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Hey everyone, it’s Thursday, oil is panicking again, and FutureProof is back.
This week is about consequences.
Trump’s war on Iran has jolted oil markets, and once again the lesson is brutally clear: fossil fuel dependence is not security, it’s exposure. Which is why EVs, storage, renewables, and electrification keep looking less like climate virtue and more like economic sense.
The big threads:
War sends fuel prices soaring, and EV demand rises with them.
AI gets more useful, from heart health to leaner, less resource-hungry models, while Apple prepares its Siri reboot.
Battery progress keeps coming, with longer-range chemistries and real-world packs lasting far longer than the myths.
Clean energy gets more practical, from UK homes to airborne wind in China.
Plus: NSW bans new coal mines, England blows up the “solar versus farmland” myth, and US states fight back against Trump’s assault on climate regulation.
And on the podcast front, I’ve just published the first Climate Confident+ bonus episode, while the first Resilient Supply Chain+ bonus episode drops tomorrow for subscribers.
Let’s get into it.
Climate
Trump’s Climate Wrecking Ball Challenged in Court
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: some of the most consequential climate battles are won or lost in the least sexy-sounding legal language. Trump’s EPA’s repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding is an attempt to erase the scientific and legal basis for regulating greenhouse gases in the US, so this lawsuit from 24 states, 10 cities, and five counties is nothing less than a fight over whether the federal government is still allowed to acknowledge physical reality.
Key Highlights:
The 2009 endangerment finding established that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, making it the legal basis for US climate rules under the Clean Air Act.
The EPA’s repeal wipes out greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could open the door to dismantling broader climate rules for power plants and oil and gas facilities.
A coalition of 24 states, 10 cities, five counties, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has now sued, arguing the EPA is abandoning a core duty to protect Americans.
Why This Matters: If this repeal stands, it doesn’t just weaken US climate policy, it guts the central legal mechanism the federal government has used for years to limit greenhouse gas pollution at all.
Kismet: The whole edifice rests on a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, Massachusetts v. EPA, which said greenhouse gases count as “air pollutants” under the Clean Air Act, meaning this fight has been legally seeded for nearly two decades and is now boomeranging back toward a far more conservative court. 👉 Full story here
China’s Methane Problem Just Got Smaller. That’s a Big Deal
Methane is a brutally powerful greenhouse gas in the short term, so cutting it buys us time fast. This new analysis shows that China has managed to curb coal mine methane emissions by shifting production to lower-emitting regions and capturing more of the gas for energy use.
Key Highlights:
Methane drives about 30% of global warming to date.
Coal mining accounts for roughly 40% of China’s methane emissions.
Better mine locations and more methane capture helped cut emissions.
Why This Matters: Methane cuts can slow warming quickly, so progress in China has global significance.
Kismet: One of the wonkier but really important shifts here is that China lowered the methane concentration threshold requiring capture and use from 30% to 8%, which is a reminder that obscure regulation can sometimes do more for the climate than a thousand speeches. 👉 Full story here
England Just Killed the ‘Solar vs Farmland’ Myth
For years, the UK debate around land has been framed like a ridiculous zero-sum pub argument: food or nature, housing or climate, solar or farms. England’s new land-use framework says that’s nonsense, finding there’s enough land to hit climate and nature goals, grow more food, and build homes too, if the country gets smarter about how land is used.
Key Highlights
Just 1% of England’s land may be needed for renewables by 2050.
Another 6% would support climate and nature goals like peatland restoration and tree planting.
The framework says England can do all this without cutting domestic food production.
Why This Matters: This undercuts one of the laziest anti-climate arguments around, that clean energy and nature recovery must come at the expense of food or growth.
Kismet: The chart in the piece notes that golf courses take up more land in the UK than solar power, which is an exquisitely British way of exposing how absurd the “solar is swallowing farmland” argument has always been. 👉 Full story here
AI News
AI May Be About to Spot Heart Failure Earlier
This is the kind of AI story I like: less chatbot theatre, more actual clinical value. Researchers at Weill Cornell and collaborators have developed an AI model that can use routine heart ultrasound images and electronic health records to help identify advanced heart failure, potentially making a hard-to-access diagnosis much easier to catch.
Key Highlights
Advanced heart failure is often diagnosed using specialised exercise testing.
The new AI uses ultrasound images plus health records instead.
In testing, it achieved roughly 85% accuracy.
