A clean energy future / Outlook 2024 Conclusion

The world is entering a new era of falling power sector emissions. This chapter begins by examining why power sector emissions are likely to fall in 2025 – leaving 2024 as the peak of fossil generation – and then examines how fast global power emissions may fall this decade, as policymakers gear up to triple global renewable capacity and expand other clean sources.

Solar energy is leading the energy revolution, unlocking the possibility of achieving the tripling goal, and putting the electricity sector on course toward climate targets. We look at how the rise in new solar capacity in 2024 surpassed expectations and how growth in 2025 will continue.

We then contrast the weak electricity demand growth in 2024 – especially in OECD countries – with the big rise expected in 2025 and beyond. The future expansion of electrification – with China leading on this – and also the growth in data centers and rising use of air conditioning are significantly adding to electricity demand. We highlight just how important it is to avoid wastefulness and inefficiency, which reduce our ability to quickly reduce emissions.

Finally, we look at case studies of policies that have helped three very different countries – China, Brazil, and the Netherlands – achieve rapid growth in solar and wind in the last few years.

Through these four trends, we explore the factors behind the rapid and profound changes rippling through the electricity sector and set out the reasons why these changes will only accelerate in the coming years.

2024 was likely the peak of fossil generation, unlocking a new era of falling power sector emissions. Solar and wind have dramatically slowed emissions growth and many countries are already past peak power emissions. We forecast that power sector emissions will likely fall in 2025 – and would likely have done so already in 2024 had it not been for droughts reducing hydro generation. In last year’s report, we estimated that there would be a 0.4% reduction in power sector emissions in 2024, but because of the record fall in hydropower generation emissions instead grew by 1%.

In the years ahead, solar and wind additions are forecast to be sufficient to reduce power emissions, even under scenarios of high electricity demand growth. The fact that solar and wind will continue to increase gives confidence that power sector emissions will not just plateau but fall. Tripling global renewable electricity capacity by 2030 could supercharge the transition, and has the potential to help halve power sector emissions by 2030. 

The growth of solar and wind has set the conditions for a peak and decline in power sector emissions. Solar and wind have already dramatically slowed emissions growth and many countries are past the peak.

Clean electricity growth – led by solar and wind – has helped to slow the growth in fossil fuels by almost two-thirds in the last ten years. Fossil fuel generation rose on average by 3.5% per year from 2004 to 2013, slowing to 1.3% per year from 2014 to 2024.

Fossil fuel electricity generation was 22% lower in 2024 than it would have been if solar and wind generation hadn’t been built. Between 2006 and 2024, wind and solar have avoided 19 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions, which is over half of 2024’s total global CO2 emissions. 

Although power sector emissions reached an all-time high in 2024, solar and wind have prevented emissions rising even faster.

More than half of economies are already at least five years past a peak in electricity generation from fossil fuels. Emissions from these 118 power sectors have fallen by a quarter in the last decade. Collectively, they represent 43% of global electricity demand.

Many developed economies peaked over a decade ago. European countries have seen the biggest falls – fossil generation in the UK has fallen by 63% since its peak in 2008, Greece by 57% (having peaked in 2007), Spain by 59% (2005) and Germany by 42% (2007). The biggest falls have happened in the last few years as solar and wind power have accelerated.

Other key developed economies have peaked, and seen smaller falls. Fossil generation in the US has fallen by 16% since its peak in 2007, Canada by 26% (having peaked in 2001), Australia by 24% (2009), Japan by 29% (2012) and South Korea by 13% (2018).

Collectively, OECD countries saw power sector emissions peak in 2007, with a fall of 28% since then.

Falling power sector emissions are already the reality for many countries, and the scene is now set for global emissions to start falling.

Looking back in time, it is likely that 2024 will have been the peak of power sector emissions.

Clean capacity growth was already enough to deliver an emissions decline in 2024, but a record fall in hydro generation prevented that. Power sector emissions will likely fall in 2025, due to solar surging and a rebound in hydro generation, even as electricity demand picks up.

