Every week, Heatmap News Executive Editor Robinson Meyer and Princeton University Professor and energy systems expert Jesse Jenkins make sense of the biggest shift of our time -- navigating the energy transition away from fossil fuels. Drawing on their years of experience reporting on and researching climate change and decarbonization, Meyer and Jenkins unpack the most important issues of the week and how the impacts of climate change and efforts to address it are transforming our economy, politics, and society at large. Music by Adam Kromelow.
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When New York passed its first major climate law in 2019, climate advocates hailed the work as a milestone: The Empire State vowed to cut its carbon emissions by 40% by 2030, as compared to their 1990 levels, giving it some of the world’s most ambitious subnational climate policy. But last week, Governor Kathy Hochul and the state legislature moved to rewrite key provisions in that law, weakening deadlines and redefining its emissions math. What happened? And would New York have ever been able t...
From Heatmap: Exclusive: Local Opposition to Data Centers Explodes in 2026 America’s tech companies are transforming the electricity system — building entirely new fleets of new solar panels, batteries, and gas turbines — in order to power what are essentially warehouses filled with cutting-edge chips. Almost all of those chips are made by Nvidia. On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Josh Parker, Nvidia’s head of sustainability. They discuss the climate and electricity impacts o...
We live in a time of unheralded environmental victories. Dolphins and whales swim in New York and San Francisco harbors. Lead has been eliminated globally in gasoline for cars and trucks. And Southern California has cleaned up its air. That last one is more important than you might think. On today’s episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at UCLA and the former acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. She's also the author of...
The Beijing Auto Show is now the world’s largest auto show — and its most important. It’s where China’s automakers show off their new innovations and newest models to a huge audience of domestic consumers and global influencers. As one attendee observed , there were more EV models in one room of the show than there are available for sale in the entire U.S. car market. So what was it like to be there in person? On today’s episode of Shift Key, Rob talks with Kate Logan , the director of the China...
he Strait of Hormuz has been closed for months. Yet oil is trading — at least as of late Tuesday — at under $110 a barrel. Why haven’t the markets responded more to the biggest supply disruption of all time? Is it a credit to President Trump, and does it give us any clues to how future presidents should handle other energy crises? On the latest episode of Shift Key, Rob talks with Jason Bordoff , the founding director of the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of Inte...
When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, researchers estimated it would cut U.S. carbon pollution by more than 40% by the mid-2030s. Then President Trump and a GOP majority partially repealed the law, and many of those emissions declines looked doubtful. What will U.S. carbon emissions look like after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act? We’re starting to get a sense. On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob talks with John Bistline and Ryna Cui about a new paper they coauthored mode...
This episode features an in-depth interview with John Arnold, a renowned energy trader and clean energy investor. He shares his perspective on the volatile global oil market, the geopolitical stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz, and the long-term shifts in the energy system. Arnold also recounts his eye-opening trip to China, analyzing its advanced EV manufacturing, automation, and industrial policy, while offering crucial takeaways for Western clean energy companies regarding efficiency, political power, and overcoming permitting challenges.
Here’s some good news: Clean power met all electricity demand growth last year for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s according to a new report on global electricity trends from Ember, a U.K. think tank that tracks energy data from around the world. The new review suggests that solar and batteries are continuing to remake the global power system — and outcompeting gas and coal in some of the world’s fastest growing economies. On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by ...
Fervo Energy has become a darling of the clean energy industry by using workers and technology from the oil and gas sector to unlock zero-carbon, all-day geothermal electricity. Last week, Fervo filed to go public, giving us the first deep look at its finances and long-term expansion plans. What’s the bull case, the bear case, and the fine print? On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University, as well as Heat...
For the past few years, Microsoft has basically carried the carbon removal industry on its shoulders. The software company has purchased 72 million tons of carbon removal, more than 40 times what any other organization has financed, according to third-party sources. Now it’s pulling back. As we reported last week, Microsoft has told suppliers and partners that it’s pausing new purchases. Though the company says that its program “has not ended,” even a temporary pullback will have significant imp...
