The Biggest Lessons of a Not-So-Great Year for Climate Policy

The Biggest Lessons of a Not-So-Great Year for Climate Policy

2025 has been incredibly eventful for decarbonization — and not necessarily in a good way. The return of Donald Trump, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, and the rise of data centers and artificial intelligence led to more changes for climate policy and the clean energy sector than we’ve seen in years. Some of those we saw coming. Others we really did not.


On this week’s episode of Shift Key, Rob and Jesse look back at the year’s biggest energy and decarbonization stories and examine what they got right — and what they got wrong. What’s been most surprising about the Trump administration? Why didn’t the Inflation Reduction Act’s policies help prevent the law’s partial repeal? And why have AI and the data center boom become a much bigger driver of power growth than we once thought?


Shift Key is hosted by Robinson Meyer, the founding executive editor of Heatmap, and Jesse Jenkins, a professor of energy systems engineering at Princeton University.


Mentioned:


From the Shift Key archive: A Skeptic’s Take on AI and Energy Growth, with Jonathan Koomey


The R2 Is the Rivian That Matters


Ford, Hyundai US sales down slightly in November as EVs drag


Jesse’s upshift; Rob’s sorta upshift.


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Music for Shift Key is by Adam Kromelow.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episoder(152)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trump’s Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda

Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Trump’s Pro-Nuclear, Pro-Fossil Fuel Agenda

Since taking office last year, the Trump administration has blocked renewable energy development and attacked climate change policy, prioritized fossil fuels and encouraged nuclear energy, and started...

25 Sep 30min

What Does The Nuclear Company Do?

What Does The Nuclear Company Do?

In the past few years, something surprising has happened in American energy policy: States and utilities have started trying to build new nuclear plants.A new kind of company — the nuclear developer —...

23 Sep 53min

Starting a Giant Online Data Platform Is the Easy Part

Starting a Giant Online Data Platform Is the Easy Part

America has some of the world’s best data about its own internal energy, industrial economy, and carbon emissions. That’s thanks to a federal agency called the U.S. Energy Information Administration, ...

16 Sep 35min

Shift Key Classic: What Is a Watt?

Shift Key Classic: What Is a Watt?

As we catch up from summer vacation, we’re bringing you a favorite from the Shift Key archive. We’ll be back in your feed with more fresh episodes starting next week.What is the difference between ene...

9 Sep 47min

How to Understand America’s Gigantic Natural Gas Buildout

How to Understand America’s Gigantic Natural Gas Buildout

The United States is staring down a natural gas buildout of gigantic proportions.Amazon wants to build what would be the country’s largest power plant in Texas — and run it entirely on natural gas. No...

2 Sep 50min

Trump’s Clean Energy Repeal Was Even More Costly Than We Thought

Trump’s Clean Energy Repeal Was Even More Costly Than We Thought

Two years ago, Donald Trump made an outlandish campaign promise: He would cut Americans’ power bills in half.It was a ridiculous, impossible pledge — but even so, the affordability problem didn’t need...

27 Aug 1h 3min

Who Pays for Wildfire Prevention? If You’re in California, You Do — in Your Power Bill.

Who Pays for Wildfire Prevention? If You’re in California, You Do — in Your Power Bill.

California now has the most expensive electricity in the continental United States. It also has expensive housing … and an increasingly broken home insurance market.Are the three phenomena linked? The...

20 Aug 41min

Why This El Niño Looks Like a Monster

Why This El Niño Looks Like a Monster

Every few years, the Pacific Ocean’s surface waters become especially warm near the equator, a climatic phenomenon known as El Niño.El Niño is a normal part of the climate system, but even in a normal...

12 Aug 47min

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