In this double-header ep, we’re looking at what happens when people and technologies move faster than the systems meant to support them—and what happens when governments are told the truth, but decide they don’t have to act on it.
We End Twice
Sometimes we do a Marvel bonus ending, but not this time. But today each block gets its own outro. For Switzerland’s preëminent Gloucester Strain Geese Godmother, we present The National -
And for the author of Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil, we offer a this anthemic banger from our fave post-punk-to-pub-rock outfit, Midnight Oil:
Before we get to it there was an untimely media outlet death this week.
RIP Cipher
The Bill Gates/Breakthrough supported Cipher News sent out its last newsletter this week. A tough day for all the journalists working there, and special shoutout to friend-of-the-show Cat Clifford, who was kind enough to spend an hour with us not too long ago to talk about America’s AI-supercharged climate and energy’s Trumpocalypse.
Who Pays for the AI Power Surge?
One of America's top climate journalists, Cat Clifford, on how AI is changing the US energy landscape and the climate hellscape that may follow.
Cat is a diamond and you should hire her immediately.
Why did Gates walk away from climate advocacy and not do more to try and stop Trump’s OBBBA murder/suicide climate crime spree? Meh.
Well in his parting gift of an exclusive interview for the media outlet he just killed, he ‘explained’ it this way:
In what are his first public comments on the matter, Gates said he is spending less money on clean energy policy for a few reasons, including his increased focus on global health and the fact that other leaders have stepped up recently to support climate action, though he said more are needed.
“I view global health as, in a certain sense, having a lot of urgency because of the dramatic reductions that have been made there,” said Gates.
He went on to point out that clean tech investments will suffer from the volatile political climate:
Bigger picture, though, policy uncertainty around tariffs and other parts of the economy is hitting TerraPower as much as many other companies.
“We live in a very uncertain environment,” Gates said, pointing out that TerraPower will have some components built in South Korea. “Is that 0% tariff or, I don’t know, a 40% tariff?”
When it became known just a few days after Trump’s second inauguration that Gates was cutting climate funding, Katie Brigham in Heatmap got the reaction of many:
But what has made Breakthrough Energy distinctive is its support for policy and advocacy groups that promote a wide range of technological solutions, including nuclear energy and direct air capture, to fight climate change.
“Their presence will be missed,” said the CEO of another climate nonprofit who was notified by Breakthrough that its funding would not be renewed. Breakthrough Energy “was one of the few funders supporting pragmatic research and advocacy work that pushed at neglected areas such as the need for zero-carbon firm power and accelerated energy innovation,” they added.
"Even if it’s a drop in the bucket, it still makes a difference,” another former grantee with a particularly large budget told me. This organization recently sent Breakthrough an inquiry about partnering up again and is waiting to hear back. “But for small organizations, it’s make it or break it.”
Speculation abounds as to the rationale behind Breakthrough’s funding cuts. “I have heard that one of the reasons that Bill decided to stop funding climate was that he concluded that there was so much money in climate that his money really wasn’t that important,” Nordhaus told me. But that is not true when it comes to agriculture, he said, which comprises about 12% of global emissions. ”There’s very little money for advocating for agriculture innovation to address the climate impacts of the ag sector,” Nordhaus told me.
Gates had been one of the world’s top grant funders of climate tech and advocacy. His role securing votes for the landmark US climate action plan in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) - as detailed by Climate Capitalism author and Bloomberg Green supremo Akshat Rathi and others - made the retreat more notable. And even when 21 Republican members of Congress signed a letter saying that the proposed gutting of IRA by the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, Gates was silent - a stark contrast from his lobbying just three years earlier. Calls to those 21 members could have made the difference and changed history. As far as we know, climate’s former champion did…nothing.
As an enraged contributor to The Hill put it weeks earlier:
If his move is a simple reallocation of resources to other priorities like global health, that’s one thing. But if it reflects a deliberate abandonment of the federal playing field, that’s both irresponsible and politically naive.
Waiting for the perfect political moment to advance climate policy is not a compelling strategy. Since World War II, U.S. political parties have secured unified control of the White House and Congress an average of just once every 14 years.
In a world replete with a lot of shameful shit, it’s one thing to see evil lunatics do evil lunatic shit. It’s another thing entirely to see people who knew better just decide to keep quiet.
On a happier note, let’s get on with the show:
Segment One: Jenny Chase on Pakistan’s Accidental Solar Revolution
If you missed the solar mystery unfolding in Pakistan, you’re not alone. Even their government didn’t see it coming. But thanks to a deep dive from BloombergNEF’s Jenny Chase, the picture has become clearer: Pakistan has quietly become one of the world’s biggest solar importers. As rooftop panels mushroom across cities and farms, grid demand is shrinking. Fossil fuel use is dropping. But the solar surge wasn’t planned—and now the grid, and those who still rely on it, are at risk of being left behind.
Jenny explains:
Why Pakistan’s solar boom is driven more by price than blackouts
The warning signs of a utility death spiral
What it might mean for other countries (including your own)
And why satellite imagery became her secret weapon in solving the mystery
Her TED talk earlier this year on this very subject:
And if you extrapolate what’s happening in Pakistan to its global potential, the implications are huge. For the grid - as a shared public resource that actually massively reduces inequality - as well as our ability to measure our economies using metrics that increasingly look shaky:
We get into it all.
🌐 Follow Jenny:
🔗 solarchase.bsky.social
🔗 Jenny Chase on LinkedIn
Segment Two: Royce Kurmelovs on the Torres Strait Climate Ruling
Then we head to Australia, where a federal judge has done something remarkable—he agreed that climate change is an existential threat, agreed it’s already harming Indigenous communities in the Torres Strait... and then said the law can’t do anything about it.
It’s a decision that’s at once a defeat and a warning shot. Journalist and author Royce Kurmelovs, who’s been covering the case closely, joins me to explain:
What actually happened in the Pabai Pabai decision
Why winning on the facts and losing on the law might be more dangerous than outright denial
And what’s next—for courts, for politics, and for Australia's role in a heating world
📰 Read Royce’s coverage of the case:
“Court agrees climate change is real, but throws out Torres Strait Islanders’ claim anyway” (RenewEconomy)
Also check out his book: Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil
🌐 Follow Royce:
🔗 roycerk2.bsky.social
🎧 Prefer us in your usual pod player? You can follow the show on Spotify, Apple, YouTube and pretty much everywhere you get good podcasts. But you’ll always get us here first and get that sweet, sweet bonus content.
📡 Follow me on BlueSky
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