and other nature and climate news
1. Clean power surpassed 40% of global electricity generation in 2024
Record renewables growth led by solar helped push clean power past 40% of global electricity in 2024, according to a new report from Ember.
This push was largely driven by solar power generation. Image: Ember
Renewable power sources added a record 858 terawatt-hours (TWh) of generation in 2024, 49% more than the previous record of 577 TWh set in 2022.
This was largely driven by an increase in solar power generation, which has doubled over the last three years to reach over 2,000 TWh.
For the 20th year in a row, solar has remained the fastest-growing power source.Image: Ember
—Phil MacDonald, Managing Director, Ember
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— Phil MacDonald, Managing Director, Ember
Heatwaves contributed to high growth in electricity demand, resulting in a small increase in fossil fuel generation that has driven up power sector emissions to an all-time high.
Fossil fuel generation rose to meet the additional demand increase of 208 TWh driven by high temperatures.
2. Europe experiences warmest March on record
March 2025 was the warmest on record for Europe and the second-warmest globally, according to the European Union’s Climate Change Service, Copernicus.
The continent saw an average surface air temperature over land of 6.03ºC, 2.41ºC above the 1991-2020 average for the month. It was 0.26°C warmer than the previous warmest March in 2014.
Europe’s previous March heat record was in 2014.Image: C3S/ECMWF
The largest heat anomalies in Europe occurred across eastern Europe and southwest Russia. Meanwhile, temperatures exceeded averages across much of the Arctic, with the Canadian Archipelago and Baffin Bay experiencing particularly significant warming.
