Recent severe weather and reports on climate targets have brought more people here seeking reassurance about our efforts to address climate change. Please use this weekly thread for those discussions.

Climate change is a serious, compounding problem, and concerted action can make an enormous difference.

We can already see that difference in the long-term outlook. Climate Action Tracker’s current-policy projection improved from around 3.6°C of warming by 2100 in its 2015 assessment to around 2.6°C in its November 2025 assessment.

The 4°C world quietly stopped being the forecast

That represents an enormous amount of potential harm avoided. Further progress can change the outlook again.

And the acceleration we have been discussing is becoming visible in the present: more renewable electricity, cheaper storage, faster electric-vehicle adoption and growing investment in the industries that supply them.

These changes reinforce one another. More solar makes electric transport more useful. More batteries make solar available beyond daylight hours. Larger markets support more factories and cheaper products, helping the next wave of buyers make the switch.

Global fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions are projected to fall in 2026

Carbon Brief projects that global fossil-fuel CO₂ emissions will fall by around 0.5% this year.

The fossil-fuel price shock is reducing demand and increasing the incentive to switch. Households, businesses and governments now have alternatives available on a scale that did not exist during earlier energy crises.

An electric car bought today, a solar installation completed this year or a factory converted to electricity can keep displacing fossil fuels long after the immediate crisis has passed.

This week’s stories show that process gathering momentum.

Good news shared over the last week

One of the most consequential developments concerns the economics of keeping the lights on.

Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis finds that four-hour battery storage is now cheaper than open-cycle gas turbines in all 43 markets where it modelled both technologies.

Solar installations with panels that track the sun were also the cheapest source of new electricity generation in 43 of 48 markets.

That is a powerful combination: cheap electricity when the sun shines, and increasingly competitive storage to move it into the hours when people need it.

Manufacturing scale is pushing battery costs down while fuel-price volatility and gas-turbine shortages make fossil alternatives more expensive. The commercial incentive to build a cleaner power system is strengthening.

We also received a useful answer to a familiar question: what has all this renewable construction actually achieved?

Zeke Hausfather’s new analysis estimates that growth in wind and solar avoided around 23 billion tonnes of CO₂ between 2006 and 2025.

His comparison holds electricity demand at its actual level and estimates the fossil generation that would have supplied it without that renewable growth.

For 2025 alone, the estimated avoided emissions were 3.7 billion tonnes. Global power-sector emissions would have been around 28% higher without the expansion.

Every year those installations continue operating adds to the benefit. Every new installation increases it.

The transition has already changed the world’s emissions trajectory.

The sheer scale of solar is becoming easier to appreciate.

The World Nuclear Industry Status Report, covered by pv magazine, records the first month in which global solar generation exceeded nuclear generation: April 2025.

By March, April and May 2026, solar and wind each individually generated more electricity than nuclear.

That is a remarkable milestone for technologies that supplied relatively little electricity only a couple of decades ago.

It shows how quickly a technology can move from the margins to become one of the main pillars of the world’s electricity supply.

The benefits are already showing up in Europe’s fuel bills.

An updated SolarPower Europe analysis reports that solar generation has avoided €37.4 billion in gas-import costs since the war on Iran began.

Solar also became the EU’s largest individual electricity source in June, supplying 25% of the bloc’s electricity.

Years of investment are now providing an everyday return: less imported gas needed to generate power.

The panels already installed will keep doing that next year, and the year after. Expanding the fleet makes that protection stronger.

The transition is spreading well beyond the countries that became wealthy through fossil fuels.

DW’s reporting describes emerging economies increasingly using solar, wind and other renewable electricity to expand their energy supply.

In Ethiopia, for example, farmers are replacing diesel-powered irrigation with solar. Countries including Namibia, South Africa, Kenya and Senegal have expanded solar deployment substantially.

