SUCH a fun conversation. Have been thinking about it since we did it. Thanks so much to @volts.wtf for having me on.

Carbon Removal After Microsoft Though the tech giant did not say its purchasing pause is permanent, the change will have lasting ripple effects.

Microsoft is the anchor of the carbon removal market. It bought 45 million tons of carbon removal last year; the next largest buyer has purchased 1.8 million tons *ever.*

So what happens now that Microsoft’s paused buying?

Spent the week talking to folks about it: heatmap.news/carbon-remov...

Last year, China’s solar and wind power generation was roughly equal to total industrial and residential power consumption in the United States.

While China's power generation is still dominated by coal, renewables are now driving most power generation growth.

the one part of IRA that Trump didn’t repeal!

Trump administration plans to release money for Second Avenue Subway after MTA lawsuit President Donald Trump has for months bottled up promised money for the project.

MTA batting 1.000 against the Trump admin -- www.politico.com/news/2026/04...

How Anthropic Learned Mythos Was Too Dangerous for the Wild The AI company’s own experts warned Mythos could hack the systems beneath most modern computing. Banks and government agencies are racing to gauge the threat.

Eppur si muove www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced,” stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. “In the past there was a group called ‘Dire Straits.’ It’s a dire strait now, and it is going to have major implications for the global economy. And the longer it goes, the worse it will be for the economic growth and inflation around the world,” he told The Associated Press. The impact will be “higher petrol (gasoline) prices, higher gas prices, high electricity prices,” said Birol, speaking in his Paris office looking out over the Eiffel Tower.

Fatih Birol Boomer arc confirmed apnews.com/article/iran...

Being a diplomat must be so cool. Literally your whole job is stakeholder management.

More on War, Oil Prices, and GDP Is the one word still "Plastics"?

I wrote some more about the ongoing economic fallout from the war in Iran, and make a reference to degrowth (h/t to @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social whose 'degrowth donnie' lives in my head): open.substack.com/pub/ninaeich...

On Yom HaShoah, we pause to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Nazis’ systematic program of mass murder, along with the millions of others murdered by the Hitler regime. We remember the scale of this horror, and the systems of hatred and dehumanization that made it possible — and that still echo in our world today. In New York City, home to more Holocaust survivors than anywhere else in this country, that memory lives among us and shapes who we are. The resilience of survivors is woven into the very fabric of this city, and it calls on all of us to act with courage and clarity in the face of injustice. Today, as antisemitism rises once more, we are reminded that remembrance alone is not enough. We must confront hate wherever it appears. As we light the yahrzeit candle, let us come together to protect its fragile flame — and shield it from the cold winds of hate and cruelty.    “Never again” is a promise. And it is one we must fight to keep.

We have disturbed the natural order of the cosmos. Kansas City Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is not supposed to know what Slack is www.nytimes.com/athletic/7180761/2026/04...

arguably too much to even HOPE for

I wanted to stay at the Fairmont but it’s just a bit out of my range for this trip! That’s good to know that it can be competitive, I’ll try to book earlier next time.

When I book a hotel for work, I’m always deep in the “Amenities” page, squinting at slide 43/56 to see if when you look past the three treadmills and two ellipticals there’s anything heavier than 35 lbs on the smudgy reflection of the dumbbell rack

I still can’t believe no Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt-tier hotel chain has tried to own the “best gyms” category yet.

On Wednesday, I'll be recording a special pod with @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social of @heatmap.news. Volts doesn't really cover breaking news, but Heatmap does, so we'll just be discussing ... things that have happened recently. Turns out lots of things have happened recently.

Got questions for Rob?

They are saying that if the strait isn’t open for the rest of the world, it’s not open to Iran. Open for all or open to no one. Richard Haas proposed a similar idea.

open.substack.com/pub/richardh...

Huge scoop that Microsoft is pausing its CDR program via @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social + @heatmap.news.

If true, this will have big consequences for ocean carbon removal, as Microsoft was one of the biggest funders of mCDR.

heatmap.news/carbon-remov...

Heatmap News Heatmap is focused on the biggest story of our time: climate change.

I’m biased, but there’s a great set of stories on the heatmap.news homepage right now.

NEW:

Microsoft Is Pausing Carbon Removal Purchases

The tech giant has been the overwhelming buyer of carbon removal technologies, accounting for 90%+ of industry volume last year. Now sources tell me it’s pausing its voluntary buying.

a @heatmap.news exclusive

heatmap.news/carbon-remov...

Exclusive: The Iran war has already cost Americans $17 billion at the pump, draining demand out of the economy and sending prices soaring more than $1.40/gallon in some states, per a new Brown University analysis heatmap.news/energy/iran-...

I spoke with @robinsonmeyer.bsky.social for his great story @heatmap.news this morning about the staggering fuel costs of the Iran war coming directly from US households
heatmap.news/energy/iran-...

Why the Iran Ceasefire Hasn’t Ended the Energy Crisis | Shift Key with Robinson Meyer and Jesse Jenkins Rob talks through what could happen next in the Strait of Hormuz with Commodity Context’s Rory Johnston.

The US-Iran ceasefire has not ended the global energy crisis — in fact, it’s still getting worse by the day. Learned a lot speaking to @roryjohnston.bsky.social today about the Strait’s ongoing closure, why pressure is still building, and what could come next: shows.acast.com/shift-key/ep...

A ceasefire with still throttled (no more than 15 ships daily) Hormuz throughput well serves Tehran's strategic interest.

Iran's main leverage is a closed Strait + time, so building another 2 weeks of pressure on the global economy while not being bombed feels ideal from the Iranian perspective.

No, the normies are protesting Trump 2.0 in far greater numbers than in his first term. It’s seemingly just the campus radicals who are arguing that they can’t do it anymore because protest is illegal now

Trump Finally Found a Carbon Tax He Can Love A toll on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz isn’t technically a carbon tax ... but it also isn’t not.

As part of its peace plan, Iran wants to charge $1 for every barrel of oil that passes through the Strait of Hormuz. Is that a … carbon tax? I wrote about it: heatmap.news/energy/trump...

ooo, what player?

Dominion built their own ship for this! Which may face early retirement if we don't get to build any more offshore turbines.

Can’t decide if it’s of anything more than academic interest that this facility — which will be the largest offshore wind farm in the US — was built by an investor-owned utility (Dominion) and not a third-party independent power producer like Orsted.