The United States and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire in Iran, and energy markets responded with jubilation — at least initially. Every major Wall Street index surged on Wednesday, and U.S. oil prices fell. But the actual situation on the ground is far more ambiguous, huge questions remain about the truce, and the Strait of Hormuz is as closed today as it has been since the beginning of the war. On this episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Rory Johnston, a longtime oil analyst, repeat Shift Ke...
Alice Yake, VP of Grid Modeling at Breakthrough Energy and former Xcel Energy Chief Planning Officer, details the half-century evolution of utility decision-making, driven by constraints like energy crises and stagnant demand. She explains how regulatory, political, and financial incentives shape investment in generation, transmission, and distribution, highlighting current challenges like aging infrastructure and the need to redesign for electrification. The discussion also covers Breakthrough Energy's efforts to develop open-source planning tools for transparent, aligned, and efficient grid development globally.
This episode introduces the Electricity Price Hub, a new public data platform from Heatmap News and MIT, designed to bring unprecedented transparency to residential electricity rates and bills nationwide. Guests Brian Deese and Lauren Sidner discuss the previous lack of real-time, granular data, explaining how the hub now breaks down costs by generation, transmission, and distribution, empowering a more informed public and policy debate. The tool reveals significant regional differences in price drivers, from data centers in the Mid-Atlantic to extreme weather impacts in California and the Southeast. They also discuss the critical distinction between electricity rates and overall bills.
Since Democrats swept to statewide victories in Georgia and New Jersey last year by campaigning against high power prices, “electricity affordability” has been the watchword for climate-concerned politicians everywhere. But what can states and cities actually do to bring down power prices? The Federation of American Scientists, through its new Center for Regulatory Ingenuity, has a new report out on Tuesday about how to make it happen — and speed up clean energy deployment at the same time. On t...
We are now nearly a month into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The conflict has lasted much longer than some energy experts initially expected — and it has built up an unprecedented crisis that is set to cascade from Asia to the rest of the world. On this episode of Shift Key, Rob chats in Houston with Karim Fawaz , an oil and refineries expert and a director in the energy and natural resources group at S&P Global Energy. Rob and Karim discuss whether the world is already locked into an energy...
The new draft of China’s five year plan is here, and the news isn’t all good for climate advocates. Although China vows to expand its gigantic “clean energy bases” in the plan, it has actually walked back some of its biggest climate goals since 2021. The new plan also contains a mysterious — and politically convenient — change to one of its most important emissions estimates. On this episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Lauri Myllyvirta , the lead analyst and co-founder of the Centre for Resea...
Last week saw what is likely the biggest U.S. electric vehicle launch of the year: the Rivian R2, which will go on sale this spring. It’s absurdly well-timed, given surging gasoline prices. But can it carve out enough of a niche to compete? On this episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Jesse Jenkins in his new role as occasional guest cohost. Rob and Jesse discuss the Rivian R2, what the Strait of Hormuz closure could mean for global energy markets, and why the power grid is failing the data ce...
When President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law in 2022, Democrats imagined he was setting a new policy feedback loop in motion. Voters would see how the law was changing their communities — investing in new factories and solar farms — and then rally to protect it from Republicans. That didn’t happen. Last summer, Republicans in Congress repealed many of the law’s best climate policies. So what broke down? On this episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Alexander Gazmararian ...
We’re watching a new global energy crisis unfold in the wake of America and Israel’s campaign in Iran — and it could rapidly spiral into other industries and commodities. At the same time, there’s been legitimately promising news on iron-air batteries, suggesting the cheap and long-term energy storage technology might be ready for take-off. Rob is joined by Heatmap staff writers Matthew Zeitlin and Katie Brigham, as well as Heatmap’s deputy editor Jillian Goodman, to discuss the busy news week. ...
The United States and Israel have launched a devastating new war on Iran. What has happened so far, when could it end, and what could it mean for oil, gas, and the global energy shift? Rob is joined by Gregory Brew, an analyst with the Eurasia Group’s energy, climate, and resources team focused on the geopolitics of oil and gas. He serves as the group’s country analyst for Iran. He’s also an historian of modern Iran, oil, and U.S. foreign policy, and the author of two books about the subject. Sh...
