15 Dec 2025
Wins and losses for sustainability
Given the state of the world, it’s easy to say that it’s been a bad year for sustainability. There are serious conflicts in a number of countries, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but also in Middle East, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Myanmar. Political and military leaders in Europe are talking openly about the risk of conflict with Russia in the next few years. They are dramatically increasing military spending, and some are bringing back military service. It’s the kind of talk we have not heard in generations.
The president of the United States is not only promoting fossil fuels but trying to undercut green energy projects. Canada, under economic attack by the United States is now supporting more fossil fuel projects for its financial survival as a nation thus putting its climate goals at risk. The latest global conference on how to stop climate change was sandbagged by fossil fuel producers.
However, there was some good news. Renewable energy displaced coal as the world’s largest generator of electricity. Solar and to a lesser degree wind energy grew so much that fossil fuel use declined slightly. This is encouraging at a time when global demand for energy keeps increasing as more people keep buying more things powered by electricity and artificial intelligence gobbles up huge amounts of energy.