Big Banks Ditch Climate Coalition

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U.S. steel shares tumble pre-market on reports that Nippon Steel's takeover bid is set to be blocked by President Biden. Plus America's big banks head for the exits of a climate coalition meant to reduce carbon emissions, and a West Bank power struggle turns deadly as the Palestinian Authority battles Hamas militants and their allies.

So the PA is making a very risky move here. If it succeeds, it may win back some legitimacy. If it doesn't succeed and it kills civilians and it causes a lot of damage and nothing changes, well, it could lose the legitimacy among Palestinians it barely has today. It's Friday, January 3rd. I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal and here is the AM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.

Shares of U.S. Steel are dropping sharply in off-hours trading this morning on media reports that President Biden plans to block the company's takeover by Japan's Nippon Steel. The Washington Post first reported Biden's planned decision citing unnamed sources.

Both companies had been making last-ditch efforts to win over critics of the proposed takeover with U.S. deal overnight pledging to create a workforce training center in western Pennsylvania if the deal went through. President Biden previously said the U.S. deal should remain domestically owned and operated, a view shared by President-elect Trump.

Boeing is conducting more surprise inspections at its factories as part of a plan to prevent manufacturing faults like the one that led to a jet panel blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight a year ago. The jet maker today outlined more than a dozen steps that's taken in recent months to tackle a manufacturing quality crisis that has forced the company to slow production and placed it under regulatory scrutiny. Some of those steps have been previously reported.

America's biggest banks are walking away from the net-zero banking alliance, an ambitious pandemic-era climate coalition aimed at pushing for a reduction in carbon emissions by businesses. Morgan Stanley City and Bank of America all pulled out this week, following in the footsteps of Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, which withdrew over the past month.

And according to a person familiar with the matter, JP Morgan Chase, the only major U.S. lender left in the coalition, is now considering leaving too. The exodus reflects a broad pullback from ESG initiatives by corporate America ahead of the Second Trump Administration. Banks in particular have faced harsh criticism over the net zero alliance from Republicans, who've argued amounts to a boycott of the oil and gas industries, and that it could violate antitrust laws.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman say they're committed to their own net zero goals. While city says it plans to focus on a broader climate-focused group that it co-founded. JP Morgan spoke so many meanwhile said the bank regularly evaluates memberships to ensure they further its interests.

Well, in its latest move to prepare for change in Washington, Meta is replacing its chief policy executive, Nick Clegg, the former head of the UK's center-left Liberal Democratic Party with his Republican deputy, Joel Kaplan. Kaplan, a former aide to President George W. Bush and a friend of Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh, has long served as the social media company's conduit to Republicans in Washington and to the broader conservative ecosystem.

Data centers were the darlings of commercial real estate in 2024 as the AI boom drove a land rush for sprawling computing facilities, and with suitable sites still in short supply 2025 is likely to bring yet more development nationwide. But as Journal reporter Will Parker told our Tech News Briefing podcast,

In one city that's seen more data center growth than almost anywhere else in the U.S., Atlanta land use concerns are sparking local pushback against the rapid development of power hungry facilities that are often light on permanent staff. Some of the land that data center operators are attracted to is land that would be primed for building more housing.

This is land around transit corridors. The problem right now is that not the new people are building apartments due to financing issues. And the city is worried that if all of that land fills up with data centers by the time the market is more suitable for apartment construction again, you know, a lot of the sites that would have been really great to put more housing won't be available anymore.

In September, Atlanta's City Council banned new data centers from opening neighborhoods near public transit, a move that was recently echoed by Fairfax County in northern Virginia, another data center, Mecca, which said the facilities can't be located within a mile of rail stations. And for more on this trend, check out today's episode of Tech News Briefing. Wherever you get your podcasts.

And in markets today, US stock futures are ticking up, suggesting that stocks could break a recent losing streak, and we'll get the latest checkup on the health of the auto sector later when a number of US carmakers disclose sales for the fourth quarter. Coming up, the Journal's Dovleber breaks down a worsening power struggle unfolding in the West Bank that could have potential implications for who governs post-war Gaza. That story and more after the break.

What then will the future reveal? There's one thing we know about the future. It's being built now. We all have a stake in the future. The future. The future. The future. And the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything podcast is here to give you a glimpse of what's on the way. I'm Danny Lewis. Join us as we dig into how science and technology are shaping the future. Oh, that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

South Korea's impeached president Yoon Sakhyol avoided arrest today, as roughly 200 bodyguards fended off an effort by around 30 investigators to detain the 64-year-old leader. Investigators had warned presidential security personnel they could be charged for helping Yoon to defy arrest, though constitutional law experts say the security team appeared to view the arrest as a threat to the president's safety.