This has enormous global significance. Growing prosperity brings demand for electricity, transport and useful machinery. Affordable clean technologies give countries more ways to meet that demand while reducing dependence on imported fuel.

The next stage of development can draw on technologies that have become much cheaper and more accessible.

Governments are responding to those opportunities.

ABC reports that around 25 countries have introduced structural policies to accelerate electrification since March.

Examples include Indonesia’s efforts to electrify motorbikes and Ethiopia’s rapidly expanding electric-vehicle fleet.

These decisions help turn an immediate response to expensive fuel into longer-lasting changes: new infrastructure, different purchasing incentives and investment in domestic energy.

The response to an energy crisis can shape what gets built for the next decade.

South Korea announced a particularly substantial programme this week.

Its new K-GX strategy sets out roughly 1,000 trillion won in fiscal support and policy finance through 2035 for the green transition.

The programme includes a goal of reaching 100 GW of renewable energy by 2030, strengthening electricity networks and expanding electrification across transport.

It also targets the industries that are harder to transform, including steel, chemicals and cement.

For a major manufacturing economy, this connects climate action with industrial development. Investment in cleaner production can create the suppliers, equipment and expertise that help other countries make the same changes.

European electric-car sales provide another clear comparison between 2025 and 2026.

Reuters reports that EU electric-car sales reached 1.64 million during January–August, up 45% year-on-year, according to Transport & Environment’s latest report.

Their market share reached 22%, six percentage points above the same period last year.

More affordable models are helping widen the market.

This is the acceleration happening now: hundreds of thousands more electric cars sold than a year earlier, joining a growing fleet that can benefit from increasingly clean electricity.

Each year’s new purchases also increase the future supply of affordable used vehicles.

Manufacturers are investing in that expanding market.

Renault plans to invest more than €10 billion in France over five years, focusing on electric vehicles and more affordable cars.

Its chief executive expects French production to rise by at least 25% in 2026, driven by the growth of electric vehicles.

This is how rising adoption spreads through the economy. More customers support greater production, investment and supply-chain development.

The transition increasingly has factories, workers and businesses whose success depends on making it continue.

Pakistan offers another striking example of changing purchasing decisions.

Its industries adviser told Bloomberg that electric-car sales had doubled, while electric motorcycle and scooter sales had tripled compared with a year earlier.

He said higher fuel prices had shortened the time buyers needed to recover the additional purchase cost.

Electric two-wheelers are particularly significant because they can bring the benefits of electrification to people who will never be shopping for an expensive new car.

Pakistan’s solar boom and its growing electric-vehicle market also create a useful connection: more ways to generate electricity locally, and more everyday activities that can run on it.

Cuba is expanding solar at a substantial scale.

The country now has 1.42 GW of solar capacity across 144 photovoltaic plants, with further expansion expected before the end of the year.

It is also expanding energy storage and solar-powered water pumping.

For countries exposed to fuel shortages and unreliable electricity, these installations can improve essential services while reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Solar’s usefulness reaches well beyond a national electricity statistic. It can help keep water moving and support the services people depend on.

Storage is also advancing through a wider range of technologies.

China connected a 100 MW/1,000 MWh compressed-CO₂ energy-storage project to the grid in Xinjiang on 2 October.

The system uses surplus electricity to compress CO₂, storing both the working fluid and heat. When electricity is needed, the process is reversed to drive generators.

It adds another operating example of technology designed to move renewable electricity from periods of surplus into periods of demand.

As deployment grows, power systems gain more options for making abundant wind and solar useful throughout the day.

A story shared this week also offers a straightforward model for public buildings.

New Zealand has selected 500 schools for its NZ$30 million solar programme.

Larger schools are expected to save around NZ$8,000 a year on electricity, with those savings staying in school budgets. Selected schools will also receive batteries.

School roofs already exist. Schools need electricity. Lower bills free up money for teaching and learning.

It is an approach that communities in many countries can adapt, with students seeing renewable energy working in their own daily environment.