A signal is emerging from the noise of year-on-year variability: the world is at the peak, and about to enter a new era of falling power sector emissions.

Power sector emissions will fall, but the pace of the decline depends on how fast the world embraces clean electricity. 

Power sector emissions will inevitably reduce given current forecasts for solar and wind, but the step up to tripling renewables would almost halve them.

The analysis showed that many national plans are behind the curve of current renewables growth and need updating to keep up; this would then make a global tripling a real possibility. Many OECD countries – including the US, Canada, the UK, Netherlands and Germany – are already aiming for net zero power by 2035.

Power was the biggest emitting energy sector in 2024. It is possible that it could become the first sector to reach net zero, while unlocking emissions reductions across the global economy as the world moves towards a clean, electric future. Power sector emissions will fall this decade. But how rapidly they fall depends on the actions taken now.

China, Brazil, and the Netherlands have seen remarkable growth in wind and solar that has transformed their electricity systems at a rapid pace. Signaling ambition can create an environment in which wind and solar can thrive, enabling trust and confidence among investors. Choosing the right set of incentive mechanisms to drive the demand for wind and solar systems as well as the regulatory solutions to overcome technical barriers and facilitate the integration of wind and solar into the mix is more important than a country’s economic or geographic starting position.

Of course, even countries that have been successful in their transition so far are still facing challenges. For example, in the Netherlands, new wind and solar installations are being held back by grid congestion issues that could have been avoided with better long-term planning. Similarly, policies like net metering offer great incentives for residential solar adoption, but ensuring that additional grid costs are not shifted onto lower-income households is an important consideration to achieve a just transition. Additionally, the impacts of wind and solar deployment on local communities have underlined the need to ensure adequate safeguards are in place.

Crucially, China, the Netherlands, and Brazil have overcome barriers to the transition in the past. The current political, economic, and engineering challenges are also solvable. We have all the tools we need to get transitions off the ground where they have just started, facilitate acceleration where it is most needed, and push progress further in countries leading the global transition.

Luce 💓 The Anime Mascot Of The Catholic Church 2025

💓 

Luce was designed as a kid-friendly mascot for the Catholic Church’s upcoming 2025 Jubilee Year, which is all about hope, forgiveness, and holy pilgrimages.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the organizer for the jubilee, says the mascot was inspired by the Catholic Church's desire "to live even within the pop culture so beloved by our youth."

Luce means “light” in Italian. The anime girl is designed to appeal to today's youth, who have grown up watching One Piece and D. Slayer. The character is rendered in the “chibi” art style, which means short, cutesy characters with big heads and stubby limbs.

Luce also appears to be a pilgrim, which is why she wears a raincoat, muddy boots, and a walking staff. These symbols symbolize her perseverance through a storm-ridden landscape.

Luce’s whole outfit is loaded with Catholic iconography and symbolism. She wears rosary beads around her neck, and her bright blue hair might refer to the Virgin Mary’s blue hair covering.

Luce also has scallop shells in her eyes, which are an iconic symbol of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, with the shell representing the way to the Cathedral.

Luce proved a pleasant surprise for anime-loving Catholics, instantly inspiring a deluge of fan art and positive commentary.

Luce was designed by Simone Legno, the Italian pop artist behind the Tokidoki brand, who takes inspiration from street graffiti and Japanese art.

Brightly colored cartoon characters are a fun, inoffensive way to appeal to the youth and the Catholic 

Luce will also appear as the Vatican’s mascot at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, where she will be used to promote the theme of “Beauty Brings Hope.”

I hope you read it.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested by local police at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s with a “hand-written” manifesto describing “ill-will toward corporate America,” false identification and a 9mm “ghost gun” potentially “made on a 3D printer,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said.

