Extreme Temperature Diary- Wednesday October 8th, 2025/Main Topic: Renewables Are Surging Worldwide—But Going Backward in US Under Trump – Guy On Climate
Dear Diary. Have you ever seen a video of Trump railing about windmills killing birds or being an eyesore then love “beautiful clean coal?” This situation here in the U.S. Is laughable if it didn’t have very serious ramifications. It’s no wonder that Dr. Michael Mann proclaimed that it would be “game over” for our climate if Trump got elected. Well that did happen, but he along with the rest of climate activists will continue to fight to reduce the globe’s fever. Every single tenth of a degree above preindustrial conditions counts towards reducing hardship even if (and probably when) we exceed that 2.0°C limit.
Here are more details from Common Dreams:
Renewables Surging Worldwide—But Going Backward in US Under Trump | Common Dreams
 This aerial photo shows a 100-megawatt solar thermal project at Jinta Multi-Energy Complementary Base in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, China on August 1, 2025. (Photo by Cao Hongzu/VCG via Getty Images)
Renewables Surging Worldwide—But Going Backward in US Under TrumpDespite US backsliding, solar and wind generated more electricity than coal worldwide for the first time this year. Brett Wilkins
Oct 07, 2025
Led by Chinese expansion, global adoption of renewable energy is accelerating, with the world’s wind and solar farms generating more electricity than coal for the first time this year—however, the US embrace of fossil fuels under President Donald Trump is proving a drag on humanity’s transition to clean power.
The climate think tank Ember on Tuesday published its Global Electricity Mid-Year Insights report, which found that solar and wind outpaced demand growth in the first half of 2025. Solar generation grew by a record 306 terawatt-hours (TWh)—a 31% increase—with China accounting for more than half the world’s increase.
In a major milestone, solar and wind overtook coal electricity generation for the first time ever, as renewables grew by 363 TWh (+7.7%) to reach 5,072 TWh, while coal generation decreased by 31 TWh to 4,896 TWh.
“This analysis confirms what we are witnessing on the ground: Solar and wind are no longer marginal technologies—they are driving the global power system forward,” Global Solar Council CEO Sonia Dunlop said in a statement Tuesday.
“The fact that renewables have overtaken coal for the first time marks a historic shift,” Dunlop added. “But to lock in this progress, governments and industry must accelerate investment in solar, wind, and battery storage, ensuring that clean, affordable, and reliable electricity reaches communities everywhere.”
NEW | Solar and wind OUTPACED global electricity demand growth in the first half of 2025, leading to a fall in fossil fuels compared to this time last year ☀️🌪️
Record solar and steady wind growth is reshaping global power as renewables OVERTAKE coal for the first time.
https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-07T01:01:48-07:00
Two years after agreeing at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP28, in Dubai to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, many key nations have failed to make significant progress toward that goal. Chief among these countries is the United States, where the return of Trump and his “drill, baby, drill” policies has resulted in the International Energy Agency (IEA) revising the country’s renewables growth outlook for 2030 downward by a staggering 45%.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law by Trump on July 4 includes billions of dollars in handouts for the fossil fuel industry, boosts drilling on millions of acres of public lands, mandates oil and gas lease sales, and imposes new fees on renewable development.
Additionally, the US Department of Energy recently announced a $625 million investment “to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal industry.“ This, as the DOE dramatically slashes funding for clean energy projects. Other federal agencies have similarly turned their backs on renewable development under Trump.
The good news is that despite backsliding by countries including the US and Japan, the IEA says that global renewable generation could double by the end of the decade, with 80% of new clean energy capacity expected to come from the sun.
Even in the United States, the combination of all renewables—wind, solar, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal—produced 9.9% more electricity during the first half of 2025 than it did a year ago, providing more than a quarter of all US electricity generation.
”Notwithstanding enactment of the anti-renewables provisions in the Trump megabill, solar and wind continue to power ahead,“ noted SUN DAY Campaign executive director Ken Bossong. ”Meanwhile the electrical output [year-to-date] by the Republicans’ preferred technologies—nuclear power and natural gas—has actually fallen.“
Climate campaigners hailed the continued growth of clean energy.
“Renewables overtaking coal for the very first time is a sign of how the economics of power generation have been transformed,” Julia Skorupska, head of secretariat at the Powering Past Coal Alliance, said in a statement Monday.
