NEW from us: Rapid expansion of the EV, wind, solar and other clean energy industries drove more than a third of China's GDP growth in 2025, and almost all of the growth in investment, making clean energy essential to meeting economic targets.

The first rule of holes is that when you find yourself in a hole, stop buying LNG from the bastard who dug the hole. The second rule is get out of the hole - electrify everything and clean up electricity.

Coal power in China: most new coal plants in a decade went online in 2025; plans for new projects reached a record high, with the equivalent of >150 large coal plants proposed. Thankfully permitting slowed so the government is limiting the expansion to a degree. What's going on?

News from Helsinki, Finland which recently became coal-free when the last two coal plants closed. The local government just released a statement that the coal exit led to very clear air quality improvements. Can you spot the coal exit in the graph of SO2 concentrations?

Good news from Australia: power generation from coal down 4.6% and from gas down 27% in Oct-Dec, with more than half of power generated from carbon-free sources. Power prices were fell by nearly 50%, as they do when you have a lot of zero marginal cost generation.

A 60% jump in EU LNG imports from the U.S. in 2025 managed to drive up greenhouse gas emissions on both sides of the Atlantic - in the EU from the burning of the gas, and in the U.S. by prompting a shift to coal-fired generation as prices rose.

Deploying wind power and cleaning up transportation in line with the EU’s 2030 targets would have reduced both oil and gas consumption by more than the total imports from Russia in 2025. That is, all oil and gas imported from Russia went to cover the shortfall to these targets.

New from us: The average EU citizen spent EUR880 on fossil fuel imports in 2025, as gas imports increased and the U.S. became the largest supplier. Slow progress on electrifying transport and buildings as well as building wind power are harming the bloc's economy and energy security.

🇪🇺 NEW | REPORT: EU CO2 emissions & fossil fuel imports review reveals emissions off track; clean energy investments lag behind fossil fuel imports that hit EUR 880 per citizen in 2025 ⚠️ Emissions from fossil fuels 4% above pathway to targets due to transport oil consumption

New from us: EU CO2 emissions fell only 0.8% in 2025, the second year in a row that the bloc has fallen short of its targets. Adverse weather played a big role but underlying issues are slow progress on transport and buildings electrification and wind power buildout.

This is not small.

China added 315GW of solar and 119GW of wind power capacity to the grid in 2025. And a staggering ~93GW of coal&gas-fired power capacity. Wind capacity additions grew 50%, solar 14%, making new records, and coal&gas 75% year-on-year.

New from us - captive coal power plant projects linked to energy intensive industrial plants keep proliferating in Indonesia, jeopardizing the country's targets for coal phase out and net zero emissions, while also messing up energy planning.

An emphasis on service sector growth in the new five year period would be highly significant as China's economic structure remains very energy-intensive.

China's battery energy storage additions saw a major acceleration in the second half of 2025, with 43GW of capacity added, compared with 23GW in the first half and 44GW during all of 2024.

Wind and solar power generation growth in China last year was roughly equal to the total power generation of France or Texas, and covered all of the growth in China's electricity use, even as demand grew at over 5%.

A big drop in China's highest-emitting industries in December with coal and gas-fired power down 3%, steel output 10% and cement output 7%, closing down 1%, 4% and 7% for the year. Clean power generation grew fast enough to cover all demand growth and push fossil generation down.

This morning, lots of people in Johannesburg complained about waking up to a terrible smell of rotten eggs. The culprit, as usual, was one of the worst sources of air pollution and greenhouse gases in Africa and the world, a huge plant producing liquid fuels from coal.

Even by Trump's standards, his comments on the global wind turbine market were incredibly misguided, so was really happy to contribute to this fact-checking piece. To be fair, many smarter people have also gotten the wrong idea due to all the hype about China's dominance of clean tech.

UK contracts for record 8.4 GW of offshore wind! 12 projects, including world's largest offshore project, at ~$91/MWh or 40% less than new gas! New gas plant costs $147/MWh, with CO2 emission cost. UK has 29 GW of operating wind & 10 GW under construction. www.edie.net/record-8-4-g... #energysky

NEW: Coal-fired power generation fell in both China and India in 2025, for the first time since 1973. The drop came after record clean energy additions in both countries, and was the first time that clean energy was a major driver of falling coal power use.

New from us: India’s coal-fired power generation fell in 2025 by 3%, only the second drop for a full calendar year since the 1970s, and the first one driven to a significant degree by clean power growth - the only other time coal power fell was due to Covid-19.

A milestone we didn't want to see - Russia has made one trillion euros on fossil fuel exports since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. All the more reason to shift away from dependence on dirty energy and to strengthen sanctions on Russia.

In case you missed it - progress hasn't stopped in the U.S., despite the best efforts of the Trump administration. www.utilitydive.com/news/solar-g...

China's clean power capacity additions picked up in November, with 13GW of wind and 21GW solar. China has already added almost as much wind&solar in Jan-Nov as in the full year 2024, ahead of the end-of-year and end-of-five-year-plan spike expected in December.

The astonishing self-harm of European auto industry continues. Trying to turn your home market into a museum for last century cars means you might squeeze a few more years of revenue from them, but at the cost of obsolescence as consumers at home and in export markets vote with their feet.