Assassinations are despicable. I don’t care if the targets are politicians or mafia bosses. It’s the method I despise. For those who are old enough to remember the killing of Patrice Lumumba, then JFK, then Malcolm X, then MLK, then RFK, every assassination is (I hate this word) a trigger. Assassinations are destabilizing. The shooting of Archduke Franz Ferdinand set off the First World War. Targeted violence has always been a sign – an augury – that the social order is breaking down. I would have preferred to see Osama bin Laden brought to justice so that we might have understood his methods and motives. I know that trials can be rigged, corrupted, and biased, but so far the courtroom is the best place we have in which to decide between guilt and innocence – and to assign an appropriate punishment. Assassination is a death sentence without the benefit of a judge or jury.

All of which is to say that I was deeply horrified by the assassination of Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in cold blood, in broad daylight, in front of the Hilton hotel, in Manhattan.

As I write this, the gunman remains at large, but his motives were clearly written on the casings of the bullets he used: “deny” and “delay”. Many would argue that those are the two favorite activities, the go-to business practices, the bold-faced words in the scripts, that health insurance employees are instructed to follow. As a consequence, Thompson’s killing has set off a storm of conversations and internet postings about the deep wounds that the medical insurance industry has inflicted on Americans who made the mistake of trusting their carriers to provide adequate coverage.

It’s a pity that Thompson’s murder is being politicized – as the latest eruption of the left’s destructive rage or as the sign that a gun-lover is brandishing his muscle. Brian Thompson’s murder is a criminal response to a criminal situation. The only consolation – the only good that could come of it – would be if his death led to some serious soul-searching, to a concerted attempt to understand why an apparently affable CEO inspired such violence and hatred.

Deny. Delay. Everyone knows what those words signify in reference to medical insurance. Doctors and patients agree that our healthcare system is seriously broken. It hardly needs to be said that medicine, in the United States, reflects and further deepens our profound economic divide. Not long ago, my husband’s longtime doctor left his practice to join a medical concierge service that charges $60,000 per person per year. Soon after, I found myself in the waiting room of an upstate New York urgent care center, watching patients ask the receptionist if they could pay the $35 co-pay in $5 monthly installments.

The critique of the national health services in Canada and in Europe was always that one had to wait months for a medical appointment. But now, in this country, we have discovered that an appointment with a specialist might take months to arrange, and (depending on one’s insurance) will be anything but free, as it would be in countries with state-sponsored systems.

Long before Thompson’s killing, people had been talking about the loved ones who suffered and died because of an insurer’s refusal to pay the cost of a treatment or of long-term care. If the extremity and cruelty of these companies’ cost-cutting measures didn’t so often strip patients of their life savings and their homes, they might almost seem like a joke.

Recently, an insurance company in the north-east decided, and later (after a public outcry) rescinded its decision, to limit the hours of anesthesia for which a surgical patient could get reimbursed. Should the anesthesiologist, midway through a long surgery, turn off the hose and tell the patient to bite the bullet? Or should the patient be billed thousands of dollars for those last few hours? And before we blame the doctors for these high fees, let’s remember that the anesthesiologists are paying fortunes in malpractice insurance … to the companies that are being paid by both the doctor and the patient.

What’s puzzling is why people who have suffered so much because of the current system are so reluctant to try something else. What would be lost if we instituted healthcare for all? Our freedom? Our control? Our ability to choose? The bad news is all that is already gone. The only things that might be diminished would be the annual bonuses and stock options of the insurance company executives.

So let me be clear. I’m sad about Brian Thompson’s death. The mess we’re in wasn’t his fault. Our problems are so much larger than he was. He was an unlucky, visible symbol of everything that’s gone wrong with our healthcare system.

I’m sad about the rage and desperation that caused someone to write “deny” and “delay” on the bullets he aimed at Brian Thompson. But mostly what I’m sad about is the fact that we, as a society, are so willing to accept a status quo that dooms our neighbors to suffer and die without the medical care they need. The writer Lucy Sante has said that we are in the 33rd year of the Reagan administration – an observation that has never seemed more apt. More than three decades have passed since we were told that we were on our own, that the miseries of our neighbors were not our problem, and that we should continue to allow the industries that the unfortunate Brian Thompson represented to profit from our tragic, unrecoverable losses.

