Encouraging signs in tackling climate change – Part 1

Early in the New Year is a good time to review what progress countries have made in the last 12 months to tackle climate change.

“There have been some encouraging signs in 2025, which I shall be highlighting over the next six weeks,” said Midlands green energy expert Ron Fox.

Firstly, renewable energy which overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity in the first half of 2025 – a historic first, according to data from the global energy think tank Ember.

In the UK last year renewable energy reached a record share, generating approximately 44 per cent to 47 per cent of its total electricity supply. This expansion was driven by high wind and solar output, with renewables frequently supplying more than half of the electricity demand on certain days.

Despite this record, fossil fuels, primarily gas, still provided around 27-28 per cent of electricity, partly due to lower nuclear output.

Electricity demand is growing around the world with the growth in solar and wind power so strong it met 100 per cent of the extra electricity demand, even helping to drive a slight decline in coal and gas use.

Ember said developing countries, especially China, led the clean energy charge while richer nations, including the US and EU, relied more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels to generate electricity.

This divide is likely to get more pronounced this year, according to a separate report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) with renewables growing much less strongly than forecast in the US because of the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Even though China is still increasing its fleet of coal-fired power stations, it also added more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined, as well as helping reduce its fossil fuel generation by 2 per cent.

India also put up a significant number of new solar and wind turbines, cutting back on coal and gas to provide its energy.

In contrast, developed nations like the US, and also the EU, saw the opposite trend with the US focusing on encouraging the world to buy more of its oil and gas.

In the US, demand for electricity grew faster than clean energy output, increasing reliance on fossil fuels. In the EU, months of weak wind and hydropower performance led to a rise in coal and gas generating its power.

Most solar generation (58%) is now in lower-income countries, such as in Pakistan and in Africa, many of which have seen explosive growth recently, thanks to solar costs prices falling drastically over the last few decades.

Ron said in some countries the growth of solar has been so rapid it is creating unexpected challenges for countries in the global “sun belt” and “wind belt.”

Sun belt nations – in Asia, Africa, and Latin America – need to produce even larger amounts of electricity for daytime air conditioning. These countries can significantly reduce energy costs almost immediately by adopting even more solar-based systems, supported by increasingly affordable batteries that store energy from day to night.

Wind belt countries like the UK face tougher obstacles, however. But wind turbine costs have still come down by around just a third in the last decade.

This article raises some important questions, said Ron. What’s the biggest barrier stopping people from switching to green energy right now? Thinking about solar energy for your home — where would you start? Finally, what do you think about wind turbines? Would you like one near your home? Send your views to Ron Fox at [email protected]

For more advice on green energy, solar panels and wind turbines, contact Ron Fox, of Noreus Ltd at Keele University’s Science and Innovation Park, on 0845 474 6641.

 

More encouraging signs in tackling climate change next week.

 

Caption: Record breaker – Renewable energy from solar power and wind turbines overtook coal as the world’s leading source of electricity in the first half of 2025 for the first time ever. Picture: John Butterworth