Why This Matters: If this works in real clinics, it could help many more patients get identified earlier and routed to the care they need faster.
Kismet: The most interesting twist here is that one of the researchers said this was a case of medicine shaping the future of AI, not just AI shaping the future of medicine, which is a far healthier model than Silicon Valley barging in and declaring itself the cardiologist. 👉 Full story here
Google Says It Just Made AI Leaner, Faster, and Far Less Wasteful
One of the biggest knocks against AI is that it keeps demanding more chips, more memory, and more power. Google’s new TurboQuant technique aims in the opposite direction, massively compressing the memory AI systems use while preserving accuracy and speeding up performance, which could make large models a lot less resource-hungry.
Key Highlights
TurboQuant cut key-value memory use by at least 6x in testing.
Google says it ran at 3 bits without hurting model accuracy.
On H100 GPUs, 4-bit TurboQuant delivered up to 8x faster performance than 32-bit unquantised keys.
Why This Matters: If AI can deliver more with far less memory and compute, it strengthens the case that AI progress does not have to mean endlessly ballooning infrastructure and emissions.
Kismet: The really interesting twist is that this is not just about chatbots, Google says the same compression techniques could also make semantic search faster and more efficient at massive scale, so the payoff could spread well beyond generative AI. 👉 Full story here
Apple Finally Decides Siri Should Be Useful
Apple has announced WWDC for the week of 8 June, and the real intrigue is what comes next for Siri. According to Bloomberg, Apple is preparing a major AI reboot that could turn Siri from an occasionally decorative assistant into a more capable system-wide tool that can search, write, summarise, and act across apps.
Key Highlights
Apple says WWDC26 will spotlight new AI advances.
Bloomberg reports Siri is getting a standalone app and new interface.
The upgraded Siri may search the web, use personal context, and work across apps.
Why This Matters: Apple’s real power is distribution, so a better Siri could bring practical AI to the mainstream at a scale few others can match.
Kismet: Apple reportedly plans an “Ask Siri” feature across iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which is a neat reminder that the next big shift in AI may not come from a flashy new app at all, but from inserting itself into every device people already use. 👉 Full story here
Electromobility
Trump’s Iran War Is Driving More Drivers Into EVs
One of the more perverse side-effects of Trump’s war on Iran is that it is making the case for EVs better than any number of stump speeches ever could. As oil prices spike and fuel costs surge from Australia to Europe to Southeast Asia, more drivers are doing the maths and deciding they’d rather unplug from oil markets altogether.
Key Highlights
Chinese EV brands are seeing higher demand in Europe, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia as oil prices rise.
In Australia, petrol hit about A$2.50 a litre and diesel neared A$3, triggering a sharp rise in EV and hybrid sales.
Reuters reports the same pattern spreading across Europe, where used EV sales and searches have jumped as the Iran war drives fuel prices higher.
Why This Matters: Every oil shock is also an advert for electrification, because once people see how exposed they are to fossil fuel chaos, the appeal of running a car on electrons instead of geopolitics becomes blindingly obvious.
Kismet: Reuters notes the Strait of Hormuz normally carries about 20 million barrels of crude and refined products a day, which means one narrow waterway is still capable of reminding half the planet why energy security and electrification are now the same conversation. 👉 Full story here
China’s Battery Leap Could Make Range Anxiety Look Ridiculous
For years, critics clung to range anxiety like it was a personality trait. Now Chinese battery makers are pushing energy density to levels that could deliver 1,280 to 1,440-plus km of range (800-900 miles), with Chery talking about solid-state packs at 400 Wh/kg and ambitions beyond 600 Wh/kg, which starts to shift the conversation from “can EVs compete?” to “how much longer can incumbents pretend this isn’t over?”
Key Highlights
Chery unveiled a solid-state battery targeting 1,500 km of range.
The new pack is rated at 400 Wh/kg, with ambitions to exceed 600 Wh/kg.
Testing is due to begin in vehicles ahead of broader rollout in 2027.
Why This Matters: As battery energy density climbs, EVs get lighter, longer-range, faster-charging, and more practical, which weakens one of the last remaining excuses for sticking with combustion.
