4 ms·

We‘ve had talks about this topic decades before I was born, but progress is a bit underwhelming.

by adrianN 5mo ago

jbmchuck 5mo ago
Reminds me of this onion bit: https://theonion.com/scientists-politely-remind-world-that-clean-energy-tech-1819576507/ https://theonion.com/scientists-politely-remind-world-that-c...
leonidasrup 5mo ago
There is no progress in CO2 reduction, we are still emiting more CO2 each year. " Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes increased by +0.7% within 2025." https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4
- sofixa 5mo ago
  But the growth of CO2 emissions is slowing, even though the global economy is growing and many more countries are industrialising and becoming wealthier (both proxies of CO2 emissions). So we're working on it. Not as fast as we need, but progress is being made.
  - titzer 5mo ago
    Usage going up is not progress.
    - DangitBobby 5mo ago
      Emissions rate of increase slowing is progress in the same way that taking your foot off the gas pedal is progress towards coming to a stop.
      - titzer 5mo ago
        But we didn't take our foot off the gas pedal.
  - alephnerd 5mo ago
    > So we're working on it. Not as fast as we need, but progress is being made It's too little too late. India's CO2 emissions growth rate is around 4% [0], and India's economy is expected to grow at around 6-7% a year for at least the next decade. This means India's contribution alone will grow massively. And what about other large countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Nigeria, etc who are also seeing massive expansions. Edit: can't reply The Indian government's "electro-state" transition is predicated on coal expansion [1] - yes at a rate slower than before, but still at a rate that is a net negative for the environment. This is also why India backed out of hosting COP33 in 2028 [2] - it would have brought this inconvenient truth to the forefront [3] [0] - https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by-country/ https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by... [1] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-05/india-mulls-extending-coal-power-expansion-for-another-12-years https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-05/india-mul... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/india-withdraws-bid-host-annual-un-climate-talks-2028-2026-04-08/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/india-withdraws-b... [3] - https://www.dw.com/en/why-india-walked-away-from-its-bid-to-host-cop33/a-76778682 https://www.dw.com/en/why-india-walked-away-from-its-bid-to-...
    - alphabeta3r56 5mo ago
      https://youtube.com/watch?v=BPqR9jy6C3U&is=PFRfRJ23MXSFnRV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=BPqR9jy6C3U&is=PFRfRJ23MXSFnRV4 India is taking a shortcut so to say. If climate friendly energy becomes successful in India, it will bbee successful in other countries to. Currently the biggest threat is US forcing people to buy its venezualan and fracking oil.
      - kieranmaine 5mo ago
        If you prefer a text and graphs to a video take a look at https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-electrotech-fast-track-where-china-built-on-coal-india-is-building-on-sun/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-electrotech-...
      - leonidasrup 5mo ago
        Nice video but doesn't estimate when India will reach peak CO2 emission, doesn't estimate when India will reach net zero. Chinese burning of coal for electric power generation decreased, but total coal consumption has increased. In China, coal use is shifting from power production to synthetic fuels and chemicals made from coal, the carbon from synthetic fuels will be emitted as CO2. Will this shift happen also in India? https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-china-and-india-for-first-time-in-52-years-after-clean-energy-records/ https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-chi... https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/chinas-2026-coal-output-set-slowest-growth-this-decade-despite-lower-imports-2026-02-11/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulat... https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chinese-alchemy-cheap-fuel-powers-coal-to-gas-chemicals-boom-2025-09-04/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chines... China is still building new coal power plants, they will be probably used as backup for solar. https://e360.yale.edu/features/china-coal-five-year-plan https://e360.yale.edu/features/china-coal-five-year-plan
  - adrianN 5mo ago
    It is a bit sad that we have to celebrate bending the third derivative of the relevant metric in the right direction after like fifty years of talks.
- adrr 5mo ago
  There are three main sources of green house gases. Top one which is power is declining. Transportation is still growing and the last one is agriculture which is stable. There is progress if you look at the details.
  - leonidasrup 5mo ago
    The most important metric is total emission and we failing at this metric. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/india https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/india https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/china https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/china https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/indonesia https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/indonesia
tootie 5mo ago
Progress has been incredibly rapid. Solar power in particular has gotten exponentially cheaper and more widely deployed. We are in an incredibly deep hole and are aiming at a rapidly moving target (energy demand is growing rapidly due to AI) but we've already hit our first inflection point in terms of renewables making up almost of our added capacity and it's within reach for fossil fuel usage to peak and start falling. Of course, that's still only early milestones since we will continue to add GHGs even as the pace slows. But right now it actually really seems like we have a grip on the problem and are moving in the right direction. It's really not the time to despair, but to double down. https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-surge-halts-fossil-electricity-growth-worldwide-in-2025/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-surge-halts-fo...

We‘ve had talks about this topic decades before I was born, but progress is a bit underwhelming.

by adrianN 5mo ago

We‘ve had talks about this topic decades before I was born, but progress is a bit underwhelming.

