In 2023, renewable energies power over half of Germany’s electricity consumption, a 5 percentage point increase from the previous year. This is a monumental step as months like July, May, October, and November showcased high peaks in renewable electricity generation, with record-breaking figures in solar and onshore wind energy. Lower overall electricity consumption contributed positively to the renewable energy quota, reaching 52 percent, while the total renewable energy production surged by 6 percent to 267.0 billion kWh. Leaders emphasized the crucial need for continued policy support and global scaling of renewables, particularly for green hydrogen and direct air capture systems, to meet climate targets and foster a sustainable energy future.

On Wednesday Amazon announced that they would expand their already vast portfolio of renewable energy projects by 71 more projects. With a total of now 379 renewable energy projects these 71 new projects are dedicated to wind and solar around the world which will add 2.7 GW of energy capacity. Amazon expects that all 379 of these renewable energy projects will generate about 50,000 GWh of clean energy which equals enough energy to power 4.6 million US homes each year.

The seventy-seventh session of the General Assembly opened on September 13th under the theme of “A watershed moment: transformative solutions to interlocking challenges”. This week marks the second week of the United Nations General Assembly and is the begging of the High-Level week. Yesterday, the SDG Moment was a 90-minute event that is meant to place a spotlight on the Sustainable Development Goals. In that 90 minute session, it became extremely clear that the world is not on track to reach these goals and we have a lengthy “to do” list to get back on track.

Last week, California governor Gavin Newsom signed on a package of legislation that will address a wide array of climate measures designed to ensure the state will reach it commitment of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 among other ambitious goals. Legislation includes bills to reduce carbon emissions, protect Californians from big polluters and accelerate the transition to clean energy.

This week, Indonesia issued a new regulation that will encourage renewable energy use. This is a landmark regulation as Indonesia is one of the world’s top carbon emitters due to coal use. Along with encouraging renewable energy, a presidential decree said that Indonesia also plants to retire some of their coal plants early.

Yesterday, it was announced that Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard gave away his shares of the company. His shares are an estimated value of about $3 billion dollars that are now under ownership if a specifically designed trust and nonprofit organization that are both dedicated to fighting climate change.

Recently, The CDP published a new report after partnering with Oliver Wyman, that outlines that the G7 countries that have agreed to the Paris Agreement will not reach the Paris Agreements 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels goal. Instead, these countries are poised to only mitigate global temperature increase to 2.7 degrees, missing the goal by over 1 degree, which could have catastrophic impacts.

The California Air Resources Board on August 25th approved the Advanced Clean Cars II rule. This rule outlines a year-by-year roadmap as to how the state will make it so that 100% of new cars and light trucks sold in California will be zero emission vehicles by 2035.

A new insight from McKinsey warns that a food shortage could be coming sooner than later. Many people have heard the rumors or worries regarding possible food shortages and have even felt the impacts of rising prices. As it turns out, due to the War in Ukraine, supply chain issues that are leftover from COVID-19, and climate events such as heat waves and droughts, this could leave the world about 60 million tonnes of grain behind by the end of 2023.

California is commonly known for it’s earthquake risk and more recently, severe drought and wild fires. However, the tides are changing for California as a new study from UCLA predicts that potentially catastrophic flooding or what being called a “megaflood” is likely to happen. While there isn’t a clear timeline on when this “megaflood” may hit, the study from UCLA indicates that the possibility has been almost doubled thanks climate change.

This week, The California Energy Commission (CEC) adopted a set of goals that will enable the state to develop clean energy through offshore wind. This offshore wind development is expected to generate 2,000-5,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind by 2030, and should increase to 25,000 MW by 2045. Assuming the state hits these goals, that would be enough electricity to power 3.75 million homes by 2030 and 25 million homes by mid-century.

On Sunday the United States Senate passed The Inflation Reduction Act and it’s expected to pass in the House of Representatives later this week. The Inflation Reduction act is a package that would fulfill multiple longstanding goals including addressing climate change, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and adjust tax codes.

On Wednesday this week, New Zealand’s government released it’s first-ever climate action plan. This climate adaptation plan depicts how New Zealand plans to prepare for floods, fires, and rising sea levels that are expected in response to the climate crisis. A big point of interest is around how the country planning to have entire communities either relocate or change the structure of their homes in response to rising sea levels.

Thursday last week, The UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution. This resolution declared that access to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a universal human right and continues to emphasize that climate change and environmental degradation are some of the most pressing threats to humanity's future.

In a new report by McKinsey, Climate impact of plastics, the total green house gas contribution of plastic versus the alternatives is scientifically measured. McKinsey looked at examples from the top five plastic consuming sectors and measured not only the product lifecycle of plastic vs other options, but also the impact of our use. The results may come as a bit of a surprise to many

This week, the Canadian federal government is proposing a new cap and trade system that will essentially set a “cap” or a ceiling for emissions, specifically from the oil and gas industry. The goal of this would be to drive down emissions by 40-45% from the 2005 levels by 2030

This week, the German government approved a new package of measures to speed up the expansion of renewable energy. Previously, the German government had a target of 65% of energy to be clean energy by 2030. With this new commitment, the goal is for 80% of energy to be clean energy by 2030. As of April this year, just under 41% of Germany’s power consists of clean energy.

This week, the supreme court came to a conclusion regarding the interpretation of the 1970s Clean Air Act. Essentially, This ruling limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate green house gas emissions and says that the EPA does not have the authority to shift power generation from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

IPCC Climate Change Mitigation Report: What you need to know.

Early in April, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the second part of their sixth evaluation report. This report primarily focuses on mitigation of further climate change, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

This week, Environmental International published an article outlining research that found microplastics in the blood of 17 out of 22 participants (about 77%). This is the first time that we have actually found microplastics in the human blood stream. The effects of this new find are still largely unknown.