The Earth is on track to rise 4℃ by the year 2100 if nothing changes from today and emissions continue to rise. This number may not seem like a huge deal, but just 4℃ would cause the sea level to rise around 32 inches, flooding many low-lying areas and causing severe droughts and heat waves in other areas. If we continue business as usual, the sea level will rise 3-6 times higher than in previous years, raising one question: how much progress are we actually making towards climate change? Actually, we’re making a lot.
The Americas
At the top of the Americas, Canada relied on fossil fuels for 20% of its energy in 2023, with 58% of its energy from hydro power with wind and solar at 7%. Canada aims for 72% renewable energy by 2030.
In the United States, it’s believed that energy emissions have already peaked in 2017. Emissions have fallen 33% from 2023-24, and the U.S. has 41% of its energy from clean sources. Solar generation has grown from .2% in 2000 to 16% in 2023, the second largest absolute increase. Furthermore, the U.S. has around ~40% of its houses heated with heat pipes and is a leader in nuclear energy. Further down in Mexico, they have around 12% of their energy from clean sources, with the largest of it being solar power, but they aim for 33% clean energy by 2030.
Shockingly, in Uruguay, further into South America, they were able to run on solely renewable energy for 10 months straight before breaking the streak. Hydroelectric plants comprised 42.9% of the total mix, followed closely by wind farms at 40.6%. Bio-energy (12.9%) and solar (3.5%) accounted for the remainder, and they’ve invested $6 billion into clean energy and created 50,000 new jobs.
In Brazil, they’re using wind and solar energy to meet their new energy demands, relying on fossil fuels for only 9% of it.
Europe
Moving over to Europe, the Netherlands is seeking to rapidly phase out coal and gas power. They’ve been rapidly building up their wind and solar power and now have less than 50% of their power being created from coal (dropping over 30% in just five years), and are now the country with the second-highest solar generation per capita, rising from 8% in 2015 to 41% in 2023, only behind Australia.
In the European Union, they’ve contributed 17% of the global growth in solar and wind in the last 10 years and have had the second largest decline in coal generation, with fossil fuel emissions dropping 10% since the Paris Agreement.
Fossil fuels make up 64% of Russia’s electricity, with emissions rising 2% in 2024. Their per capita demand is more than twice the global average and is mainly met with coal.
Germany’s largest source recently changed from coal at 26.8% to wind at 27.2%–their power sector emissions are believed to have peaked in 2007, and they aim for 75% renewable energy by 2030.
Italy relied on fossil fuels for 56% of its electricity in 2023, with their largest clean source being hydro at 14%; however, their power sector emissions are still falling.
Poland generated nearly 73% of its energy from fossil fuels, falling from 79% in 2022, with 61% being generated by coal. Wind and solar have made it to roughly 21%, aiming to reach 53% renewable energy by 2030.
The United Kingdom has almost completely removed coal electricity and now relies on gas, relying on fossil fuels for 40% of its energy, having wind at 28%. They aim for 83% renewable energy by 2030.
Norway’s making a large effort towards going fully clean: 88% of its energy comes from hydro. Most people are going for electric cars, with electric cars having 88.9% of sales last year Petroleum-based cars are rarer in Norway, electric cars are usually the only cars for sale.
Asia
Over in Asia, China’s electricity demand is rising rapidly, but they are meeting it with 46% wind and solar, but currently account for 37% of the world’s global wind and solar generation. China is the global leader in wind and solar and has ambitious targets; however, China’s coal usage is still over twice the global average. Despite this, their clean energy generation has increased 13 times since 2000. They’re currently building ⅔ of the world’s solar generation, but would still need to cut down on coal and fossil fuel usage to meet global targets. Additionally, they’re becoming more prominent in nuclear power: of the 52 reactors that have started construction in 2017, 25 are in China.
To the East, Japan had 11% of its electricity generated by wind, with around 11% by solar. Despite this, their fossil fuel share has dropped from 85% to 69% since the Paris Agreement. Solar and nuclear are on the rise.
In India, solar generation was 17 times higher in 2023 than in 2015, but most of its energy is still coal-fueled. Despite the high coal reliance, their per capita emissions are the fourth lowest in the G20. They were able to surpass Japan with 30% supplying their new demand with solar; they’ve set ambitious goals for themselves.
The Philippines had 2.5% of their energy from solar and wind and relied on fossil fuels for 78% of their energy.
In South Korea, the largest source of electricity is nuclear at 29%. They rely on fossil fuels for 62% of energy and aim for 20% renewable energy by 2030.
Vietnam relies on fossil fuels for 58% of its electricity and has low carbon generation at 42% (mainly from hydro at 29%). It’s doubled coal generation due to double demand, but it has a lot of potential for clean energy growth.
Middle East/Other Countries
Australia’s solar has increased, but coal is still a very high issue. 64% of its energy is from fossil fuels, but coal has dropped 73% to 46%, with wind and solar growing from 3% to 29%. It aims for 82% renewable energy by 2030; however, despite Australia as a whole having coal issues, South Australia had 71% of their energy from renewables in 2022 and 2023 and plan to remain close to 100% from 2026 and on.
88% of Egypt’s electricity is from fossil fuels, but it aims for 42% renewable energy by 2030, with 7% hydro power alongside wind and solar on the rise.
Finally, the United Arab Emirates’ largest clean source of energy is nuclear at 13%, having wind and solar at 4.5%. They rely on wind and solar for 83% of their electricity.
Conclusion (overall)
Countries around the world are working to prevent the 4℃ rise, working to prevent the flooding and droughts of many areas, and working to protect ecosystems and our home. Not only is it necessary, it’s economically beneficial to use clean energy. In 2023, renewable energy passed 30% of the global energy sources with solar adding twice as much energy as coal in 2023. Solar energy has surpassed many expectations and was the leader in clean energy: capacity additions were 76% higher in 2023 than in 2022. Not only that, Nuclear energy is the highest it’s been in 30 years. More than 40 countries around the world plan to expand their nuclear field. More than half of the countries are already at least five years past a peak in electricity generation from fossil fuels. Emissions from these 118 power sectors have fallen by a quarter in the last decade. Collectively, they represent 43% of global electricity demand. We are making significant progress towards slowing climate change.
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