Joe Conway (Independent)

Ba mhaith liom tagairt a dhéanamh inniu do dhea-scéal don imshaol domhanda. Go hiondúil, is annamh a thagann dea-scéal mar seo chun tosaigh. It is for that reason that I happily advert to it today. In the first half of 2025, renewable energy overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity - a historic first. Electricity demand is growing around the world go forleathan, but the growth in solar and wind energy is so strong that it met 100% of the extra electricity demand in the year past, even helping to drive a slight decrease in coal and gas use. However, these headlines mask a mixed global picture. Developing countries, especially China, have led the clean energy charge, while richer nations such as the US and EU countries like ourselves still rely more than before on planet-warming fossil fuels for electricity generation. This divide is likely to get more pronounced according to a report from the International Energy Association. It predicts renewables will grow much less strongly than forecast in the US as a result of the policy of the Trump Administration.

Coal, a major contributor to global warming, was still the world's largest individual source of energy generation in 2024, a position it has held consistently for more than 50 years, according to the IEA. However, in clean energy growth, China remains way ahead, adding more solar and wind capacity than the rest of the world combined. This enabled the growth in renewable generation in China to outpace rising electricity demand and helped to reduce its fossil fuel generation by 2%. In contrast, developed nations like the US and those in the EU saw the opposite trend. In the US, electricity demand grew faster than clean energy output, increasing its reliance on fossil fuels.In the EU, months of weak wind and hydropower generation led to a rise in coal- and gas-powered generation. Consequently, the IEA has halved its forecast for the growth of renewable energy in the US this decade. The forecast has reduced from an estimated 500 GW by the year 2030 to 250 GW. As China's clean technology exports surge, the US and the rest of the developed world are focused on encouraging the world to buy more of their oil and gas.

Solar power delivered the lion's share of growth, meeting 83% of the increase in electricity demand. Solar has seen prices fall by a staggering 90% or more since 1975. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, mentioned that 140,000 houses now have solar units in use. On the obverse side of that, there are 1.9 million households so still only 7% of Irish households have solar power. We really need to redouble our efforts, as a country and a people, to address these issues.