This is the weekly Reuters Sustainable Finance Newsletter. You can get it in your inbox for free every Wednesday by clicking this sign-up link.

By Ross Kerber

May 28 (Reuters) - U.S. federal antitrust officials last week picked sides and lined up with Republican-led states in an antitrust lawsuit against the top three asset managers.

You can read about the "Statement of Interest" they filed in this week's main story, below. I've also included links to stories about U.S. retailers looking more likely to go private, Germany's shifting tone on Israel, and a Norwegian parliamentary development.

Also: Reuters is surveying readers like you to find out how you get your news about climate change, and what your concerns are around the topic. It took me less than two minutes to take the survey, and you can do so here.

You can follow me on LinkedIn and/or Bluesky. Or get me via ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com.

Feds line up with Republican states in climate-investing case

U.S. federal antitrust enforcers last week expressed support for arguments wielded by Republican states accusing asset managers BlackRock, BLK.N Vanguard and State Street STT.N of conspiring through climate activism to decrease coal output.

The "Statement of Interest" filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission came in a case brought by Texas and 12 other states. Their complaint claims the firms used their substantial holdings in U.S. coal companies to discourage competition, such as through their past involvement in an investor climate group.

The entry of the federal officials raises the stakes for the case that tests how freely the three fund firms may act with the combined $27 trillion they manage for investors. Given how much criticism there has been from Republicans - many from energy-producing states - of environmental investment practices, the filing hardly comes as a surprise.

But it serves as the agencies' signal to the market that they care about the area, said Megan Gerking, a partner with law firm Morrison Foerster following the case. "This statement of interest is a shot across the bow by the administration's new antitrust leadership against asset managers - and potentially others - regarding investments and related conduct connected to sustainability objectives," Gerking told me via e-mail.

The companies have pushed back, with BlackRock taking the strongest line to call the case baseless and "based on an absurd theory that coal companies conspired with their shareholders to reduce coal production." Forcing the fund firms to divest from coal companies -- one outcome sought by the state plaintiffs -- would harm the companies' access to capital and likely raise energy prices. The new agency support for the case undermines the goal of American energy independence, BlackRock said.

In March the companies asked a federal court to dismiss the case. A hearing is set for June 9. You can read more of our coverage by clicking here.

Company News

A key Norwegian parliamentary committee is poised to reject calls for requiring the country's $1.8 trillion wealth fund to boycott any company doing business in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In a win for British-Australian miner Rio Tinto RIO.L and Australian miner BHP, BHP.AX the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Native American group's bid, based on religious principles, to block a giant copper mine planned in Arizona.

U.S. retailers pummeled by President Donald Trump's trade war seem more likely to go private, say investment bankers and M&A lawyers, following the $9.42 billion take-private deal for sneaker-maker Skechers this month.

On my radar

The U.S. Treasury Department cannot cancel a union contract covering tens of thousands of IRS employees, a federal judge ruled, dealing a blow to the Trump Administration's efforts to end collective bargaining rights. But the decision on technical grounds "says nothing of the merits of the case," wrote U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves in the Eastern District of Kentucky, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency team is expanding use of his Grok AI chatbot in the U.S. government. Such use of the chatbot could reinforce concerns the team is casting away long-established protections over the handling of sensitive data.

Germany's tone on Israel shifted over Gaza. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said Berlin would not ship weapons used to break humanitarian law and Chancellor Friedrich Merz said air strikes on Gaza were no longer justified by the need to fight Hamas.

(Reporting by Ross Kerber in Boston; Editing by David Gregorio)

((ross.kerber@thomsonreuters.com; (617) 412 0093;))