $44 billion project faces hurdles.
• State of play: "They're forming a joint venture with us in Alaska for the LNG," Trump said after announcing the new trade agreement with Japan. The White House did not provide comment.

⚡ PJM, which operates the largest U.S. grid, said some customers' bills could face a 1.5–5% rise in announcing results of its 2026-2027 power auction.

• Why it matters: The annual auction was closely watched amid rising demand and power companies and regulators scrambling to meet it. Reuters has more.

👋 Oil and gas companies including Shell are leaving the Science Based Targets initiative, which helps vet corporate climate plans, per the FT and Bloomberg.

• State of play: "The retreat ... started late last year after the companies were told that a net zero emissions strategy accredited by SBTi would require them to stop developing new oil and gas fields," Bloomberg reports.

The GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee is trying to end U.S. funding for the International Energy Agency in fiscal year 2026.

Why it matters: Discontent with IEA is filtering through the GOP ranks.

• And it's the most concrete effort I've seen to pull the U.S. back from the multinational group.

Driving the news: Formal report language attached to an international programs funding bill alleges IEA has "strayed" from its energy security mission, and "pursued politicized information to support climate policy advocacy."

Catch up quick: The U.S. has provided nearly $6 million annually, or 14% of the IEA's "regular budget," over the last decade, the agency told Congress in early 2024.

Friction point: Some Republicans accuse IEA of morphing into a climate NGO and have attacked its projection that global oil demand will stop growing this decade.

• Critics include DOE boss Chris Wright and Sen. John Barrasso, the chamber's No. 2 Republican.

The other side: The IEA has repeatedly rebutted the various allegations and notes that its oil demand views are comfortably within the analytical mainstream.

The bottom line: The effort to yank funding via Congress has an uphill climb given Democrats' Senate numbers, but GOP ire isn't going away.

• "We will reform the way the IEA operates or we will withdraw," Wright told Bloomberg last week.

JPMorgan, Microsoft and nature carbon removal startup Chestnut Carbon have partnered to close a landmark $210 million debt deal to deploy nature-based carbon removal projects.

Why it matters: The transaction could be a turning point for an underfunded sector.

DBL Partners' Nancy Pfund, whose firm backed Chestnut Carbon, tells Axios that the deal was structured like energy infrastructure with milestones, independent measuring, reporting and verification, and clear risk allocation.

How it works: The transaction is one of the first to apply traditional project finance to nature-based carbon removal.

• JPMorgan is leading a lending syndicate that includes CoBank, Bank of Montreal and East West Bank to deliver the non-recourse loan.
• Microsoft is buying the removal credits from the projects across states like Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana under a 25-year offtake agreement.
• The banks were interested in providing the loan because of the long agreement length, the financial strength of the offtaker (Microsoft) and the diversity of the forestry projects.

The bottom line: Pfund says it's a "deja vu moment" that reminds her of solar's early days when deals were just starting to become bankable.

• Chestnut's project financing deal is a similar "inflection point" for nature-based carbon removal, says Pfund.

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Renewable energy lobbyists flooded the Hill to defend the IRA's tax credits in the weeks preceding the reconciliation bill's passage into law, second-quarter disclosures show.

Why it matters: Big spending by trade groups and companies to save what they like — or press for carveouts — led to Republicans rolling back credits for wind and solar while securing longer phaseouts for nuclear and geothermal.

😮 Stunning stat: The American Clean Power Association spent $3.8 million, its highest quarterly total since at least 1999 and more than seven times the $510,000 it spent in Q1.

Yes, but: It wasn't enough to protect key wind and solar credits from a quick phaseout, though some provisions were softened.

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Breaking: EV startup Lucid just announced collaboration with four companies in the critical mineral value chain: Alaska Energy Metals, Graphite One, Electric Metals, and RecycLiCo.

Why it matters: The new Minerals for National Automotive Competitiveness Collaboration is the latest example of mineral supply chain needs creating new business relationships — and it won't be the last.

What's next: The new effort's goals include...

• Advancing domestic mineral projects through offtake agreements for use in U.S. vehicles.
• Expanding coordination between the automotive and mining sectors, and identifying and resolving barriers to commercial adoption.

That's the increase over the last year in the number of small modular reactor designs "that have announced at least one funding or financing deal," a new report from the OECD's Nuclear Energy Agency finds.

Yes, but: "While many SMR developers have succeeded in securing early-stage funding for research and development, most have yet to secure the full financing needed for first-of-a-kind deployment," the 2025 version of its SMR dashboard states.

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