Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 3d

"Employees of law firms, banks and insurance companies shouldn’t turn into robots thinking only about fees when it might be the devil they’re sending an invoice to. They need use their moral compass. There is a climate emergency, but neither the banks, the insurers or the lawyers have noticed."

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 3d

There is a pervasive assumption that the institutions that are custodians of our finances – banks, insurance companies and law firms – are to be trusted when it comes to climate change action. Nothing could be further from the truth. As I wrote in Saving the Planet Without the Bullshit back in 2022:

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 3d

The "Net Zero Banking Alliance" is no more: good riddance

"A climate alliance of top global banks has folded some four years since its launch after its members encountered political pressure and failed to meet the objectives it had ambitiously set out"

www.ft.com/content/841f...

Global banking climate alliance folds four years after launch

‘Net zero’ financial sector group votes to cease operations after losing members under political pressure

www.ft.com

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 9d

Climate anxiety is real, widespread and intensifying. This 6+ years weekly thread⬆️ aggregates good climate news and shows that climate action is widespread and has momentum. Just keep on clicking for a big dose of good climate news!

(cartoon by Cathy Wilcox)

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 9d

10 Renewables alliance mobilizes $4.2b for Africa green projects
11 China bans new steel capacity, significantly expands green steel
12 Sweden's Stegra to supply green steel for Microsoft’s data centers
13 US judge rules Administration cannot block Rhode Island offshore wind project

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 9d

5 China’s electrification rate hit 28.8% in 2024
6 China August sales of EV trucks up 182% y-on-y
7 EU EVs up 24.8% from January to August y-on-y
8 France to build 1.5GW offshore wind farm, largest clean energy project in the country
9 Germany awards 3.4GW of onshore wind

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 9d

Good climate news this week
1 China to cut emissions 7% to 10% by 2035
2 CATL to mass-deploy sodium-ion battery costing as low as $10–$19/kWh
3 UK reiterates goal of getting off fossil fuels
4 $19 trillion in fuel costs to be slashed by 2050 by speeding up electrification and renewables

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 10d

The alternative is a further acceleration in electricity prices everywhere data centers are going to be built, and angry citizens thinking Big Tech is picking their pockets

More on Episode 95 of the Angry Clean Energy Guy podcast

theangrycleanenergyguy.com/podcast/epis...

Episode 95 - The Angry Clean Energy Guy

The Achilles heel of AI and AGI is electricity. By 2030, new data centers require $6.7 trillion worldwide, based on current market data, to keep pace with the demand for compute power. Not much, howev...

theangrycleanenergyguy.com

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 10d

Nuclear will take 20 years to deliver, gas turbines are unavailable through 2030, and new coal is finished everywhere except in China and India. Yet, there isn't going to a big AI acceleration without a lot more electricity. And this means more solar, wind and BESS - much more, much faster

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · 10d

Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI alone have collectively announced $800b in commitments for new data centers in 2025. Meanwhile, US electricity prices are rising fast, up 35% since 2022

Electricity is AI's Achilles heel:

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 31

10 Global: 30-year-old solar panels still going strong
11 Litigation: 15 young climate advocates sue Wisconsin over pro-fossil fuel policies

x.com/AssaadRazzou...

This 5+ years weekly thread⬆️ aggregates good climate news and shows that climate action is widespread

(Cartoon by Rohan Chakravarty)

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 31

7 China: Sales of heavy electric trucks surge, with 2025 sales up to June above 2024 total
8 Global: Renewables investment up 10% in first half of the year y-on-y to record $386b
9 Global: Ad giant IPG revealed as breaking its industry first climate policy with work for world’s biggest oil company

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 31

4 China: Carbon market to introduce absolute emissions caps from 2027
5 Japan: Fossil fuels generate record low share of Japan's utility-scale electricity supplies over first half of 2025
6 Brazil: Wins backing from other Amazonian countries for $125b fund to finance forest conservation worldwide

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 31

Good climate news this week
1 Africa: Continent’s solar orders surge 60% in the 12 months to June
2 India: Record 22GW of renewables added in 1st half 2025, up 57% y-on-y
3 US: California, world’s 4th largest economy, now using 40% less natural gas to produce electricity than just 2 years ago

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

Climate anxiety is real, widespread and intensifying. This 5+ years weekly thread⬆️ aggregates good climate news and shows that climate action is widespread and has momentum. Just keep on clicking for a big dose of good climate news!

(Cartoon by Tjeerd Royaards)

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

14 US: Environmental groups file lawsuit alleging DOE broke federal law by secretly recruiting 5 handpicked sceptics to author climate change report

x.com/assaadrazzou...

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

12 Mexico: National securities commission will order non-financial companies to submit sustainability reports as of 2026
13 Canada: Energy giants Cenovus and Enbridge accused of systematic greenwashing, misleading disclosures over emissions targets in complaint to Alberta Securities Commission

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

9 South Africa: Eskom seeks solar buyers in shift to wind down dependence on coal
10 US: Average lease rate, including downpayment, now cheaper for an EV than for a petrol car
11 Norway: Greta Thunberg and 200 activists block country’s largest oil refinery

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

5 US: Solar, wind, and storage to account for 92.8% of 2025 new electricity capacity
6 UK: British solar generation already surpassed 2024 total
7 Australia: Clean energy easing blackouts says energy market operator
8 Brazil: 65% drop in area of Amazon burned by fire in July v. year earlier

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 24

Good climate news this week
1 China: Coal and gas consumption lower this year, emissions continue to decline
2 UK: Green power surges in Q2, up 195% on same quarter last year
3 Turkey: EVs up a fantastic 128% in 2025 to 18% share
4 China: Battery capacity now above 100 GW, up 110% vs. last year

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 23

The energy transformation underway is unstoppable and upending geopolitics: solar + wind + BESS will deliver super-abundant energy, and the BRICS countries and the Global South are on track to get there first

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 23

China is dominant at 39% of global solar generation but India and Brazil have emerged as titans in their own right, ranking as the 3rd- and 5th-largest solar generators globally

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 23

The BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and new members) collectively account for 51% of global solar generation, a dramatic increase from just 15% 10 years ago - becoming the new center of gravity for solar growth in terms of scale

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 20

Wind and solar combined were at 1% in 2005. They will hit 20% by 2026

The renewables revolution is unfolding live, fast and furiously: It's exponential, global, and this decade. Just look at the data and do the math

www.carbonbrief.org/iea-renewabl...

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Assaad Razzouk @assaadrazzouk.bsky.social · Aug 17

For the full 5+ year series, you can visit here: x.com/AssaadRazzou...

x.com

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