Dear Friends,
Earlier this month, the think-tank Ember released a report showing that more than 40% of the world’s electricity was generated without burning fossil fuels in 2024.
While the finding is worth celebrating, it’s also important to note that electricity generation, though a significant source of emissions, only constitutes a fraction of the global total. Furthermore, planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions have risen to an all-time high, driven by a rise in global energy demand which is still outpacing the growth in renewable energy.
But the direction of travel is clear: the International Energy Agency has predicted that fossil fuel use will peak before 2030 and then fall into terminal decline, yet the projected rate of decline is, at this point, nowhere near fast enough to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C.
But with an increase in investment in climate solutions, we can ensure that the drop in fossil fuel use happens more rapidly than predicted. As we prepare to mark Good Friday and Holy Saturday, hope still seems a long way off. But how might we – as the poet Wendell Berry writes – ‘practice resurrection’?
