Just saw an article about coal consumption reaching an all time high this year. I know obviously China leads the world in population AND renewable energy, but they also lead it in coal consumption by a long shot. It’s alarming to me. How fast are they moving away from it? Is it fast enough?
What do we make of this? I don’t mean to be overly critical but it just seems like they’re moving way too slow to me, given that we have literally 10 years before we hit +1.5C.
I don’t think there is such a thing as too fast in this regard, but I think the biggest limiting factor right now is the US. Their global hegemony is waning and they’re deeply invested in oil since that’s largely where the value of the US dollar comes from. I worry that WWIII will get started as a last-ditch attempt to maintain supremacy when renewable energy begins to seriously replace fossil fuels.