Interesting & exciting climate news; humanity has averted apocalyptic levels of global warming, the Trump administration will be but a bump in the road of the growth of renewables - & much more!

So yeah, Trump 2.0 is here but globally there’s a bunch of interesting things happening and some positive news that we should pay attention to.

Opening with this from Tumblr (I know, I’d forgotten about it too!) was this interesting post;

We have already averted truly apocalyptic global warming. … Yes, read that again. Let it sink in. This is what the science now says. We have already averted truly apocalyptic global warming. The pace of technology, of innovation, of prices, of feasibility, of discovery, of organizing, of grassroots movements, of movements in other countries around the world, have all picked up the pace so fast in the last five years.

Renewable technology and capacity are both increasing at an exponential rate. It's all S-curves, ones that look like this:

(Image from here)

That graph is quite something! This is why I’ve written a number of times about the staggering growth of renewable energy. It is quite mind-blowing when you let it sink in, and, AND (yes 2 x ‘AND’) we’re far from done yet.

One of the biggest under-reported stories in climate news, indeed in any news category, is the rise and rise of renewable energy. As someone who has been campaigning on climate issues for decades, I’ve seen the question of renewables go from an argument that we should subsidize renewables because it's the morally right thing to do, to now where it's cheaper to use renewables than anything else.

In fact, building on this point, from Reddit; Scientists call for updated IPCC AR7 scenarios to better reflect optimistic reality.

Recent research suggests that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) needs to revise its scenarios for its upcoming seventh assessment report (AR7) to better reflect encouraging real-world trends in population growth, economic development, and renewable energy adoption.

So while there’s a lot of worrying Trump news around. I project that the Trump administration will be a bump in the road on the global growth of renewables.

Why do I say this? For a few reasons:

• Trump wants to ‘drill, baby, drill’ - but the US was already producing more oil than any other nation - yes including Saudi Arabia or Russia. So if somehow it manages to go higher, all it will do is tank prices and so tank new production. The end of the age of oil is nigh and there’s not much that can be done to stop it.

• So while Trump hammered Wind power (because he has this weird obsession with wind turbines) thus far solar was hit the least. But elsewhere in the world Wind continues to grow. For example there’s a new silent home turbine taking off and I’m very much here for microgeneration of power. Also China continues to dominate renewables globally and is building the world's most powerful onshore turbine.

• Trump made a lot of noise about coal when he came into power in 2016 yet nothing changed in its fortunes. Nor will it now, it's simply too expensive and dirty compared to alternatives.

• The US is just one country amongst many and only represented only 11% of global capacity in 2021 and in 2023 was at almost the same level as Brazil. So even if Trump impacted, say for example 20% of US capacity, it’s still only around 1% of global capacity. Elsewhere we power onwards! In the UK for example (where I’m from) the UK had the best year ever in 2024 in terms of energy coming from clean sources.

Say it with me now; The Trump administration will be a bump in the road on the global growth of renewables.

OK, so let's briefly look back at 2024 because amongst all the bad news (and yes, I know there was a lot of it!) There were a couple of things I’d like to note. One was this on the US economy in 2024; that economic growth is now so clearly decoupled from carbon emissions. This matters because one of the big arguments that climate deniers and fossil fuel companies have deployed over the last couple of decades is that for growth to happen, you need gas, oil and coal. But that is no longer true, "That’s good news in the sense that emissions [in the US] didn’t rise, even as the economy grew by an estimated 2.7%." Before anyone comments (and please do!) that they think we need to rework our world so that economic growth is not the imperative, which I very much get, pragmatically another zombie argument against tackling the climate crisis is dead. Oh, and in that same article was this gem, "A recent oil and gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge got zero bids, the Interior Department announced yesterday." Intrigued to know why that was?

A few other news items that caught my eye:

• As the IEA Calls it the "Next Chapter of the Energy Revolution," BloombergNEF Expects Cumulative Battery Energy Storage Systems to Double in 2025

• Direct CO2 capture from the atmosphere will scale up massively in 2025

• New York to fine fossil fuel companies $75 billion under new climate law

• US supreme court allows Hawaii lawsuit against fossil fuel firms’ misinformation

• China's 'artificial sun' shatters nuclear fusion record by generating steady loop of plasma for 1,000 seconds

Oh and I wanted to mention something about individual responsibility. While anything someone does to move us in the right direction is to be applauded, I’m not in favour of hammering people for personal choices. No major environmental change has ever been won by personal consumer choices. We didn’t close the ozone hole by buying non-CFC products alone. So good to read a study backing this view;

[Assoc Prof Tom van Laer, a co-author of the study] said individual climate warriors could be motivational and had helped drive a number of grassroots movements.

But when individuals are put on a pedestal in the absence of tangible corporate and government policies to decarbonise, these narratives can breed feelings of helplessness and disengagement rather than empowerment.

On that motivational point; There’s also a point to be added to this around how many of the fully fossil fuel nations are deeply troubling authoritarian places. Russia, for example. So this story about a Ukrainian man making his own renewable power combines both points!

Long before renewable energy became a wartime topic, Oleksandr Klymenko embraced it as a necessity. Thus, on the outskirts of Dnipro, just over 100 kilometers from the front line, stands a wind generator of his design, its silhouette reminiscent of the Eiffel Tower.

(Image - Solar panels and wind generator in Oleksandr Klymenko's yard. From ‘The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak’)

So, what can you do? Here’s my updated list:

• Politics, politics and more politics! If there is any election - local or national - can you help elect better people? Yes, you can!

• Make sure your own supplier of energy is getting it from renewable sources. (UK link)

• If you have influence at work, ask about if your work place can also switch energy suppliers.

• If you have investments/pensions and can control where they invest, seek to move from any fossil fuel ones to renewable energy. Here’s how to start.

• If there is a renewable energy project seeking planning permission in your area, write in support of it. Help make it happen!

• Join a climate action group. There’s loads around and this does not have to mean protest - any group always needs a core of people to help from admin, funding, logistics and more. Being part of something is one of the best ways to stave off despair.

• Support an independent media outlet. One of the issues why we hit headwinds in climate progress despite a majority of people wanting to see action is that we face a huge, well-funded climate denial media network. However there are individuals and outlets doing good reporting, investigations and more. These always need support, so find one you like and subscribe!

Thanks for visiting Climate Hopium - together, let’s make change happen!

PS. A note on format here, where you see text in italics or block quotes then I’m quoting directly from the source. With images, below each picture (in brackets) is the source for that image. Anything wrongly attributed or missing a link, let me know and I’ll update! Thanks.

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