Glaciers are shrinking, coral reefs are at risk, and last year was the hottest year on record. As people continue to burn fossil fuels, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, have surpassed dangerous new thresholds. Are you making any progress on climate change?
The short answer is: It's complicated, but yes.
In less than a decade, one South American country has transitioned to generating almost all of its electricity from a diverse mix of renewable energy sources. In China, an electric car that costs just $5,000 has suddenly become one of the best-selling cars. Paris is turning into a city of bicycles.
Taking individual steps like these is not enough to avoid the most serious consequences of climate change: worsening droughts, intensifying storms and human suffering. Nonetheless, it shows that some places are driving significant local change very quickly.
Globally, “we are not moving as fast as we need to,” said Thomas Spencer, an analyst at the International Energy Agency. “But we certainly have the tools to go much faster.”
“Climate solutions really exist. They are here now,” said Jonathan Foley, executive director of Project Drawdown, a nonprofit focused on climate action.
To commemorate Earth Day (and to reach younger, environmentally conscious voters), President Biden touted new national programs to train and hire people for climate-related jobs and clean energy investments underway after falling inflation. We are reminding voters. action.
Although these programs are just beginning, there are places around the world where climate solutions have become part of everyday life.
Uruguay’s energy revolution
Uruguay, a country of 3.4 million people sandwiched between Argentina and Brazil, generates almost all of its electricity from renewable energy sources. In 2008, the government set a goal to transform the power grid from dependence on imported oil.
The country used to have a lot of hydroelectric power, but years of drought in the 1990s and 2000s caused the dams' output to plummet. Uruguay was forced to import oil instead at unstable prices and faced shortages and power outages. Officials have noted the growing cost competitiveness of renewable energy, especially wind, and have begun building a local wind industry almost from the ground up.
From 2013 to 2018, wind power grew dramatically from almost nothing to about a quarter of Uruguay's electricity mix. By the end of 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, Uruguay generated more than 90% of its electricity from renewables, with wind and solar power growing even as hydropower was declining.
This small country is one particularly rapid example of the enormous growth of renewable energy globally.
Electricity and heat together are the biggest contributors to human greenhouse gas emissions. But “in many countries now,” renewable energy is growing faster than electricity demand and is displacing fossil fuels in the power sector, said Bill Hare, CEO and chief scientist at Climate Analytics, an international climate science and policy organization. “This has the greatest potential to put us on a 1.5-degree path and close to it over the next five years.”
Transportation is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. Electric vehicle sales have grown exponentially over the past decade, and China is the largest market for these vehicles. According to the International Energy Agency, approximately 7.3 million battery electric vehicles were sold worldwide in 2022. More than half of these cars, about 4.4 million, were sold in China.
Historically, large cities such as Shanghai have led this trend. However, in recent years, smaller cities in China have begun to capture a larger share of the market. The two cities where electric vehicles accounted for the largest share of overall new vehicle registrations in 2022 were Sanya, a seaside resort city on Hainan Island, and Liuzhou, an industrial hub in southern China. Battery electric vehicles accounted for about 40% of new vehicle registrations in both cities, well above the national average of 19%, according to a recent report from the International Council on Clean Transportation.
The success of electric vehicles in China will depend partly on policy and partly on convenience and affordability. The most popular electric car in China right now is the Hongguang Mini, a small two-door model that costs about $5,000. The product was manufactured by SAIC-GM-Wuling, a three-party international joint venture, at its Liuzhou plant.
Paris, the city of bicycles
Some cities are trying not only to electrify their cars, but also to replace as many cars as possible with cleaner forms of transportation, such as bicycles. In 2021, Paris authorities announced plans to make the city '100% bicycle friendly' within the next five years.
Paris has already begun a years-long journey to eliminate, or at least reduce the number of, cars in the city center. From 2001 to 2018, the number of car trips in Paris fell by 60%. During the same period, public transportation use increased by 40% and bicycle use increased by 20%.
Cycling has become much more booming in recent years. This is thanks in part to the opening of new bike lanes, nicknamed “coronapistes”, during the coronavirus pandemic.,” or “Corona Lane.” The proportion of people traveling by bicycle within Paris will more than double from 5% to 11% between 2020 and 2024, according to the Paris Region Institute, an urban planning institute that works for cities across Europe. has increased.
Paris currently has more than 1,000km of cycle lanes, with current plans calling for a further 180km, plus tens of thousands of bike parking spaces and new traffic light patterns that prioritize cyclists and public transport.