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> I'm all for climate action, but it has to be policy level Policy level climate action is the only kind that has any hope of succeeding. That or some magic te

> I'm all for climate action, but it has to be policy level Policy level climate action is the only kind that has any hope of succeeding. That or some magic technology that can suck carbon out of the air at zero cost.

toomuchtodo 1y ago
China scaling up EVs, solar, and batteries is what will do it. Most humans don’t have the will or constitution to make it happen, but China will out of rational economics. The politicians making these poor climate policy decisions will be out of office eventually. Just keep grinding towards success whenever possible while the death rate keeps aging out those slowing progress down. (EVs and PHEVs are ~50% of car sales in China 2025 H1, global light vehicle TAM is ~90M units/year, we're installing 1GW of solar every 15 hours, roughly 1TW/year etc.)
- triceratops 1y ago
  The progress on EVs, solar, and batteries has been nothing short of stunning. It has to continue, and will spread in any place where people use brains over ideology. But it won't solve everything. We don't have emissions-free alternatives for jet travel and many industrial processes. Carbon-neutral maybe, by synthesizing hydrocarbons, but not emissions-free. And we have to undo the last 100 years of damage.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Not wrong, but we're mostly locked in on the light vehicles and electrification front, the rest (as you mention) can continue to be worked towards. There is no silver bullet, just lots of work towards all the problems at once. Half of marine traffic is moving fossil fuels around the world, for example. That evaporates in the future. India and Africa will buy electrification and light vehicles from China, versus locking in a fossil fuel based economy. Everyone who needs fossil fuels is racing away from them for obvious economic and national security reasons, and everyone selling them is going to be desperate to sell them to the shrinking demand for them. There was $800B more capital invested in clean energy (~$2T) than fossil fuels globally in 2024. To your point, the most important part is going to be how to rapidly remove the CO2 industrialization has injected into the atmosphere. This remains to be solved for at reasonable cost, but importantly, we're going to need a material amount of low carbon energy for that process. “This is not inevitable. We have the tools, the instruments, the capacity to change course,” Guterres said. “There are reasons to be hopeful.” https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/07/22/un-says-booming-solar-wind-and-other-green-energy-hits-global-tipping-point-for-ever-lower-costs/ https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/07/22/un-says-booming-solar... https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-solar-wind-power-fossil-fuels-6aca4846e594ea8405f91edda39a03ad https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-solar-wind-power-f... https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-energy-transition-report_2025.pdf https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-energy-transiti...
- illiac786 1y ago
  Aren’t cars just a fraction of the CO2 issue? This whole climate thing is really humanity’s worst nightmare. We’re insanely good at finding solutions, adapting, pulling together when under existential threat. I mean it, it will never cease to amaze me. We’re shit at: * giving stuff up for the greater good * changing voluntarily * trusting others (countries) to sacrifice as much as yourself Guess which qualities we need in this case? It’s like this huge ball with an insane inertia rolling toward us while most are still thinking “ah, I guess I have time for one more appletini, then I’ll just stop that little ball”. My only hope is we find a cheap and scalable way to pump CO2 out, but that’s really far fetched (and it would also cause us to stop all other efforts around co2 avoidance if it was ever found…).
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Electricity, heat, transportation, agriculture, and construction are the largest sectors of emissions. Therefore, electrification, low carbon energy, shelter thermal efficiency, and electrification of vehicles is of paramount importance from a prioritization perspective. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector
    - illiac786 1y ago
      Yeah. We’re talking about the burning of gas in cars. Production of electric cars is worse that production of ICE cars in terms of CO2. So, really, we’re discussing the fraction of a fraction here. To be clear, I am still astonished and pleased at the success of EVs. But let’s keep it in context, it’s one battle amongst many many battles.
      - toomuchtodo 1y ago
        > Yeah. We’re talking about the burning of gas in cars. Production of electric cars is worse that production of ICE cars in terms of CO2. So, really, we’re discussing the fraction of a fraction here. This is factually inaccurate. In all cases, EVs are superior to combustion vehicles with regards to lifecylce emissions (construction + operation). https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-transport/no-doubt-about-it-evs-really-are-cleaner-than-gas-cars/ https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-transport/no-doubt-abo... > As electric vehicles become a bigger part of the global car fleet, a contrarian take seems to surface every few months: are electric vehicles really that clean? > When it comes to lifecycle emissions, the answer is a resounding yes. According to a new report by BloombergNEF, in all analyzed cases, EVs have lower lifecycle emissions than gas cars. Just how much lower depends on how far they are driven, and the cleanliness of the grid where they charge.
- throwaway29812 1y ago
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toomuchtodo 1y ago

