Climate Tech Newsletter: April 20, 2026

Welcome to last week’s edition of the CBKNY’s Weekly News Highlights. Explore the latest policies, innovations, and market trends driving the future of climate tech.

Climate Tech Insights

This week showed how climate tech is shifting from promise to system-level stress. Key developments underscored the trend: DOE restored funding for major DAC hubs, FERC advanced a data-center interconnection decision, Senator Whitehouse pressed the EPA over xAI-related pollution concerns, China signaled a stronger clean-energy push, and Stegra secured funding for a flagship green steel project.

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1. Power-Hungry AI Boom Complicates Big Tech’s Climate Pledges
   April 16, 2026 – The Wall Street Journal

2. Utilities Plan to Spend $1.4 Trillion Over Next Five Years to Power AI Boom
   April 14, 2026 – The Wall Street Journal

3. Former FEMA Leader Set to Return After Being Ousted
   April 16, 2026 – The Washington Post

4. Colombia Convenes Climate ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to Break Global Fossil Fuel Deadlock
   April 17, 2026 – The Guardian

5. Tuvalu, Tiny Pacific Nation at the Forefront of Climate Crisis, to Host World Leaders Before Cop31 Summit
   April 15, 2026 – The Guardian

6. Microsoft’s Carbon Removal Strategy Is Shifting
   April 16, 2026 – MIT Technology Review

7. Canadian Insurers Fortify Homes, Urge Carney to Put Climate First as Wildfire Season Kicks Off
   April 14, 2026 – Reuters

8. US Energy Department Restores Funding to Carbon Removal Projects
   April 18, 2026 – Reuters

9. US Energy Regulator to Make Data Center Interconnection Decision by June
   April 17, 2026 – Reuters

10. Large Present-Day and Future Climate Forcing Due to Non-CO₂ Emissions from Global Transport
    April 11, 2026 – npj Climate and Atmospheric Science

11. South Korea Advances Green Energy With Ammonia-Powered Distributed Power Projects
    April 16, 2026 – EnergyTech

12. Lion Energy and American Battery Factory Partner to Expand U.S. Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery Production
    April 15, 2026 – EnergyTech

13. Whitehouse Probes xAI Data Center Pollution
    April 17, 2026 – E&E News

14. Cruz, Lummis Back Trump’s Big Climate Repeal in Court
    April 15, 2026 – E&E News

15. New Survey: How Climate Tech Gets Funded in 2026 #291
    April 13, 2026 – CTVC

16. China Briefing 16 April 2026: Billions for Grid, Petrochemical Plan, China’s High Seas Bid
    April 16, 2026 – Carbon Brief

17. Biggest US Clean Energy Project Generates Power
    April 18, 2026 – Canary Media

18. Stegra Lands Funding to Complete World’s First Major Green-Steel Mill
    April 14, 2026 – Canary Media

19. China Exports a Ton of Cleantech — and the World Is Poised to Want More
    April 17, 2026 – Canary Media

20. Big Grid Batteries Are Finally on a Roll in New England
    April 17, 2026 – Canary Media

21. China Lifts Green Push With Plan to Double Clean Energy by 2035
    April 17, 2026 – Bloomberg

22. Inertia Moves to Commercialize One of the World’s Most Elaborate Science Experiments
    April 14, 2026 – TechCrunch

23. The Diffusion Problem
    April 10, 2026 – RMI

24. Investments in Circular Startups in 2025
    March 24, 2026 – TheCircularLab

25. Pennsylvania Data Center Growth Bills
    April 16, 2026 – Inside Climate News

26. ICAP 2025 Report: Global Emissions Trading Systems Rise to 38, Covering 23% of Emissions
    April 15, 2026 – ESG News

27. Bain, BMO Drive Rapid Sell-Out of Mast Carbon Removal Credits as Carbon Markets Accelerate
    April 17, 2026 – ESG News

28. India’s Many E-Bikes and Tuk-Tuks Are Putting Peak Oil in Sight
    April 13, 2026 – Corporate Knights

29. NVIDIA and Idaho National Laboratory Launch AI Project to Cut Nuclear Build Time in Half
    April 16, 2026 – Carbon Credits