Francine Prose is a former president of the PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Heat batteries store

If you are in Zagreb, Croatia, and you drive along Ilica street from west to east, when you reach Črnomerec, on the left, on the facade of a building, you will notice a large sign that says “Ciglane Zagreb”. Production at the brickworks has long ceased, the company formally ceased to exist in 2011, and since then it has only been mentioned in stories about times gone by. Find out why I am writing this in the post below.

Thermal batteries could transform renewable energy storage and provide a cheaper, more scalable alternative to lithium-ion technology. We need heat to make everything from steel bars to ketchup packets. Today, a whopping 20% of global energy demand goes to producing heat used in industry, and most of that heat is generated by burning fossil fuels. To clean up the industry, many companies are working to supply that heat with thermal batteries.

Storing energy as heat isn’t a new idea—steelmakers have been capturing waste heat and using it to reduce fuel demand for nearly 200 years. Renewable energy sources like wind and solar have seen prices fall dramatically in the past decade. However, these power sources are inconsistent, and subject to daily and seasonal patterns. So with the rise in cheap renewable energy has come a parallel push to find ways to store it for applications that require a consistent power source. Heat batteries are a fundamentally new way of storing energy at a small fraction of the cost. 

Heat batteries store excess electricity as heat in materials like bricks or graphite, which can reach temperatures over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The stored heat can then be released when needed, making thermal batteries ideal for powering the manufacturing of steel, cement, and chemicals. What a thermal battery does is allow you to soak up clean, inexpensive electrons from wind and solar, store them as heat and deliver that energy later to an industrial customer.

Rondo Energy, (not Ciglane Zagreb) which turns bricks into batteries, wins fresh funding.

Rondo Energy is one of the leaders in this space. The company built its first commercial heat battery in California’s Central Valley at Calgren Renewable Fuels. The system stores solar energy during the day and delivers high-temperature heat 24/7. A pound of brick stores more energy than a pound of lithium-ion battery, at less than 10% of the cost. By 2027, Rondo Energy plans to expand production to 90 gigawatt-hours annually, a scale that could cut 12 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. That’s the equivalent of taking 4 million gas cars off the road, according to the company.

With industrial heat demand expected to continue growing this decade, there’s an urgent need to find cleaner options. Thermal batteries could be a key strategy for keeping factories running as efforts to cut their emissions warm up. Thermal energy storage could connect cheap but intermittent renewable electricity with heat-hungry industrial processes. These systems can transform electricity into heat and then, like typical batteries, store the energy and dispatch it as needed. Despite their promise, thermal batteries face hurdles, including high upfront investment and a lack of familiarity among industrial users. The biggest hurdle is educating the market that this technology is available.

PS. Možda na Grgasu ponovo započnemo kopati. 

A view from Croatia on the topic of DEI.

 

A growing list of major corporations to halt the so-called "woke" initiatives. Walmart joins Ford, John Deere, Toyota, and other major companies in ditching controversial diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

Walmart is now working to remove sexual and transgender products inappropriately marketed toward children and reviewing grants to Pride events to avoid funding sexualized content targeting kids. Walmart also joined an array of companies in recent months – including Ford, Molson Coors, Lowe's, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, and Tractor Supply – to end participation in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index, which is an annual survey and report used to gauge "policies, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) employees."

Nice one, and for the future - don't insult your core customers again. People have seen with their own eyes that DEI was and is a SCAM...They have seen people put in positions of CRITICAL LEADERSHIP, not based on qualifications but rather skin color, which is against the VERY PRINCIPLE.

These DEI decisions have cost companies billions, and people MASSIVE division! It's a recipe for disaster, just look at the BIDEN Cabinet, NOT ONE was hired on qualifications, but they are "diverte", SO WHAT, look at where it has taken the country and economy, not to mention standing on the world stage...The damage done will take years to correct...

If this is true, it is FANTASTIC!

 

This is Awesome. I have so much respect for both Joel Salatin and Thomas Massie. The Lunatic Farmer is now working for the government and that's pretty awesome.

 The deplorables and garbage people won again.  Can you believe it? 

