Three charts that prove clean energy progress is really happening

illuminem summarises for you the essential news of the day, reviewed by our editorial team. Read the full piece on CNN or enjoy below:

🗞️ Driving the news: Global clean energy deployment continues to accelerate, with renewable power, battery storage and electric vehicles gaining ground despite slow progress in climate diplomacy
• Ahead of COP31 in Antalya, CNN highlights how technological advances and falling clean energy costs are reshaping the energy transition

🔭 The context: The Paris Agreement operates through both international negotiations and real-world action
• More than 100 countries joined the Global Methane Pledge and a declaration to end deforestation in 2021, while China has incorporated methane into its national climate targets and Brazil is advancing Amazon protection efforts
• However, experts stress that renewable deployment is also driven by economics, making it difficult to isolate the contribution of COP negotiations

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: Falling renewable energy costs and expanding clean technologies have helped reduce projected future warming compared with earlier forecasts
• Nevertheless, global emissions remain too high to prevent significant overshooting of the Paris Agreement's 1.5°C target, reinforcing the need for faster decarbonization, methane reductions and forest protection

⏭️ What’s next: COP31 is expected to focus on implementing existing climate commitments, with particular attention to financing developing countries' energy transitions and addressing climate damages
• Negotiators would likely also face pressure to strengthen accountability for national emissions targets and accelerate action on high-impact solutions

💬 One quote: “The Paris Agreement operates on two tracks — negotiations and action — and it has delivered important progress on both.” - Rick Duke, former US deputy special envoy for climate change

📈 One stat: More than 100 countries joined the Global Methane Pledge and a declaration to end deforestation in 2021, illustrating how climate diplomacy can support concrete international action

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