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Environment

The renewable energy revolution is happening faster than you think

Both China and the US, the world's top carbon emitters, are racing ahead with solar panels and wind turbines. It is even looking like we may soon see the beginning of the end for fossil fuels

By James Dinneen

16 August 2023

Solar panels at the Golmud solar park in China

Qilai Shen/Panos

Heatwaves on land and at sea. Melting ice. Wildfires. This shocking year of weather extremes has brought home the reality of climate change, but it is also building the political momentum to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “The upside is a lot of people are going, ‘Holy mackerel, what is going on here?’ ” says Jennifer Francis at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Massachusetts.

That sense of urgency is reflected in the unprecedented scale and speed of decarbonisation in many countries across the…

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