                  I've been contacted by the Trump transition team to hold some sort of position within the USDA and have accepted one of the six "Advisor to the Secretary" spots.  My favorite congressman, Thomas Massie from Kentucky, has agreed to go in as Secretary of Agriculture.

                  He's been the sponsor of the PRIME ACT, which, if pushed through, would be the biggest shot across the bow of the entrenched industrial meat processing system we've seen in a century.  Let liberty ring.  Wouldn't that be a change of fortune for Big Ag? 

                  If RFK Jr. goes in as Sec. of Health and Human Services, everything will be inverted.  Talk about the coolest turn about.  He'd be the boss of the Faucis and Francis Collins--the whole covid anti-science crowd.  Wouldn't that be a change of fortune for Big Pharma?

                  And if Elon Musk goes in as a Government Waste Czar, do you think he could possibly find something?   

                  Here's an interesting tidbit.  All the income taxes in the U.S. are $2 trillion a year.  Government spending and borrowing are so out of control that if we eliminated $2 trillion from the budget, it would only set us back to 2020.  Does anyone think returning to government spending in 2020 would destroy things?  Of course not.  So all we have to do is cut federal spending to 2020 levels and we can eliminate income tax.  Period.  Done.  How would that make you feel?

                  Most people don't know enough history to know that the federal government was to be financed entirely from tariffs and excise taxes.  In fact, as a nation we operated just fine for nearly 150 years without an income tax.  The only president who eliminated the national debt was Andrew Jackson, and he did it by eliminating the second bank of the U.S.  Nearly 100 years later we got the third bank, known as the Federal Reserve, plus the income tax. 

                  During that time, tariffs averaged 40-50 percent.  After the income tax, tariffs dropped to an average of about 7 percent, where they remain today.  If we went back to 40 percent, like we had for nearly 150 years, we would bring production home and free our citizens from impoverishing taxes. 

                  Dear folks, this is a watershed moment to take a creative and serious look at the sacred cows in our nation and fry some serious burgers. We don't know history.  We don't know liberty.  We don't know earthworms or aquifers or immune systems.  I'm hoping this election is an opening to discovery.  Perhaps we could even figure out how to put negative occurrences like jails, pollution, and cancer on the nation's balance sheet, as a liability rather than an asset (Gross Domestic Product--more jails?  wonderful, pour more concrete and make more jobs).  

                  Perhaps we'll eliminate federal involvement in education, from kindergarten to college.  Make every teacher accountable to performance.  Eliminate ALL federal intervention in the food system, in farming, in energy.  The Constitution (read it) doesn't allow for any of this and it's time to examine all of it.  Shut down foreign military bases; bring them all home.  Stop ALL foreign aid, from USAID to military aid.  Sell stuff is fine; giving it isn't. 

                  I think whatever taxes we pay should be able to be designated to certain departments.  That way we the people could support or defund departments directly.  The reason we have K street is because all our freedoms are for sale.  Eliminate government manipulation and the lobbyists all go home.  These are simple things.  Let's do it.

                  What is your first request for the Trump/RFK Jr. agenda?

Joel Salatin

About Joel Salatin

Joel Salatin calls himself a Christian libertarian environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer. Others who like him call him the most famous farmer in the world, the high priest of the pasture, and the most eclectic thinker from Virginia since Thomas Jefferson.  Those who don’t like him call him a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, charlatan, and starvation advocate.

With 12 published books and a thriving multi-generational family farm, he draws on a lifetime of food, farming, and fantasy to entertain and inspire audiences around the world.  He’s as comfortable moving cows in a pasture as addressing CEOs at a Wall Street business conference.

Often receiving standing ovations, he prefers the word performance rather than presentation to describe his lectures.  His favorite activity?–Q&A.  “I love the interaction,” he says.

He co-owns, with his family, Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia.  Featured in the New York Times bestseller Omnivore’s Dilemma and award-winning documentary Food Inc., the farm services more than 5,000 families, 50 restaurants, 10 retail outlets, and a farmers’ market with salad bar beef, pigaerator pork, pastured poultry, and forestry products.  When he’s not on the road speaking, he’s at home on the farm, keeping the callouses on his hands and dirt under his fingernails, mentoring young people, inspiring visitors, and promoting local, regenerative food and farming systems.

