climate policy

Clean energy and jobs

October 30, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

America’s clean energy industry is unquestionably under attack by the Trump administration. The administration is blocking renewable energy projects on federal lands, slashing clean tech tax credits, and putting in place new regulatory hurdles for solar and wind power and electric vehicles. During the first half of the year, businesses cancelled $22 billion worth of clean energy projects, which would have created more than 16,000 jobs, ironically mostly in Republican areas. Federal clean energy tax credits have generated billions of dollars in economic value annually, providing a strong return on investment for every federal dollar spent.

Last year, clean energy jobs grew three times faster than the rest of the economy. The U.S. added nearly 100,000 jobs in solar, wind, batteries, energy efficiency, grid upgrades, biofuels, and electric cars. In total, more than 3.5 million Americans hold jobs related to clean energy.

Clean energy investments create substantial economic growth. The clean energy transition creates opportunities in manufacturing, engineering, installation, and maintenance. These new jobs far outweigh job losses in the fossil fuel sector. Investments in clean energy had been projected to create massive numbers of new jobs and significantly boost the U.S. GDP by 2030, often providing new opportunities for rural communities.

Overall, clean energy has been one of the hottest and most promising job sectors in the country. Now that clean energy job growth is at serious risk, so is the health of the overall economy.

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More Americans Working in Clean Energy Than as Servers or Cashiers

Photo, posted July 28, 2025, courtesy of Bronx Community College via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Fossil fuel producing nations ignoring climate goals

October 28, 2025 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Paris Climate Agreement has the primary goal of limiting global average temperature rise to well below 2 degrees Celsius and preferably 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Meeting this goal involves reaching global net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the second half of the century. Doing so requires the substantial adoption of renewable energy sources to replace fossil fuels.

The case for switching away from fossil fuels has never been stronger as the effects of the warming climate have become increasingly evident, the economics of renewable energy have become more and more favorable, and popular support for the changeover has continued to grow. Despite all this, the world’s largest fossil fuel producers have expanded their planned output for the future, thereby pushing the world towards an ever-warmer climate.

According to the latest Production Gap Report produced by the Stockholm Environment Institute, governments now expect to produce more than twice as much coal, oil, and gas in 2030 as would be consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement. The increase is driven by a slower projected phaseout of coal and a higher outlook for gas production by some of the top producers, including China and the United States.

The United States is the most dramatic case of a country recommitting to fossil fuels. This year, Congress has enacted billions of dollars in new subsidies to oil and gas companies and the Trump administration has forced retiring coal plants to continue operating, expanded mining and drilling access on public lands, and delayed deadlines for drillers to comply with limits on methane pollution. Meanwhile, it has set new roadblocks for building wind and solar energy projects.

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Top Fossil Fuel Producing Nations Plan to Blow Past Climate Targets

Photo, posted May 15, 2020, courtesy of James Watt via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Record renewable energy in Scotland

March 1, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

The Scottish government recently announced that in 2022, renewable technologies in that country produced the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s electricity consumption.

Fossil fuels still supplied electricity in Scotland, helping to fill in gaps in renewable power, but the government figures showed that the growing amount of Scottish renewable generation can easily generate more power than the country uses. Scotland has seen significant growth in wind power as well as a small drop in overall electricity consumption.

Scotland, with a population of only 5.5 million, aims to produce enough renewable power to both meet its own demand and export clean electricity to other countries. The U.K. is the obvious potential customer, but it will need to upgrade its national power grid and develop enough capacity to store up surplus wind and solar power.

The U.K. itself is drawing less power from natural gas and coal than it has at any point in the last 66 years. Fossil fuels supplied only 33% of British electricity in 2023 while renewables supplied 43%.

Fossil power use in Britain peaked in 2008. Since then, power from natural gas has fallen nearly in half while coal power has dropped by 97%. The U.K. has aggressive decarbonization goals in place, but the current Conservative government under Prime Minister Sunak has recently set about weakening British climate policy.

Meanwhile, the Scottish government is talking about becoming a global renewables powerhouse and is making investments aimed at achieving it.

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Record renewable energy output

Photo, posted July 21, 2010, courtesy of Martin Abegglen via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Bursting The Carbon Bubble

July 25, 2018 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

One way or another, the fossil fuel industry seems to be destined to shrink away. A combination of technological advances and climate policies are going to drastically reduce the global demand for fossil fuels over the course of time. New research shows that the demise of the fossil fuel industry will have profound consequences.