“There is a clear economic case for replacing coal with renewables, which are now the cheapest forms of energy in most of the world,” Skorupska continued. “The transition from coal to renewables underpins competitiveness, enables energy security, creates good jobs, and lowers electricity prices and air pollution risks for citizens.”
“With COP30 around the corner, countries have the opportunity to work together to accelerate this shift,“ she added, referring to next month’s UN climate summit in Belém, Brazil. ”We need genuine partnerships that enable coal-dependent countries to speed up their coal-to-clean transition, placing them right at the cutting edge of the energy revolution.“
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Brett Wilkins
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
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Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Summer heat in the Caucasus:
TURKEY Tropical nights at 1500m asl !
GEORGIA: 33.2 Zugdidi Min 22.6 Kutaisi
ARMENIA 32.1 Artashat 830m asl
More summer heat tomorrow. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T18:43:55.008Z
China's heat wave continued today, with youxian reaching 38.4C; 1 stations broke the October highest temperature record(shennongjia 31.5C), and 59 stations broke or tied the highest record for daily minimum temperature!
Heat wave will continue in the next week!
Kudos Text:Jim Jiang — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T14:11:02.926Z
Exceptional contrasts in the Mediterranean
with persistent cold in Italy and frost near sea level and summer in Spain,North Africa and Turkey (every day >35C).
Exceptional hot night in ALGERIA
with Minimum temperatures up to 28.5C and even 25.3C at Tamanrasset at 1300m asl. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T11:00:42.133Z
UNBELIEVABLE HEAT IN JAPAN
MINIMUMS up to 28.5C ,worse than July.
MAXIMUMS up to 34C.
Heat indexes up to >45C ! Hazardous heat day and night.
See list of records (High mins,high maxes) by JMA
including 33.2 at Kochi and 31.6 Hiroshima
And it will get worse ! — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T08:17:58.101Z
More monthly heat records in Eastern Canada today. Close to 30°C in Nova Scotia again!
Kudos Text and Photo below:Patrick Duplessis — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T08:48:22.587Z
The warm air also reached Labrador yesterday
Very warm Monday in #Labrador, with several locations setting new October extreme maximum temperature records. 📈
Nain auto station WFP peaked at 25.0°C – just 1.1°C short of the October rec for all of Labrador (26.1°C at Mary's Hr, Oct 7, 2023). — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T22:24:59.579Z
ANOTHER HISTORIC SUMMER DAY
Dozens of records pulverized in Canada 🇨🇦with margins up to 4c.
MINIMUMS 19.9 Point Pelee,Burlington,19.7 Harrow,19.3 Vineland and Port Weller etc..
MAX 29.6 Ingonish Bay (Nova Scotia),29.2 Gaspe and Bathurst, etc..
Always much above Summer average — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T21:02:30.548Z
The historic October warm spell in Central-East is gradually fading
Temperatures still in mid 80s from NY to Maine and Canadian Atlantic islands
Next night will be extremely mild,just like a July night along the NE coast,but this will mark the endpoint of this record warm spell. — Extreme Temperatures Around the World (@extremetemps.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T22:38:22.114Z
Drought is climate change's biggest threat: If this winter is as dry as last winter, and no major reductions in use occur, Lake Powell by 2027 would have no storage left and “would have to be operated as a ‘run of river' facility” in which only the inflow from the river could be released downstream. — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T13:39:51.849Z
Glacier melt will lead to ice-free peaks in California for first time in human history #Climate — Climate Tracker (@climate.skyfleet.blue) 2025-10-07T20:26:45.566Z
My new video…
Subpolar Gyre Branch of AMOC Ocean Circulation System may be on the Verge of Collapsing
youtu.be/VvnaUDQz0aA?...
#climate #ClimateActionNow #weather #Atlantic #0ceans #ocean #globalwarming #weather — Paul Beckwith (@paulhbeckwith.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T03:11:31.576Z
Methane emissions from coking coal extraction has a significant impact on global heating, but is not being proportionally reflected in steelmakers’ emissions reporting 🚩
Ember’s report breaks down the hidden methane problem behind global steel ⬇️
ember-energy.org/lat... — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-09-04T03:00:02.000Z
#Climate breakdown already having a massive impact on crop yields
By 2050, the world is projected to need 50% more food, at a time yields of key crops could be down 30%
More than a halving of calories per head
Just think about that for a moment
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o... — Prof Bill McGuire (@profbillmcguire.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T07:24:52.934Z
Trump raised $8 million for Hurricane Helene survivors. Where did it all go?