Salatin is the editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, granddaddy catalyst for the grass farming movement.  He writes the Pitchfork Pulpit column for Mother Earth News, as well as numerous guest articles for ACRES USA and other publications.  A frequent guest on radio programs and podcasts targeting preppers, homesteaders, and foodies, Salatin’s practical, can-do solutions tied to passionate soliloquies for sustainability offer everyone food for thought and plans for action.

How to remove a dam.

Dear Spain,

Better utilization of engineering and modeling expertise in advance of the flash floods in eastern Spain over the past week could have reduced the devastation. The climate hoax can now be with the other long list of any government/UN hoaxs. 

Spain destroyed more than 256 dams between 2021 and 2022, "to restore the natural course of rivers", to comply with UN Agenda 2030.

Valencia suffered from a flood in October 1957, known as the Great Flood of Valencia, which resulted in significant damage to property and caused the deaths of 81 people. This flood was mainly caused by the overtopping of the River Turia which was then diverted in 1969 to avoid the centre of the city. During floods, most of the river water is now diverted southwards along a new route that borders the city. 

Spain, like many countries have removed dams as part of an EU directive see https://damremoval.eu/ It’s true that removing dams can sometimes lead to increased flood risks in areas downstream, particularly if those dams were originally constructed to control water flow and mitigate flooding. 

Dams allow for the irrigation of land and crops, enabling people to be self-sufficient, which goes against the Agenda 2030. But no, the flooding is a result of "climate change". All of the EU has committed to "Agenda 2030." 

But if I were the leader of any EU country and the UN asked me to destroy its dams to advance some nebulous climate agenda, I’d tell the UN to go fornicate itself with a cactus.

Sincerely,

citizen of Croatia, citizen of Europe

PS. za moju Hrvatsku.

Prvo bi rekao da naši stari nisu bili glupi i da su znali što rade. Dobar primjer je izgradnja akvedukta koja je započela u svrhu opskrbe vodom grada Rima te trajala sljedećih 500 godina, tijekom kojih je sagrađeno ukupno 11 akvedukata. 

Puno primjera je i iz Hrvatske prošlosti, gdje se gradnjom riječnih brana i usmjeravanjem rijeka dolazilo do pitke vode i  plodnih polja. Kako pri samoj gradnji brana, tako i kod rušenje istih, neovisno o tome jesu li zaštićena područja ili ne, u prirodi se treba ponašati u skladu s nekakvim pravilima. Svaki zahvat u prirodi je i dalje zahvat, stoga je potrebno proći sve procedure, napraviti studiju utjecaja na okoliš, tehničku dokumentaciju o izvođenju radova. Monitoring se treba provoditi cijelo vrijeme nakon izvođenja radova kako bi se eko sustav stabilizirao. 

Moramo paziti na sedrene barijere, na zaštićene vrste, kao i na to da se obala prilagodi novom vodotoku. Generalno, moramo voditi računa o tome kakvog će utjecaja zahvat imati na okolinu. U sklopu takvih radova, često dođe do zamućivanja vode. Tek tad možemo dobiti neke referentne rezultate i zaključiti jesu li akcije rušenja, sada već stoljetnih brana, bile uspješne.

Cheaters tend to think everyone cheats. Liars tend to think that everyone lies.

It’s hard for people to imagine another way to see the world that they don’t have in their minds, so it’s a gear shift to realize that if other people have different tastes to me, they probably don’t see things the same way I do, therefore I cannot judge other peoples outputs by my framework.

It goes further than that it’s a phenomenon that affects All our calculations about other people. It’s the assumption that I see the world this way, and because I am a people, I, therefore, conclude that different people see the world the same way I see it.

