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Climate

China’s Minerals Pause All Pain, No Gain for U.S.

On China’s export pause, BrightDrop demand, and fighting wildfires

China’s Minerals Pause All Pain, No Gain for U.S.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: More than 28 million people in the Ohio Valley are at risk of severe thunderstorms todayIntense heat in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City may be behind dozens of cases of food poisoning linked to street vendorsParts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula could see up to 10 inches of snow by late Tuesday.

THE TOP FIVE

1. China suspends exports of critical minerals, magnets

Manufacturers dependent on critical minerals and magnets are bracing for shortages and production delays after China suspended exports last week, in apparent retaliation for tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The pause comes as China implements a new regulatory system, although it is expected to cut off shipments to some U.S. companies indefinitely, The New York Times reports.

China produces nearly all of the world’s heavy rare earth metals and rare earth magnets, which are crucial components for electric car motors, as well as drones, missiles, and spacecraft. But while rare earth magnets make up a small portion of China’s exports and the pause will cause “minimal economic pain” to Beijing, there is “potential for big effects in the United States and elsewhere,” the Times writes. Emergency stockpiles of heavy rare earth metals and magnets vary by company, but many American manufacturers have historically kept little to no extra inventory on hand.

2. GM pauses production of its electric delivery van citing ‘market demand’

GM announced Friday that it is pausing production of its electric Chevrolet BrightDrop delivery van through October, citing “market demand and rebalancing inventory.” The decision will see the automaker temporarily lay off 1,200 workers at its assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, with a permanent reduction of 450 workers expected when production resumes at lower levels in the fall. “This is a crushing blow,” Lana Payne, the president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, said in a statement. Last year, the Ontario plant produced 3,500 BrightDrop vans, of which GM sold 1,529; this year, it has sold just 247. The Detroit Free Press cites the vehicle’s $74,000 price tag as a reason for lagging sales, while Electrek points to the uncertainty of Trump’s tariffs for “causing companies like GM to expect more pain in the near term.”

3. Trump plans to create a federal wildfire agency: report

The Trump administration is reportedly considering an executive order calling for creating a new wildland fire agency focused on the “immediate” suppression of wildfires. While many organizations and industry insiders have long awaited reforms in how the federal government combats wildfires — including pushing for the creation of a National Wildland Fire Service — the news was also met by concerns that the order could loosen certain requirements, especially for aerial firefighting.

Washington State’s Commissioner of Public Lands Dave Upthegrove warned The Spokesman-Review in a statement that “If the draft is implemented as currently written it will, among other things, eliminate critical safety measures that protect aerial firefighters,” including independent inspections of tankers and planes that perform surveillance by the Forest Service. The Trump administration has responded to speculation over the EO by saying, “The media should stop reporting on ‘drafts’ with unknown origins.”

4. Goldman Sachs: Oil and gas companies ‘should be a cornerstone of ESG funds’

Michele Della Vigna, the head of natural resources research at Goldman Sachs, told CNBC that investors should consider including oil and gas stocks as a “cornerstone” of their ESG portfolios. While fossil fuel companies have traditionally been excluded from investments focused on “environmental, social, and governance” factors, Della Vigna likened a reappraisal of oil and gas to the way that some ESG funds have started to shift to include defense stocks. “This energy transition will be much longer than expected,” he said, adding that fossil fuel companies are major investors in low-carbon technologies and “we will not have affordable energy” otherwise.

The White House has singled out law firms with a focus on ESG and promoted support of coal and oil, but despite the pressures, others who spoke to CNBC remained skeptical of Della Vigna’s argument. “We can see the negative impacts of oil and gas,” Ida Kassa Johannesen, the head of commercial ESG at Saxo Bank, said, adding, “I mean, why would we want to see more fossil fuels? Most ESG investors would not.”

5. Noboa, Ecuadorian president with mixed environmental record, wins reelection

Franklin Jacome/Getty Images

Center-right President Daniel Noboa won reelection in Ecuador on Sunday, earning a full four-year term after taking power in snap elections in November 2023. While Ecuador has been an international leader on environmental issues, famously recognizing the legal rights of nature in its 2008 constitution, Noboa has a more mixed record, with critics claiming he has prioritized the nation’s economy over proposals for emissions reductions. Noboa notably has welcomed an anticipated $42 billion in foreign investment in oil production over the next five years, even as a 2024 national referendum blocked the government’s plan to restart drilling in Yasuní National Park. (Noboa has said he’s considering a moratorium on that referendum.) The impacts of a warmer climate have been immediately felt in Ecuador, however; the nation endured blackouts last year due to the impacts of a drought on the nation’s hydroelectric plants, and Noboa has pledged rainwater harvesting and storage projects during his second term.

THE KICKER

On Friday, 63 nations — including China, Brazil, and much of Europe, but excluding the United States — voted to approve a first-of-its-kind tax on greenhouse gas emissions by ships in the shipping industry.

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Climate

AM Briefing: The IRA Lives On in Obligated Spending

On IRA funds, rescissions, and EV battery technology

The IRA Lives On in Obligated Spending
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: The National Weather Service is advising Americans in 11 states affected by heat waves to avoid coffee and alcohol due to dehydration riskThere have been more wildfires in London this summer than in all of 2024We’re at the halfway point in climatological summer and the United States’ hottest day of the year — 124 degrees Fahrenheit in Death Valley, California, on Monday — may now be behind us.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Here’s how much money the IRA actually spent

It has long been a “big mystery” how much grant funding from the Inflation Reduction Act the Biden administration ultimately got out the door before leaving the White House. Previously, the administration had announced awards for about 67% of the $145.4 billion in grants. Still, it wasn’t until Republicans in Congress began their rescissions of the bill’s unobligated funds that a fuller picture began to emerge.

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Podcast

Climate Policy in America: Where We Go From Here

Rob does a post-vacation debrief with Jesse and Heatmap deputy editor Jillian Goodman on the One Big Beautiful Bill.

Donald Trump and Mike Johnson.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

It’s official. On July 4, President Trump signed the Republican reconciliation bill into law, gutting many of the country’s most significant clean energy tax credits. The future of the American solar, wind, battery, and electric vehicle industries looks very different now than it did last year.

On this week’s episode of Shift Key, we survey the damage and look for bright spots. What did the law, in its final version, actually repeal, and what did it leave intact? How much could still change as the Trump administration implements the law? What does this mean for U.S. economic competitiveness? And how are we feeling about the climate fight today?

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Politics

Here’s How Much Money Biden Actually Spent From the IRA

When Congress rescinded unobligated funds from the historic climate law, it inadvertently answered a question climate advocates have been asking for months.

Joe Biden.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Biden administration left office without ever disclosing how much of the historic climate funding from the Inflation Reduction Act it had spent.

Politico reached out to every federal agency in November in an attempt to answer that question and could only conclude that it was a “big mystery.” The administration had announced awards for about 67% of the $145.4 billion in grants created by the IRA, the outlet found, but the amount that had been obligated — meaning legally committed and therefore, at least in theory, protected — remained largely unknown.

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