Sustainable energy
Energy that responsibly meets social
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| March 2025 | Bill Gates dissolved the Breakthrough Energy units working in Europe and the United States public policy, citing ineffectiveness during the Second Trump administration's promotion of fossil fuels. |
| March 19 2025 | Breakthrough Energy shifted its strategy from public policy focus to directly supporting clean energy companies through the Breakthrough Energy Catalyst program and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. |
| 2025 |
Green building certification systems
EcoChef sustainability certification program is launched, targeting commercial kitchens with a focus on energy efficiency, waste reduction, and creating health-conscious cooking environments.
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| 2025 |
Green building certification systems
EcoChef sustainability certification program is launched, providing a specialized green certification system for commercial kitchens with multiple certification levels from Bronze to Platinum.
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| 2023 |
Energy poverty and cooking
IRENA released a series of reports highlighting slow progress toward universal clean cooking access and the need for more investment in renewable cooking technologies.
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| 2023 |
Energy poverty and cooking
International Energy Agency (IEA) published a report emphasizing the urgent need to achieve universal clean cooking access by 2030, estimating an annual investment requirement of US$8 billion.
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| December 31 2023 |
Solar water heating
Global solar hot water thermal capacity increased to 560 GWth, representing a 3% growth from the previous year.
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| 2022 |
Solar water heating
122 million solar hot water systems were in operation globally by the end of this year.
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| 2022 |
Solar water heating
Solar thermal capacity peaks at 542.7 GWth globally, with China maintaining its leadership position at 396.4 GWth.
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| 2022 |
Solar water heating
Global solar hot water systems reached 122 million units in operation by the end of the year.
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| 2022 | Nuclear power generates over a quarter of all low-carbon energy worldwide, establishing itself as the second largest source after hydropower. |
| 2022 |
Green recovery
Analysis of G20 countries' $14tn economic stimulus showed that only approximately 6% of pandemic recovery spending was allocated to areas that will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, such as electric vehicles, energy-efficient buildings, and renewable energy installations.
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| 2022 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
Global progress towards SDG 7 stalled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, highest number of violent conflicts, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine creating a massive refugee crisis.
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| 2022 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
Renewable energy-generating capacity in developing countries increased by 58% per capita, despite international financial flows to support renewable energy being 24% lower than in 2018.
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| August 2022 | Breakthrough Energy invested in methanol fuel cells technology for electricity conversion. |
| February 2 2022 | Breakthrough Energy joined an investors syndicate providing $80 million in capital to Verdox, Inc., a startup developing a carbon capture and removal platform originally created at MIT by chemical engineers T. Alan Hatton and Sahag Voskian. |
| 2021 |
Energy poverty and cooking
The Global Burden of Disease study estimated 3.1 million deaths related to cooking-related pollution, with the highest death rate occurring in Africa.
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| 2021 |
Energy poverty and cooking
IRENA reported 2.3 billion people lacking access to clean cooking technologies globally.
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| 2021 |
Green recovery
Overseas Development Institute conducted an analysis suggesting China could enhance support for green recovery efforts in developing countries.
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| 2021 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
A report highlighted that the financing community is failing to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), indicating insufficient investments for global energy access, electrification, and clean cooking.
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| 2021 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
Global economy began to rebound, but the chain of negative events continued to slow down progress on SDG 7 and other Sustainable Development Goals.
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| July 2021 |
Green recovery
International Energy Agency confirmed that only around 2% of global economic bailout money was directed towards clean energy.
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| July 2021 |
Green recovery
World Scientists' Warning to Humanity issued an update critiquing COVID-19 recovery investments, noting that only 17% of funds were allocated to green recovery and calling for more robust climate policies and immediate greenhouse gas reductions.
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| April 2021 |
Green recovery
US President Biden introduced the American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan, incorporating green recovery principles including investments in carbon capture and storage, clean energy, and establishing a Civilian Climate Corps modeled after the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps.
