đ˘ 2025's wild ride
Plus: đď¸ My take on energy and climate journalism
My final journalism of the year! Stay âtil the end for a đ greeting.
đď¸ Plus: I recently shared my perspective about energy and climate journalism on Columbia Universityâs Energy Exchange podcast. Listen here.
2025âs wild ride: The AI energy boom, climate rethinks and surprises galore
This year took humanity on a wild ride â and energy was no exception.
The big picture: The AI boom came of age, climate ambition was reset and the surprises never stopped.
Catch up fast: Here are trends Iâm reflecting on â anchored by ones I predicted in January would drive this year.
1. Cleantech scrutiny
âScrutinyâ was the word I used in January. It holds up â but President Trump went after wind and solar more aggressively than I anticipated.
Friction point: Offshore wind took the biggest hit. BloombergNEFâs forecast for U.S. offshore wind capacity plunged from 39 gigawatts to just six, per Canary Media.
On Capitol Hill, Congress also repealed more of the Inflation Reduction Act than many expected.
But a sizable chunk of cleantech support survived â including funding for advanced nuclear, geothermal, sustainable aviation fuel and battery storage.
2. Humility and surprises
This one hits close to home, as many of you know. Cipher News, the outlet I was leading until July, shut down after funding changes at Breakthrough Energy, which is backed by Bill Gates.
Zoom out: Gatesâ shifting priorities â and his controversial memo â reflect a broader reset across climate and tech thatâs driven largely, but not exclusively, by Trumpâs election.
From companies like Ford to institutions like the International Energy Agency, the forces pushing ambitious climate action clearly lost momentum this year.
Surprises were everywhere. Even accounting for present bias, last weekâs news that Trump Media & Technology Group (parent of Truth Social) is merging with nuclear fusion startup TAE Technologies felt like a Mad Libs headline come to life.
3. The AI race
This ranked third in my January outlook. It should have been first.
Weâre now so deep into the AI race that talks of bubbles are the norm.
The bottom line: Weâve spilled plenty of ink on AI and energy this year, and spoiler alert: weâll keep it up next year.
My article on tectonic plates sums up the AI and energy story for 2025.
4. Europeâs existential competition
The European Union is also scaling back its climate ambitions â partly in response to Trump, but also because of deeper, unresolved tension over global competitiveness considering its higher energy prices.
5. Tariffs, China, Brazil, oh my!
This was my January catchall for geopolitics, and it largely holds up.
Trumpâs tariffs rippled across the economy, but somehow faded into background noise amid the AI energy rush.
The annual United Nations climate talks in Brazil came and went with relatively little fanfare.
China is the worldâs biggest and most enduring energy and climate story.
China flexed its geopolitical muscle by restricting exports of rare earth materials and extending its cleantech lead by investing in emerging areas like fusion.
Read the full story in Axios.
Exclusive: Whole Foods to deploy novel food recycling tech
So the chicken does come before the egg.
A new kind of AI-supercharged food recycler will turn fruit and vegetable scraps at Whole Foods into chicken feed â which will then help produce the grocerâs own eggs.
Why it matters: The technology can shrink waste volumes by up to 80%, according to its maker, startup Mill, cutting greenhouse gas emissions from food waste and saving Whole Foods money.
Exclusive: Lawmakers push bill showing fusionâs bipartisan appeal
Fusion hasnât actually arrived in reality, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers is already looking to make sure it sticks around in Washington.
Why it matters: A bill being introduced that would codify a new fusion office at the Energy Department might seem like inside baseball. But itâs a concrete sign itâs emerging as a bipartisan energy solution in U.S. politics.
đ Happy holidays from Tosha my cat!