Kismet: The truly wild part is that these range numbers are now so high they may matter less for private cars than for vans, trucks, and other heavy-duty uses where better batteries could cut weight, cost, and charging downtime all at once. 👉 Full story here
EV Batteries Keep Lasting. The Myth Doesn’t
One of the longest-running bits of fossil-fuel-era nonsense is that EV batteries fall apart after a few years and leave owners with a financial crater. This German study of 50,000 used EVs suggests the opposite: most batteries degrade slowly and predictably, with many losing only around 1% of capacity per year, and some older models still holding up remarkably well.
Key Highlights
The study analysed data from 50,000 used EVs since 2015.
Most brands showed battery degradation of around 1% per year.
Some older EVs still retained over 80% battery capacity after 11 years.
Why This Matters: The more real-world data piles up, the harder it becomes to pretend EV batteries are fragile throwaway components rather than durable long-life assets.
Kismet: The most revealing twist is that the real story is no longer “do EV batteries last?” but “which manufacturers manage battery chemistry and thermal control best?”, which is a much more mature and much more useful question. 👉 Full story here [in Spanish]
Clean Energy
Britain Pushes Heat Pumps and Plug-In Solar Into the Mainstream
This is how the energy transition starts to feel real for ordinary people: not as some abstract net zero target, but as better homes, lower bills, and cleaner kit showing up in actual shops. The UK is moving to require heat pumps and solar panels in new homes from 2028, while also clearing the way for plug-in balcony solar to be sold in supermarkets, finally dragging clean energy out of the policy papers and into people’s daily lives.
Key Highlights
New homes in England will need heat pumps or heat networks from 2028.
They will also need rooftop solar covering about 40% of ground floor area.
Plug-in balcony solar units could hit UK shops within months from around £400.
Why This Matters: The more clean energy becomes standard in homes rather than a premium niche, the faster it shifts from climate choice to common sense.
Kismet: Germany already has more than a million balcony solar systems in use, which means one of the most quietly radical ideas in energy right now is that a renter with a balcony can start generating power before some governments finish their consultation process. 👉 Full story here
China Is Taking Wind Power to the Skies
China already dominates wind energy, and now it’s testing something even stranger: giant helium-filled airborne turbines that float thousands of feet up to tap stronger, steadier winds. It’s still early, and there are plenty of technical and regulatory hurdles ahead, but if this works, it could open up new places for wind generation with far less land and material use.
Key Highlights
China has tested a megawatt-class airborne wind system at 2,000 metres.
The prototype generated 385 kWh and connected to the grid.
Developers say it uses up to 90% less material than conventional turbines.
Why This Matters: If airborne wind can be scaled, it could expand where wind power works, cut material use, and make clean electricity possible in places conventional turbines struggle to reach.
Kismet: The really wild twist is that the team sees future versions doing more than generating electricity, including acting as communications hubs, drone charging stations, and even local computing nodes in the sky. 👉 Full story here
NSW Finally Draws a Line Under New Coal Mines
This is a genuinely significant move from a place not exactly known for going soft on fossil fuels. New South Wales has become the first Australian state to ban new coal mines and new coal exploration, which doesn’t end coal overnight, but it does mark a long-overdue admission that fossil fuel expansion and climate seriousness are incompatible.
Key Highlights
NSW will no longer consider applications for new coal mines.
New coal exploration will also be banned.
Extensions to existing mines can still be considered.
Why This Matters: When a major coal-exporting region stops approving new mines, it shifts the political centre of gravity from endless expansion towards actual fossil fuel phase-out.
Kismet: One of the sharpest points in the piece is that coal royalties make up just 2% of NSW state revenue, which is a useful reminder that governments often defend fossil fuels less because they are economically indispensable and more because they are politically habitual. 👉 Full story here
Battery Storage
Form Energy Lands a Big Win for Batteries That Last for Days
Long-duration energy storage has spent years being discussed like a promising future technology. Form Energy is now dragging it into the present. Its new deal to supply 12 GWh of iron-air batteries to Crusoe for data centres is a major signal that storage measured in days, not hours, is starting to find real commercial demand as grids strain under the weight of AI and electrification.
Key Highlights
Form will supply 12 GWh of storage to Crusoe starting next year.
Its iron-air batteries can discharge electricity for up to 100 hours.
Form says it now has more than 75 GWh of commercial projects under agreement.
Why This Matters: If long-duration storage starts scaling commercially, it becomes far easier to run data centres and power systems on clean electricity without leaning so heavily on gas as the fallback.
