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Newsletter (copy 09)
Inside Spain's brisk energy transition; some COP wins
Good morning!
Some good news to get things started:
China now has 1.4 terawatts (1,400 gigawatts) of installed renewable energy capacity, regulators say. That's nearly 10 times as much as Germany has, and about 130 times more than South Africa.
More than 1 million fully electric vehicles have been sold in the US this year, according to BloombergNEF.
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The Spanish energy revolution is well underway, with some major milestones hit in 2023.
In the first 11 months of the year, clean sources comprised three-quarters of the country’s electricity mix, according to data collated by Ember. The average share of renewables surged to 52.6% – from 42.2% in 2022 – while nuclear’s contribution edged up to 22%.
That’s a vastly different picture from the turn of the century, when coal accounted for 35.8% of Spanish power output. The dirtiest fossil fuel has been largely phased out of the mix, with its share now sitting below 2%.
Spain plans to get to 81.2% renewables by 2030, but fresh hurdles loom for developers.
- Read the full story here.
Considering that this year’s climate conference is being run by the head of a national oil company, and thousands of fossil fuel lobbyists are in attendance, expectations for real progress at COP28 were low. Nevertheless, some key wins have been notched.
First, 123 countries signed a pledge to triple the world’s installed renewable energy capacity to at least 11,000 GW by 2030, and to double the rate of energy efficiency improvements to 4% a year.
“The widespread support for this declaration demonstrates that renewable energy has moved from the sidelines to centre stage,” Jennifer Layke, global energy director at the World Resources Institute, said in a statement.
“Tripling annual renewable energy capacity over the next six years would be the single largest step the world can take toward achieving our global climate goals.”
But Layke said rich countries must fork out more funding for renewable energy projects in developing markets.
Even though solar and wind are the cheapest sources of new generating capacity, they nevertheless require upfront investments. And the surge in interest rates has put these projects further out of reach for many states.
Second, wealthy nations made progress on operationalising a loss and damage fund, which is meant to assist developing countries hit by climate disasters.
The UAE — host of COP28 — pledged $100 million towards the fund, which has more than $650 million in total commitments so far.
That’s a drop in the ocean of what’s required as the impacts of climate change become more acute, but it’s a step in the right direction.
- Read the full story here.
Opponents of parking reform are often worried that relaxing or removing parking mandates (whereby new developments are required to set aside a certain amount of space for cars) will lead to curb-side congestion and inconvenience nearby residents and businesses.
Fortunately, there are proven strategies to keep that from happening, and cities can get well ahead of the issue.
- Read the full story here.
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