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Sustainability
Sustainability
The Big Story
Record growth in renewables, with a long way to go
World nations achieved record renewable energy deployment in 2023, with the sector accounting for 86 percent of all power capacity additions, a new report has found.
© AP Photo/Michael Sohn
Yet despite this scale-up in market share — slightly higher than 2022’s 83 percent — countries may not be able to meet near-term goals, according to the report, released Wednesday by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
Francesco La Camera, IRENA director-general, described the increase in a statement as an "extraordinary surge in renewable generation," noting the sector's ability "to rapidly scale up the energy transition."
But he qualified his enthusiasm with a warning "that progress is not moving fast enough to add the required 7.2 TW of renewable power within the next seven years."
Those 7.2 terawatts — or 7,200 gigawatts — of renewables were deemed critical in IRENA's 2023 World Energy Transitions Outlook, which sought to pinpoint changes the power sector must undertake in order to meet established mid-century climate targets.
Countries added 473 gigawatts of renewables in 2023, bringing the planet's total capacity in the sector up to 3,870 gigawatts, per the report. In 2022, countries added 295 gigawatts to the array.
The expansion in 2023 was led by Asia, which was responsible for 69 percent of the new installations — driven predominantly by China, according to the report.
The IRENA analysis identified "a glaring gap with other regions, leaving a vast majority of developing countries behind, despite massive economic and development needs."
Although Africa has experienced some growth in the sector, the continent has reached a total capacity of only 62 gigawatts, the report found.
"Policy interventions and a global course-correction are urgently needed to effectively overcome structural barriers," La Camera added.
Welcome to The Hill’s Sustainability newsletter, I'm Sharon Udasin — every week we follow the latest moves in the growing battle over sustainability in the U.S. and around the world.
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Essential Reads
Latest news impacting sustainability this week and beyond:
New book details how ‘barons’ took over American agriculture
Iowa’s food landscape can become like Italy’s — if the “barons” who captured the American farmstand can be defeated, a new book argues. “Barons,” published Tuesday by Austin Frerick, a native Iowan and Yale University food policy fellow, argues that a runaway process of monopoly has gutted rural America while bleeding the taste from American food. In the book, Frerick tells the story of the consolidation …
Full Story US West hydropower production plunged to 22-year low last year
Hydropower generation in the U.S. West plunged to a 22-year low last year — dropping 11 percent from the year before, according to a new federal data analysis. The total amount produced in the region amounted to 141.5 million megawatt-hours, or about 60 percent of the country’s total hydroelectricity output in the 2022-23 “water year,” per the data published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). …
Full Story Honey bee colonies at heightened risk of collapse in the Pacific Northwest: Study
Climate change-induced warming may be jeopardizing the survival of honey bee colonies in the Pacific Northwest, a new study has found. Contributing to this threat is an increasingly long autumn season, which is extending the amount of fall flying weather but is wearing out worker bees for spring, according to the study, published Monday in Scientific Reports. Worker bees seek out flowers whenever the weather is suitable, …
Full Story Federal spending package triples funds aimed at fixing US-Mexico sewage crisis
Congress tripled the funds it will devote this year to cleaning up a cross-border sewage crisis, in a small sliver of the $1.2 trillion spending bill approved at the eleventh hour this weekend. The package, signed by President Biden on Saturday, includes a total of $156 million in the construction budget of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), a U.S.-Mexican entity that oversees shared water resources. Those …
Full Story Blue Economics
Ocean protection could boost fishing, tourism
© iStock
Establishing marine protected areas could deliver a slew of economic benefits to fishing and tourism industries, new research has determined.
Protection and profit: Examining more than 50 protected areas in more than 30 countries, the study — published in Scientia Marina on Wednesday — identified such advantages in every single scenario.
- The diverse set of ecosystems included in the study were located in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
- The marine protected areas all boosted either fishing or tourism, sometimes generating billions of dollars in profits.
Opportunity overlooked: “In every corner of the globe, ocean protection boosts economies,” author Mark John Costello, a professor at Norway’s Nord University, said in a statement.
“For far too long, marine parks have been overlooked as GDP generators and job creators," Costello added.
An array of ecosystems: To determine the extent of these potential benefits, Costello reviewed 200 studies that covered 51 marine protected areas across the world.
- Among the ecosystems were coral reefs, kelp forests, mangroves, rocky reefs, salt marshes and mudflats.
- The areas used a variety of protection methods, with some allowing or limiting human activities and others banning them altogether, according to the study.
The benefits of bans: The study identified economic advantages for fisheries in 25 countries adjacent to the North Atlantic, North Pacific, South Pacific and Indian oceans.
- Forty-six, or 90 percent, of fisheries adjacent to protected areas experienced industry benefits.
- The protected areas that delivered the biggest boost to the sector were those in which fishing was banned.
Tourism from tropics to temperate: Tourism in 24 countries in tropical and sub-tropical locations, as well as in temperate regions, earned financial gains from their marine protected areas.
Coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass ecosystems were the most profitable, with some of these zones generating billions of dollars in revenue each year, per the study.
On Our Radar
Upcoming news themes and events we're watching:
- California is bracing for yet another sizable storm this week, capping off a month that began with a severe blizzard, The Washington Post reported. After more than 30 inches blanketed areas of the Sierra Nevada last weekend, a storm rolling in on Thursday could dump up to 2 feet on the range's highest peaks, according to the Post.
In Other News
Branch out with different reads from The Hill:
Climate change endangers 70 percent of world’s wine regions: Study
Rising global temperatures could decimate global wine production over the new few decades, according to a new study published Tuesday in the science journal Nature.
Full Story Arizona GOP leaders, Chamber sue EPA over new air pollution standard
A group of prominent Arizona Republicans sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday over new air pollution regulations that they claim will hurt the economy.
Full Story Around The Nation
Local and state headlines on sustainability issues:
- Uncertainty for farmers as snowpack melt begins ahead of New Mexico growing season (KRQE)
- Bucks Co. lawsuit alleges ‘big oil' intentionally lied about climate crisis for decades (NBC10 Philadelphia)
- An Alaska Olympian went to D.C. to testify on climate change. Then a senator dredged up old tweets. (Alaska Beacon)
What We're Reading
Sustainability news we've flagged from other outlets:
- They Save Baby Seals From Fishing Line and Plastics. Millions Watch. (The New York Times)
- ‘You the Engineer’ climate change course opens to Title 1 schools (Cornell Chronicle)
- Geoengineering Faces a Wave of Backlash Over Regulatory Gaps and Unknown Risks (Inside Climate News)
What Others are Reading
More stories on The Hill right now:
How can you protect your home against wildfires?
If you are in an area prone to wildfires, you may wonder what you can do to protect your home from them. Read more
Americans struggle to tell the difference between fact and opinion: Study
Story at a glance A recent study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looked at how well Americans can differentiate between fact and opinion. As part of the study, researchers asked more than 2,000 adults to correctly identify if 12 statements were fact or opinion. Fewer than 5 percent of adults correctly identified … Read more
What People Think
Opinions related to sustainability submitted to The Hill:
- Today’s worsening climate crisis needs the leaders of tomorrow
- The ’90s are over: 5 reasons to embrace carbon pricing today
- The US must address more than LNG to mitigate climate change
You're all caught up. See you next week!
Check out The Hill's Sustainability page for the latest coverage.
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