Disasters that are increasingly deadly and expensive , Big Oil’s continued nose-thumbing dominance , science that shows the problem continues to spiral — the climate change year in review has not been pretty. So we will end here on an uplifting note: though the problem remains dire, truly massive amounts of progress are being made around the world — progress toward renewable energy, away from (some) fossil fuels, toward some degree of accountability for climate denial and delay, and more. The fossil fuel industry may still be exercising its profound influence to slow it down, but the economics of renewable energy along with some levers of government support are pushing it into the stratosphere. A report in September found that the world will install close to 600 gigawatts of solar power in 2024, shattering expectations and blowing past 2023’s record by almost 30 percent. Solar and battery storage are having real moments in the U.S. and in many countries around the globe; the International Energy Agency projects that overall renewable capacity will come close to tripling by the end of the decade, surpassing current national ambitions by 25 percent. Most Popular The Gaetz Report Proves Merrick Garland to Be Earth’s Most Useless Human The Cops Showed You Who They Are Yesterday Elon Musk Handed the Democrats A Gift, Will they Use It? “Climate and energy security policies in nearly 140 countries have played a crucial role in making renewables cost-competitive with fossil-fired power plants,” that IEA report notes. Here in the U.S., one such policy lever has been a clear success: the Inflation Reduction Act, which turned two years old this summer and has already ushered in hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy investments. The Biden administration has also been attempting to grease the skids for the […]