As electricity affordability has risen in the public consciousness, so too has it gone up the priority list for climate groups — although many of their proposals are merely repackaged talking points from past political cycles. But are there risks of talking about affordability so much, and could it distract us from the real issues with the power system? Rob is joined by Jane Flegal, a senior fellow at the Searchlight Institute and the States Forum. Flegal was the former senior director for indus...
Just a handful of tech companies plan to spend nearly $700 billion combined this year investing in artificial intelligence — and much of that money will go to data centers and the energy used to keep them on. How is this boom transforming the American energy system, and what does it mean for clean energy? On this episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Peter Freed, a founding partner at the Near Horizon Group and the former director of energy strategy at Meta from 2014 to 2024. They discuss why d...
The Supreme Court just struck down President Trump’s most ambitious tariff plan. What does that ruling mean for clean energy? For the data center boom? For America’s industrial policy? On this emergency episode of Shift Key, Rob is joined by Jonas Nahm , a professor of economic and industrial policy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. They discuss the ruling, the other authorities that Trump could now use to raise trade levies, and what (if anything)...
President Donald Trump has essentially killed all fuel economy rules on cars and trucks in the United States. By the end of the year, automakers will face virtually no limits on how many huge gas guzzlers they can sell to the public — or what those purchases will do to domestic oil prices. But is the thinking driving this change up to date? Rob is joined by Kenneth Gillingham , a professor of environmental and energy economics at Yale. They chat about how the economics profession changed its min...
Rob is joined by Jody Freeman , the director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program at Harvard Law School, to discuss the Trump administration’s war on the endangerment finding. They chat about how the Trump administration has already changed its argument since last summer, whether the Supreme Court will buy what it’s selling, and what it all means for the future of climate law. They also talk about whether the Clean Air Act has ever been an effective tool to fight greenhouse gas pollution ...
Rob and Jesse debrief on how the Northeastern U.S. power grid performed during recent intense winter weather, noting a surprising 40% reliance on oil for peak demand. They explore why winter electricity demand is increasingly critical, examine the limitations of solar and wind in cold conditions, and delve into vulnerabilities of traditional thermal power plants. The discussion also covers the unexpected performance of the new Quebec transmission line and highlights key clean energy solutions like geothermal heat pumps and nuclear power to build future grid resilience.
Rob talks to Senator Martin Heinrich about whether Republicans and Democrats will reach a permitting reform deal this year. They chat about what Democrats would need to see in such a deal, how it could help transmission projects, and why such a deal will ultimately need to constrain President Trump in some way. They also discuss the future of Democratic energy and climate policy — what Heinrich learned from the Biden administration, what the Inflation Reduction Act got right (and wrong), and why...
President Trump announced on Monday that the U.S. would create a domestic stockpile of critical minerals for civilian use — essentially a Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but for lithium, copper, rare earths, and other rocks central to electronics and decarbonization. It’s one of many experimental and unusual steps that the administration has taken to boost U.S. mineral production over the past 13 months. But are any of those plans working? What could improve — and what does any of this mean for cle...
It’s been a huge few weeks for the electric vehicle industry — at least in North America. After a major trade deal, Canada is set to import tens of thousands of new electric vehicles from China every year, and it could soon invite a Chinese automaker to build a domestic factory. General Motors has also already killed the Chevrolet Bolt, one of the most anticipated EV releases of 2026. How big a deal is the China-Canada EV trade deal, really? Will we see BYD and Xiaomi cars in Toronto and Vancouv...
America’s estimated greenhouse gas emissions rose by 2.4% last year — which is a big deal since they had been steady or falling in 2023 and 2024. More ominously, U.S. emissions grew faster than our gross domestic product last year, suggesting that the economy got less efficient from a climate pollution perspective. Is this Trump’s fault? The AI boom’s? Or was it a weird fluke? In this week’s Shift Key episode, Rob talks to Ben King, a climate and energy director at the Rhodium Group, about why U...