There is encouraging progress in restoring the landscapes that help communities withstand climate change.

WeForest reports restoring 23,000 hectares of degraded land in Ethiopia’s Desa’a landscape and planting more than 22.5 million trees, with a reported 90% survival rate.

The work includes rainwater-harvesting ponds, trenches, terraces and small basins that help water soak into the soil.

The organisation reports that these measures now capture around 1.7 million cubic metres of rainwater annually.

That is restoration with practical benefits: healthier soils, better conditions for trees and crops, less erosion and stronger local resilience.

The methods matter as much as the planting. Communities are rebuilding the conditions that allow a landscape to recover.

In Peru’s high Andes, communities are also protecting water through ecosystem restoration.

The Yaku Pacha project is conserving wetlands and regenerating native forests in the watershed supplying the Chincha Valley.

These landscapes can store water and release it over time, supporting communities further downstream.

The project brings together local people and conservation organisations to care for the natural systems on which their water supply depends.

Adaptation is already taking shape through practical work on the ground, drawing on both ecological knowledge and community experience.

The bigger picture

The encouraging pattern across this week’s stories is that progress is becoming more connected.

Solar is avoiding expensive gas imports. Batteries are becoming more competitive with gas peakers. Affordable electric cars are expanding the market. Manufacturers are investing in greater production. Governments are changing policies around technologies people are already buying and using.

These developments strengthen one another.

An expanding market supports more manufacturing. More manufacturing and experience can lower costs. Lower costs bring in more buyers. More buyers create demand for infrastructure and give businesses a reason to support further progress.

We are watching parts of the energy and transport transition reach tipping points, at different speeds across different markets.

The 2025-to-2026 acceleration is already visible in sales, investment and adoption. The practical task is to help that momentum spread.

The biggest misconception I keep seeing is that nothing is being done. Look at what is already being built, bought and used.

There are concrete reasons for hope, and concrete opportunities to contribute.

Putting climate hope into action

If you’re interested in what you can do today to accelerate practical, commercial climate solutions, here are some starting points. These resources offer ideas, tools and examples that can be adapted to different countries and communities.

Catalogues of practical, actionable solutions today

• Project Regeneration — Nexus: Solutions and action guides covering energy, food, nature, buildings and communities.
• Project Drawdown — Solutions Explorer: Explore climate solutions and the evidence behind their potential to reduce emissions.
• Ellen MacArthur Foundation — Circular Economy Case Studies: Examples of businesses keeping products and materials in use, reducing waste and regenerating nature.

Design approaches supporting practical innovation

• Biomimicry — AskNature and Biomimicry 3.8: Learn from biological strategies and explore their applications in products, buildings and engineering.
• Doughnut Economics Action Lab: Tools and examples for businesses, communities and cities seeking to meet people’s needs within ecological limits.
• Circular Design Guide: Methods from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and IDEO for designing around reuse, repair and circular material flows.
• Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute: Product standards and a certified-products directory supporting safer materials and circular design.
• UNEP — Green and Sustainable Chemistry: Guidance for improving how chemicals and materials are designed, produced and used.
• Systemic Design Toolkit: Tools for understanding complex problems and developing interventions with the people affected by them.

Practical routes for businesses, cities and communities

• SME Climate Hub: Free tools for small and medium-sized businesses to measure emissions, build an action plan and track progress.
• C40 Knowledge Hub: Practical guidance and examples from cities tackling emissions, transport, buildings and climate resilience.
• Repair Café International: Find a repair group, volunteer your skills or start one locally to help keep everyday products in use.

For another starting point for personal action, explore Project Drawdown — Join the Shift.

For those struggling with climate anxiety, the EcoAnxiety Toolkit offers a resource aimed at turning anxiety into constructive action.

Choose something connected to your home, workplace, skills or community, and help it spread.

Please contribute any other climate good news below. This thread will be actively moderated — please observe Rules 5 and 6.