An interesting study on the prospects of coal power plant workers transitioning to clean energy jobs, finding that keeping coal plants on life support while building clean power - the approach of most key governments - is the worst option.

ICYMI: Meeting China's Paris Agreement commitments for 2030 requires keeping CO2 emissions falling, which in turn requires that current wind&solar targets are exceeded by a wide margin. The good news is that every single previous wind&solar target has been overachieved.

After a big fall in coal-fired power generation in November, the CO2 emissions from China’s three largest emitting sectors - power, steel and cement - are almost certain to fall in 2025. Our detailed monthly snapshot on power generation, industry and air pollution in China 👇

China's thermal (~coal&gas) power generation fell 4% in November year-on-year, putting the Jan-Nov total at -0.7%. Crude steel production fell 11% in November and 4% in Jan-Nov; cement output fell 8% in Nov and -7% in Jan-Nov.

New from me: How can China meet its 2030 emission commitments after falling badly off track? The country will have to very substantially overachieve its clean energy targets and limit plans for runaway expansion of coal power & petrochemical expansion in the next 5-yr plan.

After a big jump in October, coal-fired power generation in China has been falling for 5 weeks straight, until Dec 4, according to a survey by China Electricity Council. Power generation at the surveyed coal plants is down 6% year-on-year in the past 5 weeks and 3% year-to-date.

So Indonesia's state utility had a full compensation lined up from the Asian Development Bank for closing this one coal power plant, but they balked on even that. Shows how crazy entrenched the coal interests are in the country. www.thejakartapost.com/business/202...

Our annual deep dive on China’s climate transition is out! China’s CO₂ emissions are set to remain flat for a second year in 2025. Record additions of solar and wind, accelerating electrification, and declining construction-material demand are the main drivers.

🇨🇳 WEBINAR | REPORT LAUNCH | China’s Climate Transition: Outlook 2025 Join us as we unpack emissions & energy trends, as well as targets & policies needed to keep China on track for its goals 🗓️ Monday, 8 Dec. 2025 🕘 9 GMT | 10 CET | 17 BJT 📍Zoom Register here: energyandcleanair.org/webinar-repo...

China's wind and solar capacity additions rebounded in October after the predictable slump over the summer. 14 GW solar and 9 GW wind was added to the grid, after an average of 9 GW solar and 3 GW wind per month in the past three months.

China's official news agency Xinhua puts the country's coal peak at "around 2027" and oil peak "around 2026", also referencing the commitment to "gradually reduce" coal consumption that has been missing from recent policy papers.

I made a peace deal with a rabid dog: I give it a sausage and take off my protective gear, and it won't bite me again. It took the sausage so now we have peace. On my way to Oslo to pick up the peace prize. This is how you all sound talking about "peace deals" with Russia.

More flexible operation of coal power plants could cut power sector CO2 by 11%, electricity costs by 2.5% and double the share of solar and wind that the grid can accommodate without curtailment or energy storage - our new case study for China's Zhejiang province.

We've spent decades trying to persuade societies to give up a small fraction of short-term growth in exchange for avoiding the climate crisis in the long term, with mixed success. Good luck convincing everyone to give up the pursuit of growth and prosperity wholesale instead.

China's electricity consumption grew a whopping 10.4% year-on-year in October. Partially explained by big jumps in residential and service sector demand, up by 24% and 17%, but industrial demand also up 6.2% - looks like an end of five-year plan push to meet economic targets.

China's vice minister for environment Li Gao strongly puts forward the economic growth argument for China's green and low-carbon transformation, also citing our @creacleanair.bsky.social research on the contribution of clean energy sectors to China's GDP.

China's power generation from coal and gas saw a big jump in October, rising 7% on year. Generation is still down marginally, 0.4% in the year to October. Likely reasons: weather variation affecting residential&commercial power demand, and solar&wind curtailment.

So the data center expansion could contribute a 3% increase to U.S. energy CO2 emissions and 7% increase to fossil gas use by 2035. That's not insignificant and heaven knows we can't afford any extra CO2 but I think most people are getting an overblown idea of the impact.

The @IEA is repeating its abject failure to account for the solar boom, now with EVs, to create an alternative reality for Trump where oil-burning vehicles will dominate transportation and oil demand will keep growing.

NEW from me: CO2 emissions in China have now been flat or falling for 18 months, the first time that energy demand growth at or above historical averages doesn't drive emissions up, thanks to the clean energy boom. 🧵👇

🇨🇳 📰 NEW | Analysis: #China’s #CO2 #emissions have now been flat or falling for 18 months www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-chinas-co2-emissions-have-now-been-flat-or-falling-for-18-months/ @laurimyllyvirta.bsky.social w/ @carbonbrief.org

China's formal submission of its new climate targets leaves out the commitment made in 2021 to gradually reduce coal consumption in 2026-30. It does reiterate the commitment to reduce carbon intensity, which is currently badly off track, but doesn't provide any progress update.

China's first solar and wind auction under the new competitive contracting system, in Shandong, was a shock to solar developers due to low prices. After 5 more auctions, things look more balanced or at least more varied. No other province saw as large cuts to pricing as Shandong.

China's new climate targets made it clear that policymakers are still leaving the door open to a rebound in emissions in the next few years, despite a recent falling trend and clean energy growth rates that will keep emissions falling if sustained.