China scaling up EVs, solar, and batteries is what will do it. Most humans don’t have the will or constitution to make it happen, but China will out of rational economics. The politicians making these poor climate policy decisions will be out of office eventually. Just keep grinding towards success whenever possible while the death rate keeps aging out those slowing progress down. (EVs and PHEVs are ~50% of car sales in China 2025 H1, global light vehicle TAM is ~90M units/year, we're installing 1GW of solar every 15 hours, roughly 1TW/year etc.)

triceratops 1y ago
The progress on EVs, solar, and batteries has been nothing short of stunning. It has to continue, and will spread in any place where people use brains over ideology. But it won't solve everything. We don't have emissions-free alternatives for jet travel and many industrial processes. Carbon-neutral maybe, by synthesizing hydrocarbons, but not emissions-free. And we have to undo the last 100 years of damage.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Not wrong, but we're mostly locked in on the light vehicles and electrification front, the rest (as you mention) can continue to be worked towards. There is no silver bullet, just lots of work towards all the problems at once. Half of marine traffic is moving fossil fuels around the world, for example. That evaporates in the future. India and Africa will buy electrification and light vehicles from China, versus locking in a fossil fuel based economy. Everyone who needs fossil fuels is racing away from them for obvious economic and national security reasons, and everyone selling them is going to be desperate to sell them to the shrinking demand for them. There was $800B more capital invested in clean energy (~$2T) than fossil fuels globally in 2024. To your point, the most important part is going to be how to rapidly remove the CO2 industrialization has injected into the atmosphere. This remains to be solved for at reasonable cost, but importantly, we're going to need a material amount of low carbon energy for that process. “This is not inevitable. We have the tools, the instruments, the capacity to change course,” Guterres said. “There are reasons to be hopeful.” https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/07/22/un-says-booming-solar-wind-and-other-green-energy-hits-global-tipping-point-for-ever-lower-costs/ https://halifax.citynews.ca/2025/07/22/un-says-booming-solar... https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-solar-wind-power-fossil-fuels-6aca4846e594ea8405f91edda39a03ad https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-solar-wind-power-f... https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-energy-transition-report_2025.pdf https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un-energy-transiti...
illiac786 1y ago
Aren’t cars just a fraction of the CO2 issue? This whole climate thing is really humanity’s worst nightmare. We’re insanely good at finding solutions, adapting, pulling together when under existential threat. I mean it, it will never cease to amaze me. We’re shit at: * giving stuff up for the greater good * changing voluntarily * trusting others (countries) to sacrifice as much as yourself Guess which qualities we need in this case? It’s like this huge ball with an insane inertia rolling toward us while most are still thinking “ah, I guess I have time for one more appletini, then I’ll just stop that little ball”. My only hope is we find a cheap and scalable way to pump CO2 out, but that’s really far fetched (and it would also cause us to stop all other efforts around co2 avoidance if it was ever found…).
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Electricity, heat, transportation, agriculture, and construction are the largest sectors of emissions. Therefore, electrification, low carbon energy, shelter thermal efficiency, and electrification of vehicles is of paramount importance from a prioritization perspective. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/ghg-emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector
  - illiac786 1y ago
    Yeah. We’re talking about the burning of gas in cars. Production of electric cars is worse that production of ICE cars in terms of CO2. So, really, we’re discussing the fraction of a fraction here. To be clear, I am still astonished and pleased at the success of EVs. But let’s keep it in context, it’s one battle amongst many many battles.
    - toomuchtodo 1y ago
      > Yeah. We’re talking about the burning of gas in cars. Production of electric cars is worse that production of ICE cars in terms of CO2. So, really, we’re discussing the fraction of a fraction here. This is factually inaccurate. In all cases, EVs are superior to combustion vehicles with regards to lifecylce emissions (construction + operation). https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-transport/no-doubt-about-it-evs-really-are-cleaner-than-gas-cars/ https://about.bnef.com/insights/clean-transport/no-doubt-abo... > As electric vehicles become a bigger part of the global car fleet, a contrarian take seems to surface every few months: are electric vehicles really that clean? > When it comes to lifecycle emissions, the answer is a resounding yes. According to a new report by BloombergNEF, in all analyzed cases, EVs have lower lifecycle emissions than gas cars. Just how much lower depends on how far they are driven, and the cleanliness of the grid where they charge.
throwaway29812 1y ago
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