Solar power in the EU saw an increase of more than 21 TWh this summer (Jun-Aug) compared to last year according to the data on energy-charts. It produced 127 TWh this summer and there are people that claim that it is too much, or sufficient and its expansion should be slowed down. However, this summer with drought and extreme heat conditions showed, that the solar expansion just barely could cover up for the losses in hydro (-11 TWh) and nuclear (-8 TWh), while the increased demand (+14 TWh) resulted in an increase in fossil fuel burning. (Electricity from wind barely changed with +2 TWh.)

The EU needs to urgently expand its solar power production to adapt to the changed reality with extreme summers, where cooling needs increase demand and drought conditions diminish the output from hydro power.

In this episode we examine James Hansen’s analysis of a developing El Niño against the backdrop of a rapidly warming planet. We discuss Hansen’s warning that global warming may be accelerating as Earth absorbs more energy, and that an El Niño occurring on top of this elevated heat could help drive exceptionally high global temperatures in the years ahead.

https://youtu.be/ZLhOVss5Vso?si=VK5BDUUm3zAzOscq

About five summers ago, I wrote a story called “What Can I Do? Anything.” It was essentially a call to action for people staring at climate devastation and wondering what they could possibly do about it. The gist was: If ever there was a time to join the fight against fossil fuels and for a livable climate, now is it. Here’s how you can get involved, and how you can actually be effective.

If you’re watching this disaster unfold with rage and feeling absolutely helpless, it could be a good time to return to that story. It doesn’t offer an easy answer for dealing with horror on this scale, but it does offer some concrete paths toward climate action that focuses on systems change, and a case against giving up.

Interview with:

Prof Paul Behrens, a climate, food and energy systems specialist, excellent communicator, academic and author. Paul shares his perspective on where we are headed - including both the fear about the future and the excitement about opportunities that come with changing our food systems and society for the better.

03:20 - Hope is dead. Long live hope.

07:30 - National Emergency Briefing

15:20 - We all want change

20:43 - Wanna see more of Paul?

21:33 - Drivers of food price rises

28:55 - Food shortages in the pipeline

34:19 - Solutions to the food crisis

53:49 - Follow Paul's Work

More than 40% of children under the age of 10 globally are already experiencing at least 20 additional “heat-stress days” due to climate change.

This is according to a new attribution study, published in Science Advances, which combines climate models with demographic data to assess the age groups and regions that are exposed to the most hot, humid days.

The study finds that children up to the age of nine already face more additional heat-stress days globally as a result of climate change than any other age group. 

It adds that south Asia, southeast Asia and west Africa are recording the greatest childhood exposure to dangerous levels of humid heat – largely because these regions have a rapidly growing population with the highest proportion of young children.

As the climate warms, children will continue to be more exposed to heat stress than any other age group, the paper warns.

The lead author of the study tells Carbon Brief that the findings should inform discussions about climate justice, noting that children in developing countries “have contributed the least to historical greenhouse gas emissions”. 

This video puts forth a uncomfortable question before everyone regarding our philosophy of success.

Whats your countries approach to climate change? Government policy and public attitude. Curious to discuss the international attitudes to such a pressing issue!

https://www.infoclima.ro/articole/valurile-de-caldura-cum-s-a-incalzit-romania-deceniu-dupa-deceniu

Since we've been in the news due to energy system failures, this map of increasing hot days per year might be relevant. No nights version.

The Danube river is on the South (bottom) side.

Until this point, the public conversation about AI and climate change has been laser-focused on the vast amount of electricity used to power the technology.

For good reason. Over the last few years, the AI boom has rapidly increased society’s appetite for fossil fuels via the electricity consumption of data centers. Data center electricity consumption has sent tech companies’ emissions soaring, knocked their climate plans wildly off course, and pulled them directly into the fossil fuel business.

But this is only the tip of the AI climate iceberg. Because AI is not only consuming fossil fuels to generate electricity—it is also helping the world’s biggest oil companies produce more fossil fuels quicker, cheaper, and for greater profit.

Over the last few years, AI has become a powerful tool for oil and gas companies, helping them locate new deposits, drill wells faster, and extract more from existing fields.

These aren’t just generic AI tools, either. “There are teams of engineers and salespeople at these tech companies that are explicitly for the fossil fuel industry,” Holly Alpine, a former senior manager at Microsoft, told HEATED. “They are engineers writing code explicitly in partnerships with oil majors to expand production.”

Los Angeles, CA — A new Consumer Watchdog investigation has uncovered an interconnected network of fossil fuel companies, billionaire investors, and longtime climate denial organizations behind two-thirds of the groups urging the U.S. Supreme Court to shield ExxonMobil and Suncor from accountability for deceiving the public about the dangers of climate change.

View a data visualization of the investigation 

Read the report here.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/08/12/france-sees-sharp-rise-in-solar-module-recycling/

Assuming the world came together with no budget spared, could we end fossil fuels by covering the entire deserted areas of the world in solar panels?

Big Oil companies knew as early as the 1950s that burning fossil fuels could lead to "catastrophic" (their words) climate change, but spent billions spreading climate denial and blocking the transition to cleaner energy sources.

In 1988, Exxon's own scientists predicted "a 1.5°C to 4.5°C global temperature increase in 100 years, depending on the projected growth in fossil fuel use.” 😐

Now these same companies are leveraging the AI boom to further entrench their polluting products, driving a massive surge in planet-warming methane emissions.

There must be accountability.