24 Oct 2023
Some good climate news
Finally, some good news on the climate front. Today the International Energy Agency [IEA] released a report saying we are moving toward a post fossil fuel era. Investment in clean energy has risen by 40 per cent since 2020 both because of the need to stop climate change and because it makes economic sense. This is a historic shift and one that is essential if we are to prevent more climate catastrophes. For many years fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, have provided about 80 per cent of the global energy supply. The IEA forecasts this will start to drop this decade, although not fast enough to stop climate change. It was 50 years ago that we saw the first major oil blockage by a group of Arab countries. It caused a huge economic upset and led for some time to the phrase “off oil” as countries struggled to deal with supply shortages. Once oil supplies resumed the world went on to consume even more oil and other fossil fuels, driving up air pollution and climate change. Now that clean energy is getting cheaper the world is finally starting the long overdue shift away from polluting fuels.