A lot of this is that we don’t know what we don’t know and what we don’t know is how other people think; we only know how we, ourselves, think. It’s the level of narcissism that is fundamentally, at the heart of all of the pain of humanity. No one knows what another person is capable of thinking and doing and never will. Trust is a very huge issue for a lot of people, especially if they grew up with severely personality-disordered parents who were neglectful and/or abusive. In this environment, a child’s needs are never met and they almost become little con men to get what they need and want. Lying and cheating become second nature, an automatic reflex, a child’s default. 

If you are a cheater and a liar and could never trust anyone when you were growing up, how can you trust people as a grown-up? You can not. If you can’t trust yourself to live a life based on integrity and honesty, how can you trust anyone else? You can not because it is like a foreign land to you and you don’t even speak the language. It’s the same thing on the other side of the coin, too: empaths get into a lot of trouble because they assume that other people have integrity, and are honest and straightforward, too. They want to think the best about other people coming out of the gate with little to no real information about them. You can not even really know your friends until mid-life when enough challenging experiences, setbacks, and failures have accumulated for everyone.

Most folk, however, do not naturally do this kind of introspection and self-awareness-building. Once you have had this kind of gear-shift however, it’s hard to go back to just assuming you know what people’s motives are or that you can predict their responses and behaviors accurately... instead, you’re instantly and unavoidably aware of how unpredictable and unfathomable other people really can be.

It then becomes increasingly clear who the real grown-ups with integrity are who do the next right thing (which is usually the harder thing) versus those who play the blame game and look for the easy way out or remain stuck.

Varalica misli da svi varaju, lažov da svi lažu, loš da su svi loši, a dobar da su svi dobri. Svatko polazi od sebe. Toliko i hvala.

BRICS currency

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin unveils BRICS prototype currency. Putin was seen holding a mock-up of the “BRICS bill,” featuring the flags of the five member nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – interconnected in a circle.

One of the primary issues with the “BRICS Bill” lies in its inconsistent representation of member nations. For instance, the bill features Pashto text referring to the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” (the Taliban regime), yet it bears the flag of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Since the Taliban regime is not internationally recognised and has limited diplomatic acceptance, this inconsistency highlights the challenges of unifying such diverse nations under a single currency framework. Additionally, many BRICS members, including India and South Africa, are reluctant to formally engage with unrecognised governments, further complicating the bill’s acceptance.

Using the “BRICS Bill” for economic exchanges would introduce significant limitations for member states, many of which are not the most economically powerful. Forcing reliance on a shared currency would hinder BRICS countries’ ability to freely trade with non-member states. This limitation is exacerbated by the bloc’s ongoing efforts to reduce dependency on the US dollar while simultaneously maintaining global trade relations. According to the Johannesburg Declaration, BRICS nations are exploring mechanisms to increase trade in local currencies, but the creation of a shared currency remains a distant goal.

A major concern among BRICS nations is the potential destabilisation of national currencies. If a shared “BRICS Bill” were to be introduced, it could lead to inflation and depreciation of national currencies, especially for smaller economies like South Africa or Brazil. A potential decline in the value of national currencies would negatively impact economic stability, making the adoption of a shared currency an unattractive option.

Despite the challenges surrounding the “BRICS Bill,” discussions about creating a digital BRICS currency are gaining momentum. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been a vocal advocate for a digital currency to facilitate trade among BRICS nations without replacing national currencies. However, even this idea faces significant hurdles, including the logistical complexities of implementing a digital currency across a diverse bloc of nations. It remains to be seen whether a digital BRICS currency will materialise, but discussions on the topic are still in the early stages.

Adopting a shared “BRICS Bill” could lead to negative consequences from Western countries, including the imposition of sanctions and higher tariffs. BRICS’ growing influence is already viewed as a challenge to Western financial dominance, particularly in light of the bloc’s ongoing expansion. Introducing a shared currency could escalate tensions and lead to economic retaliation from key global players like the US and the European Union. Such risks have led BRICS leaders to exercise caution when considering a shared financial instrument.

The BRICS Bill is more symbolic than practical, and adopting it as a currency would likely harm member states’ economies by destabilizing national currencies and reducing economic independence.