The hour's long standoff is the latest tumult to stem from Yoon's martial law decree last month, which led lawmakers to impeach him, thereby stripping him of his political powers. Yoon's stand-in was also impeached last week. Investigators could try to arrest Yoon again, as the arrest warrant for him is valid through Monday.

While much of the focus lately in the Middle East has been on Syria and Gaza, a security crisis has been unfolding in the occupied West Bank over recent weeks, pitting the Palestinian Authority against Hamas militants and their allies. And here to talk about that situation and the high stakes that it carries is journal correspondent, Dov Lieber. Dov, for a while now, the very simplified way to understand the Palestinian political situation has been, and correct me if I'm wrong here, that the Palestinian Authority

under Fatah runs the West Bank and Hamas governs Gaza. But evidently, that situation is not so clear-cut. What has been happening lately? This is the first time we've seen such severe fighting between these two factions, really. Basically, for the first time since Hamas took full control of Gaza in 2007, and now it's happening in the West Bank city of Janine. Janine is a hot spot for conflict, but usually between the Israeli military and Palestinian militants,

And now we're seeing it happening between the Palestinian Authority security forces and militants inside Janine's refugee camp. So it's crowded, it's poverty-stricken, and it's largely controlled by militants. And this type of situation has happened all across the West Bank, where these refugee camps have been largely taken control over by militants, and Palestinian security forces launched this crackdown that's been going on now since early December. Has it been deadly? What have we been seeing?

Right, so there's something around 11 fatalities so far. Several are civilians, including one journalist. So what's happening is this Palestinian security forces have basically besieged their refugee camp. They say that the militants have embedded themselves in a civilian area using IEDs next to schools or medical clinics and that they have no choice.

The Palestinian Authority getting serious about fighting these militants, what could that signal? This is a group that, for the last few years, we've talked about more as an ineffectual political force, but now taking on a big security operation, it seems. If you ask the Palestinian Authority, they say it's just got out of control. And more than that, they say, and here's how the war in Gaza comes into play, they say by these militant groups operating out of Palestinian cities, they give Israel the pretext.

to carry out deadly raids inside Palestinian territories. And they say that they're worried that Israel could do in the West Bank what it did in Gaza if these militant groups continue to operate out of these areas. Now, analysts will tell you a few things. First, this is the Palestinian 30 President Mahmoud Abbas showing that his security forces are capable if they ever want to also be placed inside the Gaza Strip in order to take over control of that enclave from Hamas.

That's an idea that the Biden administration has backed. Correct. The Biden administration wants it to be the Palestinian Authority. But here's the hitch. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said this is not going to happen. So some analysts will say it's really about cementing control in the West Bank. And why do they have to submit control now? Well, they're looking at Syria and they saw a ragtag team of militants with pickup trucks and light arms can topple a government. Why couldn't it happen in the West Bank?

But another lesson from Syria is that the Iranian axis of which Hamas and these military groups are a part of is severely weakened. And potentially they see an opportunity to remove their competing faction, which is linked to Iran around funds. These groups, it's unclear how much control they really have with these groups. These militant groups are deeply rooted in Palestine society. So much so that it's unclear at the moment whether a majority of Palestinians support the crackdown on militants,

Right, in addition to the risk that this all just descends into further fighting, a problem I imagine from the West Bank as a whole, the PA is, it sounds like in a bind here, maybe trying to improve its legitimacy through this operation, but in the process potentially jeopardizing its reputation within the territory.

correct in using force inside civilian areas. That's true. So the PA is making a very risky move here. If it doesn't succeed and it kills civilians and it causes a lot of damage inside this refugee camp and nothing changes, well, it could lose the legitimacy among Palestinians it barely has today. In terms of the risks for the PA here, could they be seen as aligning

with Israel. I mean, the PA this week also suspended Al Jazeera's activities in the West Bank. Something Israel's done as well. Is there a risk there? Absolutely correct. It's a huge risk. So already the PA is seen by many Palestinians as basically doing the bidding of Israel. But this time the Palestinian Authority isn't backing down.

And in fact, they told us, we asked them about this, is there a timestamp on this operation? They said, no, they're not going to finish till it's over and that's a recipe for an escalation potentially. But they're showing determination and it's always quite surprised by this, but it's important to note that it's really officials as well as officials from the Palestinian Authority say this is actually a completely independent Palestinian operation.

I've been speaking to Wall Street Journal correspondent Dov Lieber. Dov, thanks as always for the update. Thank you for having me. And that's it for what's news for this Friday morning. Today's show was produced by Daniel Bach with supervising producer Christina Raca. And I'm Luke Vargas for the Wall Street Journal. We will be back tonight with the new show. Otherwise, have a great weekend and thanks for listening.