WHY DOES IT MATTER? As greenhouse gas emissions from human activities increase, they build up in the atmosphere and warm the climate, leading to many other changes around the world—in the atmosphere, on land, and in the oceans. The indicators in other chapters of this report illustrate many of these changes. Such changes have both...Continue Reading
This figure shows how annual average temperatures worldwide have changed since 1901. Surface data come from a combined set of land-based weather stations and sea surface temperature measurements. Satellite measurements cover the lower troposphere, which is the lowest level of the Earth’s atmosphere. “UAH” and “RSS” represent two different methods of analyzing the original satellite...Continue Reading
Let’s think of carbon on its own terms. Let’s define the circumstance the carbon finds itself in. Okay, if I burn carbon and I release it into the atmosphere, I call it fugitive. It’s escaped. You don’t want to do more of that. In the case of plastic, it’s a form of carbon that’s often...Continue Reading
Solar energy is becoming a force to be reckoned with. Last year, China and the United States installed a record 15 and 7.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar, respectively. This year, the world could install as much as 66 GW.In 2015, investors poured $161 billion of capital into solar, the largest amount for any single power...Continue Reading
Brazil generates the third-highest amount of electricity in the Americas, behind only the United States and Canada. Hydroelectricity provides more than 70% of Brazil’s generation. During the Olympic Games, electricity demand in the host city of Rio de Janeiro has risen from an influx of tourists, athletes, and event staff. Brazil currently has 158 hydroelectric...Continue Reading
Increasing renewable energy consumption. Consumption of renewable fuels that do not produce carbon dioxide increased 9% during the first six months of 2016 compared with the same period in 2015. Wind energy, which saw the largest electricity generating capacity additions of any fuel in 2015, accounted for nearly half the increase. Hydroelectric power, which has...Continue Reading
In a world that is not short of problems, it can be easy to overlook success. One positive trend is that more people than ever have access to electricity—about 82 percent of the global population. Since 1990, India has improved access by 25 percentage points, and in China electricity is now close to universal. Unfortunately,...Continue Reading
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