Kismet: The sly twist here is that AI, often accused of putting huge new strain on power systems, may also end up helping finance the next generation of grid-balancing clean energy infrastructure. 👉 Full story here
Climate Confident:
New Bonus Episode: Why War Keeps Making the Case for Clean Energy
I’ve just published the first ever Climate Confident+ bonus episode, a new format for subscribers where I tackle big, fast-moving stories in energy, climate, geopolitics, and policy as they happen. This first one looks at Trump’s unnecessary, illegal, and profoundly ill-advised war on Iran, and why every fossil-fuel shock like this ends up strengthening the case for electrification, renewables, storage, and grid resilience.
Key Highlights
This is the first Climate Confident+ bonus episode for subscribers.
I unpack how the war is hitting oil, gas, shipping, inflation, and emissions.
The core argument is simple: fossil fuel dependence is not security, it is exposure.
Why This Matters: The more often geopolitics sends fossil prices soaring, the clearer it becomes that electrification is not just a climate strategy, but a resilience strategy too.
Kismet: One of the sharpest points in the episode is that the same war burning tens of billions in destruction could instead have funded vast amounts of solar, wind, or battery storage, which is a grim but very revealing way of measuring fossil fuel absurdity.
🎧 Listen to the full episode
Resilient Supply Chain:
New Podcast: In Supply Chain, AI Without ROI Is Just Fluff
This week on the Resilient Supply Chain podcast, I spoke with JP Wiggins, CEO of 1Logtech, about why the real bottleneck in supply chain AI is not intelligence, it’s integration. If trading partners are still stuck in emails, phone calls, and fragmented data flows, then the companies that win will be the ones fixing the plumbing first and worrying about the buzzwords later.
Key Highlights
JP argues AI is a tool, not a strategy.
If you can’t show hard ROI, the use case is fluff.
Faster, cleaner integrations are what unlock visibility, resilience, and automation.
Why This Matters: Too many supply chain leaders are chasing AI outcomes without fixing the underlying data flows, and that is a very expensive way to automate confusion.
Kismet: One of the standout points in the episode is that a single carrier integration can still take three months and cost around $10,000 in dev work, which tells you a lot about why “AI transformation” so often crashes into the very unglamorous reality of legacy systems. 🎧 Listen to the full episode
Coming Soon to the podcasts
In the coming episodes I will be talking to Jen Jenkins, Chief Science Officer of Rubicon Carbon, and I’ll have a bonus episode of the Resilient Supply Chain podcast for all Resilient Supply Chain+ subscribers.
Don’t forget to follow the podcasts in your podcast app of choice to ensure you don’t miss any episodes.
Featured Chart(s)
Trump’s idiotic war on Iran isn’t just hitting petrol pumps, jet fuel prices are spiking too.
The percentage of time gas (i.e. methane) sets the price of electricity in different European countries. Spain, with its high penetration of renewables is at 15%, whereas Italy, on the other hand is at 90%, which may go some way to explaining why Meloni is trying to dismantle the Eu ETS scheme!
How this is reflected in electricity prices.
Biofuels for cars is a terrible idea. Solar and EVs is far more efficient.
And now for something completely different - the population of Ireland is still a long way off recovering from it’s peak in 1841, just before the famine.
Misc stuff
Kudos to the signmaker for this one
This one gave me a chuckle!
This is excellent - however not many non-Irish people will be able to answer any of these!
Engage
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Finally, since being impacted by the tech layoffs, I'm currently in the market for a new role. If you know someone who could benefit from my tech savvy, sustainability, and strong social media expertise, I'd be really grateful for a referral.
If you have any comments or suggestions for how I can improve this newsletter, don’t hesitate to let me know. Thanks.
*** Be aware that any typos you find in this newsletter are tests to see who is paying attention! ***
And Finally
For those times when alcohol doesn’t fill the void!
Know What Matters in Tech Before It Hits the Mainstream
By the time AI news hits CNBC, CNN, Fox, and even social media, the info is already too late. What feels “new” to most people has usually been in motion for weeks — sometimes months — quietly shaping products, markets, and decisions behind the scenes.
Forward Future is a daily briefing for people who want to stay competitive in the fastest evolving technology shift we’ve ever seen. Each day, we surface the AI developments that actually matter, explain why they’re important, and connect them to what comes next.
We track the real inflection points: model releases, infrastructure shifts, policy moves, and early adoption signals that determine how AI shows up in the world — long before it becomes a talking point on TV or a trend on your feed.
It takes about five minutes to read.
The insight lasts all day.