Today’s ESG Updates
Japan and U.S. Consider $100B Nuclear Project: The nuclear deal could be added to Japan’s $550 billion investment package ahead of a March 19 leaders’ meeting.
Trump Orders Naval Escorts for Tankers: U.S. action follows oil prices rising over $10 per barrel amid Strait of Hormuz tensions.
EU Drops Steel Emissions Label: The Industrial Accelerator Act removes the label but keeps a 25% low-carbon steel requirement for public procurement.
XeleratedFifty Acquires Terrascope: The AI-powered platform will scale enterprise carbon tracking for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions and support LSRS and CBAM frameworks.
Japan and U.S. consider nuclear deal to boost energy supply chains
Japan and the United States are working to include a nuclear power project in the second round of deals under Japan’s $550 billion investment package to strengthen energy supply chains. The nuclear project is expected to involve Westinghouse, a U.S. nuclear company owned by Cameco and Brookfield. The company is looking at building pressurised water reactors and small modular reactors worth up to $100 billion.
Japan has already announced three earlier projects valued at $36 billion, including a natural gas power plant in Ohio. Inclusion of this project is part of broader talks ahead of a planned meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and U.S. President Donald Trump scheduled for March 19.
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Further reading: Exclusive: Japan, US aim to add nuclear power project to $550 billion investment package, sources say
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Trump orders naval escorts as oil prices surge amid Strait of Hormuz tensions
The U.S. will provide naval escorts and political risk insurance for oil and gas tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons
President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will provide naval escorts and political risk insurance for oil and gas tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz in response to oil prices rising more than $10 per barrel since U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began Saturday. U.S. oil prices surged to over $77 per barrel before coming down to $73 per barrel on Tuesday afternoon following Trump’s announcement.
The Strait of Hormuz is critical because it carries about 20% of the world’s waterborne oil shipments, making any disruption a major threat to global energy supplies.
The U.S. military says it has sunk 11 Iranian ships since the joint operation with Israel began, suggesting the mission may now shift toward intercepting Iranian missiles that threaten civilian shipping rather than preventing sea-based attacks.
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Further reading: US mulls military support for vulnerable oil supplies in Strait of Hormuz
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EU drops steel emissions label from “Made in Europe” draft law
The draft still requires that at least 25% of steel used in public procurement be low-carbon. Photo Credit: Markus Spiske
The European Union has scrapped a proposed emissions label for steel from its upcoming “Made in Europe” law (officially the Industrial Accelerator Act) in a latest draft. This move is seen as a setback for low-carbon steelmakers who had wanted a way to make greener steel more visible and marketable. Earlier versions of the draft included a voluntary emissions intensity label. Still, the newer draft removes it, with some internal EU Commission concerns about increased regulatory complexity arising from another emissions labelling law under development.
Although the emissions label is gone, the draft still requires that at least 25% of steel used in public procurement be low-carbon.
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Further reading: EU axes steel emissions label from ‘made in Europe’ law, draft shows
XeleratedFifty acquires AI-powered carbon management platform Terrascope
Terrascope provides an AI-powered decarbonisation platform that helps enterprises measure and reduce Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions. Photo Credit: Matthias Heyde
XeleratedFifty has acquired the enterprise carbon management and sustainability platform Terrascope from Olam Group’s sustainability venture business Nupo Ventures. Terrascope is a Singapore-based company founded in 2022. It provides an AI-powered decarbonisation platform that helps enterprises measure and reduce Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, with a focus on sectors such as agriculture, commodities, and food & beverage. The platform intends to accelerate the development of its tools, such as AI-enabled analytics, and to support the development of frameworks, including the Land Sector and Removal Standard (LSRS) of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).
XeleratedFifty was launched in 2025 by the team behind Boeing’s Aerospace Xelerated program to help governments and corporations source, scale, and commercialise technology in impact-focused sectors such as aerospace, defense, shipping, and energy.
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Further reading: XeleratedFifty Acquires Carbon Management Platform Terrascope
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed here by the authors are their own, not those of impakter.com — Cover Photo Credit: The White House
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