Climate Facts: Global solar power generation doubled in three years, study finds

The complexities of climate change and its associated jargon can prove difficult to digest.

TheCable’s quick climate facts will help demystify these concepts through easy-to-understand and straight-to-the-point explanations.

Here are some to keep at the tip of your fingers:

• A new report by Ember details that low-carbon power from renewables and nuclear supplied 40.9 percent of global electricity in 2024 — the highest share since the 1940s.
• According to the report, hydropower remained the largest single source of low-carbon energy at 14.3 percent. But for the first time, the combined contribution of wind (8.1 percent) and solar (6.9 percent) surpassed it. Meanwhile, nuclear power slipped to a 45-year low of 9 percent in the global electricity mix.
• Ember said solar power generation doubled in the past three years, surpassing 2,000 TWh. It said solar was the largest source of new electricity worldwide for the third consecutive year, adding 474 TWh.
• A new study estimates that deforestation has caused more than half a million deaths in tropical regions over the past two decades, largely due to heat-related illnesses.
• The report added that between 2001 and 2020, the tropics lost 1.6 million km² of forest with more than 10 percent canopy cover, with the largest losses occurring in Central and South America (~760,000 km²), followed by Southeast Asia (~490,000 km²) and Tropical Africa (~340,000 km²).