This year has seen waves of bad news for the global fight to halt catastrophic climate change. Fossil fuel production is still increasing, driving up planet-warming pollution; the United States is in climate denial mode; and turbulent geopolitics have pushed the climate crisis down the agenda and into the culture wars.
But there’s another, more hopeful, story unfolding simultaneously: the exponential rise of clean energy. Countries around the world are adding renewables at a blistering pace — and this surge is happening in some surprising places. Experts say it could herald the start of a new energy age, powered by the sun and wind.
In the first half of 2025, for the first time ever, renewables overtook coal as the top source of global electricity — a major milestone, according to analysts. How the world gets its electricity is hugely important; the energy sector is the largest source of global emissions, and clean electricity is also key to decarbonizing transportation, another heavily polluting industry.
This clean energy surge is set to increase exponentially as wind, solar and batteries become cheaper and easier to install than fossil fuels.
Global renewable power capacity is projected to double over the next
Continue Reading on CNN
This preview shows approximately 15% of the article. Read the full story on the publisher's website to support quality journalism.