Reminds me of this onion bit: https://theonion.com/scientists-politely-remind-world-that-clean-energy-tech-1819576507/ https://theonion.com/scientists-politely-remind-world-that-c...

leonidasrup 5mo ago

There is no progress in CO2 reduction, we are still emiting more CO2 each year. " Global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes increased by +0.7% within 2025." https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4 https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-026-00780-4

sofixa 5mo ago
But the growth of CO2 emissions is slowing, even though the global economy is growing and many more countries are industrialising and becoming wealthier (both proxies of CO2 emissions). So we're working on it. Not as fast as we need, but progress is being made.
- titzer 5mo ago
  Usage going up is not progress.
  - DangitBobby 5mo ago
    Emissions rate of increase slowing is progress in the same way that taking your foot off the gas pedal is progress towards coming to a stop.
    - titzer 5mo ago
      But we didn't take our foot off the gas pedal.
- alephnerd 5mo ago
  > So we're working on it. Not as fast as we need, but progress is being made It's too little too late. India's CO2 emissions growth rate is around 4% [0], and India's economy is expected to grow at around 6-7% a year for at least the next decade. This means India's contribution alone will grow massively. And what about other large countries like Indonesia, Vietnam, Nigeria, etc who are also seeing massive expansions. Edit: can't reply The Indian government's "electro-state" transition is predicated on coal expansion [1] - yes at a rate slower than before, but still at a rate that is a net negative for the environment. This is also why India backed out of hosting COP33 in 2028 [2] - it would have brought this inconvenient truth to the forefront [3] [0] - https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by-country/ https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-by... [1] - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-05/india-mulls-extending-coal-power-expansion-for-another-12-years https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-05/india-mul... [2] - https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/india-withdraws-bid-host-annual-un-climate-talks-2028-2026-04-08/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/india-withdraws-b... [3] - https://www.dw.com/en/why-india-walked-away-from-its-bid-to-host-cop33/a-76778682 https://www.dw.com/en/why-india-walked-away-from-its-bid-to-...
  - alphabeta3r56 5mo ago
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=BPqR9jy6C3U&is=PFRfRJ23MXSFnRV4 https://youtube.com/watch?v=BPqR9jy6C3U&is=PFRfRJ23MXSFnRV4 India is taking a shortcut so to say. If climate friendly energy becomes successful in India, it will bbee successful in other countries to. Currently the biggest threat is US forcing people to buy its venezualan and fracking oil.
    - kieranmaine 5mo ago
      If you prefer a text and graphs to a video take a look at https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-electrotech-fast-track-where-china-built-on-coal-india-is-building-on-sun/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/indias-electrotech-...
    - leonidasrup 5mo ago
      Nice video but doesn't estimate when India will reach peak CO2 emission, doesn't estimate when India will reach net zero. Chinese burning of coal for electric power generation decreased, but total coal consumption has increased. In China, coal use is shifting from power production to synthetic fuels and chemicals made from coal, the carbon from synthetic fuels will be emitted as CO2. Will this shift happen also in India? https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-china-and-india-for-first-time-in-52-years-after-clean-energy-records/ https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coal-power-drops-in-chi... https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/chinas-2026-coal-output-set-slowest-growth-this-decade-despite-lower-imports-2026-02-11/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulat... https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chinese-alchemy-cheap-fuel-powers-coal-to-gas-chemicals-boom-2025-09-04/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/chines... China is still building new coal power plants, they will be probably used as backup for solar. https://e360.yale.edu/features/china-coal-five-year-plan https://e360.yale.edu/features/china-coal-five-year-plan
- adrianN 5mo ago
  It is a bit sad that we have to celebrate bending the third derivative of the relevant metric in the right direction after like fifty years of talks.
adrr 5mo ago
There are three main sources of green house gases. Top one which is power is declining. Transportation is still growing and the last one is agriculture which is stable. There is progress if you look at the details.
- leonidasrup 5mo ago
  The most important metric is total emission and we failing at this metric. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/india https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/india https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/china https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/china https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/indonesia https://ourworldindata.org/profile/co2/indonesia

tootie 5mo ago

Progress has been incredibly rapid. Solar power in particular has gotten exponentially cheaper and more widely deployed. We are in an incredibly deep hole and are aiming at a rapidly moving target (energy demand is growing rapidly due to AI) but we've already hit our first inflection point in terms of renewables making up almost of our added capacity and it's within reach for fossil fuel usage to peak and start falling. Of course, that's still only early milestones since we will continue to add GHGs even as the pace slows. But right now it actually really seems like we have a grip on the problem and are moving in the right direction. It's really not the time to despair, but to double down. https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-surge-halts-fossil-electricity-growth-worldwide-in-2025/ https://ember-energy.org/latest-updates/solar-surge-halts-fo...