This is the first instalment of a new monthly column by Rick Smith, president of the Canadian Climate Institute.
The news cycle out of the United States can feel particularly chaotic and overwhelming lately. Almost daily, Canadians are faced with an onslaught of concerning developments south of the border on a variety of important issues. And when it comes to climate change, this news can seem uniformly grim (it’s not, and we’ll come back to this).
But it’s worth reminding ourselves of the important progress that’s happening on climate and clean energy around the world as an antidote to pessimism that can paralyze us right at the moment when action is needed most.
Take Europe, for example: the continent’s nations have seen massive progress in cutting emissions. The latest data show that European Union countries slashed emissions by more than 8% in a single year in 2023, the largest drop in decades outside the COVID-19 years. That left its collective emissions 37% lower than 1990 levels, all while the economy grew nearly 70% bigger. The EU remains on track to cut emissions 55% below where they were in 1990 by 2030.
The vast majority of major economies of the world remain deadly serious about decarbonization. We need to keep pace.
– Rick Smith, President, Canadian Climate Institute
In the United Kingdom, the country has already seen emissions fall by more than half since the same baseline year. A big driver of that success has been the stunning transformation of its electricity sector, where emissions fell by a full three-quarters in just 12 years. Over that same period, the country used its last pound of coal to power its grid, ending a long legacy that stretched back almost 150 years. Coal went from powering 40% of the nation’s electricity in 2012 to nothing in October of last year.
That’s incredible progress, but the U.K. isn’t resting on its laurels. It recently announced it will cut its emissions by more than 80% by 2035.
But what about China? That familiar refrain is becoming ever more absurd as the world’s largest country puts its foot on the accelerator for clean technologies. When it comes to electric vehicles, for example, more than half the vehicles in China – the world’s largest auto market – are expected to come with a plug-in this year. The remarkable growth in EVs in China helped make 2024 another record year for EV sales globally.
On wind and solar, China continues to break its own records. Clean power installations soared last year, as the country hit its 2030 renewable target six years ahead of schedule. That helped stall growth in China’s national emissions.
Climate progress is picking up speed
There is more good news in other parts of the globe. Major polluting nations like Indonesia, for example, have committed to phasing out coal by 2040, which will require a huge ramp-up in renewables. We’ve also seen huge progress across Latin America and the Caribbean as countries including Brazil, Chile and Uruguay add new clean electricity to their grids.
Brazil is hosting the United Nations climate conference in Belém this year, the 10th anniversary of the Paris Agreement, and has made major progress in bringing Amazon deforestation to its lowest level since 2015.
Let’s come back to the United States. Yes, Donald Trump is eviscerating much of what the Biden administration tried to accomplish. But the last time Trump was in office, this simply shifted action to the state level.
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Many of the most durable climate policies that started or continued under the previous Trump and George W. Bush eras are still with us today. That includes two cap-and-trade systems and a basket of state renewable-energy mandates. Currently, 12 states that make up a third of the U.S. economy and more than a quarter of its population have carbon-pricing programs on the books. Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia now have requirements for renewable or clean electricity, including many that are Republican-led.
So let’s not lose hope. And let’s make sure that we redouble our efforts to make progress here in Canada. The vast majority of major economies of the world remain deadly serious about decarbonization. We need to keep pace.
Rick Smith is president of the Canadian Climate Institute and the co-author of two bestselling books on the effects of pollution on human health.
