21 January, 2025

Martha Henriques This week, we hear another reader's climate hopes: boosting renewable power and phasing out fossil fuels. Renewables appear to be on an unstoppable upward trend globally, but countries with a robust fossil fuel phase-out plan are a lot harder to find. Also in this edition: a flood-prone city's battle with drought.

THE BIG PICTURE Barcelona's battle with floods and drought The cisterns below Barcelona's streets help collect stormwater and reduce surface flooding. Credit: Barcelona Water Cycle, Barcelona City Council These caverns below the streets of Barcelona are filled with water after a storm, as part of the city's defences against sudden downpours. But the water that floods these chambers soon finds its way out to the sea, rather than replenishing drying reservoirs and aquifers. Frank Swain investigates why floods don't help the region's droughts, and how Barcelona could become more resilient as climate change puts pressure on its water sources. Read the full story here.

CLIMATE CONVERSATION  What's needed for a fossil fuel phase-out? Peak oil may be in sight this decade. Credit: Getty Images In the second week of our readers' climate hopes for 2025, we take stock of clean energy versus fossil fuels. Mathieu in Ghana says one of his hopes is that countries will invest more in renewables and phase out fossil fuels completely. ‌ First, renewables. The growth in cost-effective clean energy has put the world on track to see demand for oil, gas and coal all peak before 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. To understand peak oil and what might come after it, read this story by Jocelyn Timperley. ‌ Investment in renewables – especially solar – in China has made a huge contribution to massive growth in clean energy. However, global growth in renewables isn't enough to keep the world below 1.5C of warming, the stretch target of the Paris Agreement. Compared with 2019 levels, emissions need to be cut by 42% by 2030 and 57% by 2035 to meet this goal, the UN Environment Programme found last year.

Solar power is driving much of the expansion in renewable power. Credit: Getty Images So what about phasing out fossil fuels – which countries have taken meaningful steps in this direction? ‌ A handful of countries have set a date for ending extraction. Denmark, which is the European Union's greatest extractor in the North Sea, plans to stop drilling by 2050. It banned new oil and gas exploration in 2020. ‌ Several other countries, such as Portugal, have banned oil and gas exploitation entirely – but they already import their fossil fuels anyway, so there isn't a significant industry to shut down. Others, including New Zealand, do have an oil and gas industry but have a ban on new oil exploration – though the incumbent government plans to lift restrictions. ‌ Colombia is the largest coal producer and exporter in South America. The country's President Gustavo Petro pledged to move away from fossil fuels when he took office in 2022. So far, only a tiny fraction of the country's energy comes from wind and solar. Read about Colombia's ambition in this story by María Paula Rubiano. ‌ In the US, former president Joe Biden used his last days in office to ban new offshore drilling along much of the US's coastline. (Read David Mercer and Esme Stallard's story here.) However, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump has declared a national energy emergency and aims to ramp up drilling in the US. ‌ Tipping points As many nations flip-flop on their climate commitments, are there other considerations that could guide countries towards abandoning fossil fuels? ‌ The big one is the cost-effectiveness of renewables like solar and wind. Even without more supportive policies, solar could well become the world's dominant source of energy by 2050 – with some studies calculating we are already past an "irreversible solar tipping point". Read more about why positive tipping points like this are so powerful. ‌ And there are still more avenues that could help accelerate a transition to clean power. Some countries and international organisations would like to see fossil fuels given the same treatment as nuclear weapons, with a non-proliferation treaty. You can read about how that would work in Isabella Kaminski's story here. ‌ We'll be back with another reader's hopes next week.