The presidential campaign bad-mouthed FEMA while using crowdfunding to donate to evangelical nonprofits.
grist.org/accountabili...
#Disaster #Climate #Trump #Donations #FEMA #GoFundMe — Grist (@grist.org) 2025-10-08T13:12:39.999Z
“Refreshing” air on the way!Nothing signifies a season change like the first Coastal Storm of fall.
Right now the South is stuck under a heat dome. Another 100 heat index day in FL today! But that’s about come to an end. 1/ — Jeff Berardelli (@weatherprof.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T00:15:25.702Z
Defending the highway to the NC Outer Banks is problematic: “It’s the overwash of sand that built these islands in the first place and allows them to persist," Moore said. "By blocking that process to defend roadways and buildings, we’re starving these islands of the lifeline they need to exist.” — Dr. Jeff Masters (@drjeffmasters.bsky.social) 2025-10-08T03:24:22.149Z
NEW DATA TOOL | Where is demand for electrotech picking up pace?
Ember just launched a data tool to help you find where markets for electrotech - such as batteries, EVs and solar PV - are emerging or expanding. 🚗🔋⚡
Check it out here: https://loom.ly/VPYopzc — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-07T04:30:31-07:00
Record capacity additions in H1 2025 point to a continued rise in #solar generation ☀️📈
Solar capacity additions reached a new high of 380 GW from January to June this year – 64% more than the same period last year.
TWO THIRDS of this was from #China 🇨🇳
https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-08T09:05:31-07:00
#Solar keeps breaking records ☀️🏆
In the first half of 2025,
📈 solar generation jumped 306 TWh (+31%) – its FASTEST absolute growth on record
🌐 global solar share reached 8.8% as many countries worldwide hit new records
https://loom.ly/c-MNZSk — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-08T01:01:39-07:00
Australia’s metallurgical coal mines produce just 3% of the country's coal but a FIFTH of coal mine methane ⚠️
Accurate reporting from these mines could reveal DOUBLE the climate impact of steel produced using iron made via blast furnaces.
https://loom.ly/dohGn7U — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-06T22:00:33-07:00
NEW | China’s monthly cleantech exports surpassed a whopping $20bn in August. What pushed electrotech exports above this major threshold?
Rapid growth in:
- EV exports 🚗⚡
- Battery exports 🔋⚡
https://loom.ly/mblF2ng — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-05T22:00:22-07:00
#Electrotech gets cheaper as it scales with costs falling ~20% every time deployment doubles – unlike fossil fuels, which get costlier the more we extract them 💰
It already captures 2/3 of global energy investment & drives all net growth in energy jobs.
https://loom.ly/XP_xA0c — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-03T06:30:49-07:00
Last year, the world added a record 582GW of renewable energy capacity. That’s over 91% of all new power – with #nuclear nowhere. In fact, each year, nuclear adds as much net global power capacity as #renewables add every two days.
#climate
www.newcivilengineer.com/opinion/a-go... — Dr Paul Dorfman (@drpauldorfman.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T16:42:18.735Z
Spain’s rapid wind and solar growth has CUT the link between gas and electricity prices 🌪️☀️
🇪🇸’s decoupling of gas and electricity prices happened faster than in other European countries, making it one of the cheapest power markets in Europe.
https://loom.ly/8DEmqVc — Ember (@ember-energy.org) 2025-10-03T00:01:44-07:00
🎥
Strategies for urban water adaptation to #ClimateChange
Watch ▶️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOt3...
Learn more 📖 www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/w...
PL RP Thank you! 🩷💚💙
original graph from: 'Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability', @IPCC_CH
#ClimateAction #video #Klima #climate — My Zero Carbon #ClimateAction (@myzerocarbon.org) 2025-10-06T07:43:27.738Z
Black bee with golden/bronze stained-glass wings. In slo-mo!
#insects #bees #climate #nature #love #slow-motion #smallwonders — Menestune (@menestune.bsky.social) 2025-10-07T22:17:12.380Z
:
THIS IS OUR WORLD!
Let’s get rid of the narrative that someone will save us. Let’s get active. Let’s rethink our world. Let’s shape it in a way that allows people & planet to thrive — once we have done some healing and restoring — well, a lot of it.
:
#restoring #resist #sea #climate #photography — Charlie Alice Raya (@charlie-alice-raya.org) 2025-10-08T16:37:20.581Z
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