🌱 The Grumpy Optimists #159
The transition keeps moving while everyone argues about it
Happy Monday. 👋
As oil prices climb past $100 a barrel and gas prices in Europe have risen 60%, now is a better time than ever to think about clean energy as energy independence. The 2022 energy crisis helped accelerate the shift towards renewables, and while the context isn’t ideal, it will go down in history as an important period for renewables.
There’s still a lot of great news to leave you feeling optimistic for the week, but before we get into it, I’m organising a couple of fun events to try and bring The Grumpy Optimists together in London. I’d love to hear if you might be interested to learn more…
⚡ The numbers keep moving
🌍 The world added a record 814 GW of wind and solar in 2025. Global wind and solar capacity crossed the 4 terawatt mark for the first time, with solar installations up 17% on 2024 and wind up a whopping 47%! Solar alone accounted for 647 GW of that.
💭 My thoughts? This shows that renewables really are taking over and growing exponentially.
⚡ Wind and solar generated a record 17% of US electricity in 2025. Utility-scale solar was up 34% year on year, according to new EIA data. This is happening under a president who keeps insisting renewables don’t work.
☀️ Cuba set a solar power record, then broke it the next day. The country generated 800 MW of solar one afternoon, then hit 900 MW the following day. However, this is against a backdrop of ongoing blackouts. Let’s hope that solar can be a solution here.
⚖️ Policy corner
⚖️ 24 US states sue Trump over the repeal of the Endangerment Finding. The 2009 Endangerment Finding is the legal foundation for virtually all US greenhouse gas regulation under the Clean Air Act. The Trump administration repealed it in February. Shock. California, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and 20 other states filed suit on Thursday calling it unlawful and scientifically indefensible. Every single legal challenge to the Finding since 2009 has failed.
💭 My thoughts? Half the country is now in open legal resistance to federal climate rollback. The undisputed champion of fossil fuels moved to erase the legal basis for climate regulation entirely, and 24 attorneys general said no the same week.
🇪🇺 Von der Leyen announces a €30 billion ETS Investment Booster for clean tech. With Middle East conflict pushing European energy prices through the floor of what anyone expected, the Commission President responded with a new €30 billion fund for industrial decarbonisation, financed by ETS allowances, first-come first-served. The ETS itself is also under review. The crisis is, perversely, doing what years of policy advocacy could not.
🏴 Wales signs a renewable energy sector deal targeting 100% clean electricity by 2035. The Welsh government has committed to 78 specific measures to accelerate wind, solar, marine and hydro, including streamlined planning and workforce training. The announcement was made on Anglesey (very near where my family live). The cabinet secretary cited the Middle East conflict directly, framing energy independence as the rationale.
🏭 Industry moving
🚗 The Middle East conflict is making the economic case for EVs. With oil past $100 a barrel, Transport and Environment published analysis showing petrol drivers are five times more exposed to energy price shocks than EV drivers. Europe’s 7.7 million electric cars are already cutting oil imports by 126,000 barrels a day. The case for EVs as an energy security play has always been there. Suddenly it’s the argument that’s actually cutting through.
🌳 SBTi tightens its deforestation rules for corporate climate targets. The Science Based Targets initiative updated its Forest, Land and Agriculture guidance this week, closing loopholes and tightening no-deforestation commitments for any company submitting targets from 2026 onward. The land sector represents 22% of global emissions so this is big.
🧱 Lego is installing 40,000 solar panels at its first US factory. Over 30,700 ground-mounted panels across 80 acres, plus 10,000 on the roof, targeting 100% renewable electricity on site. The factory building is partly constructed from mass timber, which stores rather than emits carbon, and is aiming for LEED Platinum certification. LEGO are driving forward a lot of climate ambition, but, they still produce plastic blocks. This is important, especially given today’s film recommendation.
This week I have 3 things to note.
My music recommendation is a delightful remix of Sweet Disposition.
My TV recommendation, albeit not so optimistic, is The Plastic Detox on Netflix. It’s f*cked.
I spoke at an event last week about the future of sustainability. If you’d like to get the slides, send me a message and I’ll get them to you.
That’s all folks - have a great week!
George, the Grumpy Optimist 💚