Hong Kong carbon emissions

 

Hong Kong aims to slash its carbon emissions to 50 percent of its 2005 levels by 2035. This target includes ending coal use for daily electricity generation, promoting electric vehicles, and achieving zero landfill use, all as part of the city’s broader plan to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Industry leaders said on Friday that the government should streamline approval procedures, allow more pilot projects, and offer more financial support, all of which would accelerate investment and help reduce costs. The InnoTech Forum was hosted by InvestHK, the government department tasked with promoting foreign investment in the city.

Senior executives from across the energy supply chain in Hong Kong have called for more support to accelerate the development of the city’s hydrogen ecosystem.

“If the government can come up with a code of practice and standards applicable to hydrogen projects in Hong Kong in the future, it will make it easier for companies that want to invest in the sector,” said Norman Cheng, business development director at Veolia Hong Kong. A clear road map of where hydrogen development is going “would also enhance the confidence of investors”, he added.

Veolia, a global company involved in the management of water, waste and energy resources, has joined with gas distributor Hong Kong and China Gas (Towngas) to develop Hong Kong’s first green hydrogen project at the South East New Territories Landfill Extension in Tseung Kwan O. It will capture and turn landfill gas into hydrogen to supply energy while preventing emission of the highly potent greenhouse gas.

A slow approval process is one of the “pain points” for companies interested in deploying hydrogen demonstration projects in Hong Kong, said Shao Ruizhe, assistant president with China State Construction Engineering (Hong Kong).

“We hope that as hydrogen energy technology matures in the future, the approval time can be shortened,” he said, adding that approval for a project the company is involved in took about a year.

His company has partnered with Hong Kong Nation-Synergy International Hydrogen Power Technology and Sinopec (Hong Kong) on a pilot project to generate electricity from hydrogen and supply it to a construction-site office at the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in Lok Ma Chau.

Hong Kong Nation-Synergy is part of Zhejiang province-based Sino-Synergy Hydrogen Energy Technology (Jiaxing), which makes fuel-cell engines. Sinopec (Hong Kong), part of China’s largest petroleum fuel producer China Petroleum & Chemical, runs a network of petrol stations in the city and is building the city’s first hydrogen refuelling station.

The Hong Kong government should set up more hydrogen demonstration projects, said Cynthia Zhu Zheyu, CEO of Sinosynergy International, which oversees Sino-Synergy’s Hong Kong and overseas business.

At least 14 pilot projects by 10 firms have won government approval to demonstrate hydrogen's effectiveness and safety in various contexts.

Setting up more projects would boost the confidence of the city’s hydrogen stakeholders and allow the industry to achieve the scale it needs to drive down costs, she said, adding that more government funding is also needed.

“We are very fortunate to see that the Chief Executive’s policy address this week has increased the new energy fund for the transport sector from HK$200 million [US$26 million] to HK$750 million,” she said. However, the amount is still “too little” compared with what is needed for development, she added.

“We hope the government can inject more funds into this field,” she said.

Hong Kong has a distinct advantage of being close to the mainland, where many companies have developed a wide range of cost-competitive green technologies that Hong Kong firms can adopt to scale up hydrogen production and use, said Secretary for Environment and Ecology Tse Chin-wan.

However, he said the scale and speed of hydrogen development in Hong Kong will depend on the cost-reduction trajectories of other forms of green energy. So the government needs to proceed cautiously on policies.

“The costs of other green and low-carbon technologies are also falling, which means it is uncertain which green energy will be more cost-competitive,” he said.

Hong Kong Total Energy Consumption.

Total energy consumption per capita was 1.6 toe in 2022. Per capita electricity consumption is about 6.1 MWh. Total energy consumption decreased by 6% in 2022 to 11.7 Mtoe, after remaining stable in 2021 and declining by 8.5% in 2020. Previously, it had been fluctuating around 14 Mtoe since 2007. Gas covers 33% of the country's total energy consumption, coal 31%, oil 26%, and electricity 9% (2022). Coal had the largest share of total energy consumption until 2019 (44% in 2019) and has been increasing since 2000 (from 31%). Zeljko Serdar, CCRES