š± The Grumpy Optimists #143
Clean energy, resilient regulation, a dash of doughnut economics and wisdom tooth pain.
Happy Monday. š
Welcome back to this weekās recap of some positive news to start your week, although, there is one slightly less optimistic one in there but itās a very useful resource.
Itās a shorter one this week, Iāve been battling the after effects of a wisdom tooth removal and still very much feeling it as I write this on Sunday evening. Iāve never had so many painkillers in a week or had such interrupted sleep. Iām not looking for pity, but Iāll take it, if youāre offering.
Anyway, letās dig in to itā¦
š News to make you feel good this week
š± UK launches plan to upskill workforce for 400,000 new clean-energy jobs. The UKās new Clean Energy Jobs Plan will prepare 400,000 workers for roles in the low-carbon economy by 2030. It targets 31 occupations, establishes Technical Excellence Colleges to retrain oil and gas workers, and links training to regional ānet zero clustersā such as Teesside and Humber to ensure local communities benefit from clean-tech investment.
š Global climate tech is attracting more investors than in the pre-Trump era. Climate-tech investment has surged, surpassing $56 billion in the first nine months of 2025 and already exceeding last yearās total. Renewables, storage and carbon-capture startups lead the rebound, driven by policy certainty and cheaper technology. Venture and growth funds that paused in 2023 are returning, especially in Europe and Southeast Asia.
š EU Parliament rejects proposal to weaken sustainability rules. The European Parliament has narrowly voted against a deal that would have cut back the EUās sustainability reporting (CSRD) and due diligence (CSDDD) requirements. The rejected āOmnibus Iā proposal sought to ease corporate compliance by limiting which companies must report, raising thresholds to 1,000 employees or ā¬450 million in revenue. The vote means negotiations restart in November.
š My thoughts? Regulatory resilience matters and the CSRD was and will be a huge driver for climate reporting and action across the world. Constant delays are frustrating, but to know this wonāt be watered down anymore is great news.
š Australiaās household battery boom gathers pace. Australians installed more than 100,000 home battery systems in just 17 weeks under a new rebate scheme. Average capacity has jumped to 10 kWh, enough to power 400,000 households. We can put finance in the right places to get better outcomes, this is a perfect example of policy and behaviour change working positively together.
š Green-energy stocks rebound strongly. Clean-energy shares rose 7% last week as solar and wind firms posted stronger earnings and supply costs fell. Funds tracking renewables saw renewed inflows, signalling investor optimism after a sluggish year.
š¾ New food-systems research reinforces the planetary-health diet. An updated EATāLancet Commission report finds that shifting diets toward plant-based foods could cut emissions by up to 70%.
This also gives me a chance to plug one of my favourite LinkedIn creators Frank Hollerman. He posts great videos about the impact of our food options.
š āDoughnut 3.0ā updates the global view of planetary boundaries. The Doughnut Economics Action Lab released Doughnut 3.0, the most comprehensive data update yet on humanityās performance within social foundations and planetary boundaries. Covering 35 indicators from 2000 to 2022, it shows progress on health, education and clean energy, but continuing ecological overshoot. Unfortunately, weāre pretty screwed right now, but making the problems we have visual is an incredibly useful tool to combat them.
š Consumer-goods companies with ambitious sustainability strategies are outperforming peers. According to a recent survey by PwC, 34 % of consumer-packaged-goods companies that expect higher growth plan to invest significantly in sustainability versus 20 % of slower-growing peers.
š± Biodiversity finance trends dashboard launched to track global nature investments. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (UK) published the 2025 Biodiversity Finance Trends Dashboard, providing a transparent dataset of financial flows supporting biodiversity protection and restoration aligned with the KunmingāMontreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). The tool helps identify where nature-finance gaps remain and where investment can be scaled.
š My thoughts? Biodiversity isnāt the easiest to measure, unlike carbon, but itās equally as important. The more data and insight we have to investments in biodiversity, the better.
Thatās all from me this week folks, the pain meds are wearing off and I better get back to putting peas on my face. What a joy.
My music recommendation for this week is Dijon, a great new album.
George, the Grumpy Optimist š