You Win Some, You Lose Some

Welcome to the Strawman, the daily climate newsletter that’s like the friend you trust to always put on bangers when you hand them the AUX - with great power, comes great responsibility.

Among all the doom and gloom it feels like people are missing some of the crazy progress being made - today, we’ll go over some of this progress, and explain how not all that glitters is gold.

Glimmers of hope

Man us humans? We’re a lazy bunch. One thing unifies us though - and that’s the idea of inertia.

Last month, I had coco pops for breakfast. Last week, I had coco pops for breakfast. Yesterday I had coco pops for breakfast. Guess what I’m having breakfast for tomorrow?

This is the idea of inertia - even though I know I should probably make a cute little overnight oats thing that I can show off to my friends on Instagram, I don’t because of inertia.

Turns out a good thing for getting over inertia is a big change - and nothing is bigger than war. An unintended consequence of the war in Ukraine has been that countries reconsider their energy sources - speeding up the deployment of cleaner alternatives.

With peak fossil fuel demand potentially hitting us in the 2020s, it's clear that we're starting to break free from the shackles of inertia - the energy revolution has begun.

Technology keeps breaking through

Much like Shakira’s hips, numbers don’t lie - and these clean energy stats are looking pretty good.

Across the board, we’re seeing small but meaningful wins:

• Solar panels - global deployment has sped up meaningfully over the past two years, and is now in line with the IEA’s “ambitious” pathway to net zero emissions by 2050

• Heat pumps - if things continue going at current rates, they’d double their share within buildings by 2030 - more on how these work in another newsletter

• Electric vehicles - sales are soaring - making up 15% of the global car market in 2022 - over triple the share in 2020 just two years earlier

The road to a cleaner future? Seems like it’s officially under construction folks.

Dark clouds in Germany

Like a great rollercoaster, the ride to Net Zero wouldn’t be complete without some low points.

Despite the technology breakthroughs and increases in adoption elsewhere, Germany recently decided to shut down its last remaining nuclear power plants. While nuclear power is making a comeback in other parts of the world, Germany is going in the opposite direction.

It's a move that has left many questioning the wisdom of replacing a low-carbon energy source with fossil fuels at a time when we're trying to reduce emissions.

The German situation is a reminder that progress isn't always linear.

And that's it for today, Strawman fam! Share this newsletter with a friend who needs a little climate rollercoaster in their life! 🎢🌍

The Strawman