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| March 2021 |
Green recovery
Global Recovery Observatory analysis revealed that 18% of recovery investment and 2.5% of total spending was expected to enhance sustainability.
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| February 2021 |
Green recovery
Global commentators like the Council on Foreign Relations observed major economies (China, India, European Union) beginning to implement policies aligned with Green New Deal principles.
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| 2020 |
Energy poverty and cooking
A review found that only one biomass stove on the market met World Health Organization (WHO) standards in field conditions, highlighting the significant challenges in developing truly clean cooking solutions.
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| 2020 |
Energy poverty and cooking
A systematic review was conducted on Improved Cookstoves (ICS), finding modest improvements in blood pressure, shortness of breath, emissions of cancer-causing substances, and cardiovascular diseases, but no improvements in pregnancy outcomes or children's health.
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| 2020 |
Solar water heating
Global solar thermal capacity reaches 500 GWth, highlighting the technology's increasing importance in renewable energy strategies.
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| 2020 |
Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment
The Brussels region's Energy Efficiency Agency (EEA) aims to create 10,100 jobs, with 4,300 specifically in sustainable construction by this year.
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| 2020 | Electricity comprised 20% of global energy consumption, with plans for ambitious climate policy to double this share by 2050. |
| 2020 | Geothermal energy provided less than 1% of global energy consumption, highlighting its limited but emerging role in the renewable energy landscape. |
| 2020 | Hydropower supplied 17% of the world's electricity, marking a decline from its peak of nearly 20% in the mid-to-late 20th century. |
| 2020 |
Beyond Coal
The Sierra Club aimed to close at least one-third of the United States' more than 500 coal power plants and replace them with renewable energy sources.
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| 2020 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
Global assessment revealed that 0.8 billion people lack access to electricity and 2.4 billion people lack clean cooking solutions, highlighting significant energy poverty challenges worldwide.
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| 2020 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
A report suggested that Indicator 7.b.1 might be removed due to its identical nature to indicator 12.1.1 of SDG 12.
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| 2020 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
A global report revealed that approximately 25% of health facilities in developing countries lack electricity or experience frequent power outages, which became especially critical during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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| 2020 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
Five custodian agencies (IEA, IRENA, UNSD, World Bank, and WHO) collaboratively published the Energy Progress Report, monitoring and assessing progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 7 on affordable and clean energy.
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| 2020 |
Sustainable Development Goal 7
SDG report highlighted the critical need for affordable and reliable energy, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, to support hospitals, health facilities, and remote learning.
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| July 2020 |
Green recovery
An academic and think tank group proposed a comprehensive 'Green Recovery Act' targeting nine key fields including transport, energy, agriculture, and fossil fuel reduction.
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| July 2020 |
Green recovery
UK government announced £3 billion in funding for building renovations as part of a 'green and resilient recovery' stimulus program.
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| July 2020 |
Green recovery
European Council approved the Next Generation EU (NGEU) recovery fund of €750 billion, establishing a climate target of 30% of total expenditure in alignment with the Paris climate agreement.
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| June 2020 |
Green recovery
German government pledged a green recovery package with €40 billion in funding as part of a larger €130 billion economic recovery initiative.
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| April 2020 |
Green building certification systems
Miljöbyggnad certification system released its 3rd iteration, Miljöbyggnad 3.1, with updated assessment criteria and requirements.
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| March 2020 |
Green recovery
A group of academics and activists in the United States proposed a green stimulus package targeting eight key fields, requesting funding of 4% of US GDP (approximately $850 billion annually) to achieve full decarbonisation and reduce unemployment below 3.5%.
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| January 2020 |
Green recovery
COVID-19 pandemic led to global economic lockdowns, causing a significant reduction in economic activity and greenhouse gas emissions, which prompted calls for a green recovery.
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| 2019 |
Solar water heating
Global solar thermal power capacity reaches 483 GWth, with China continuing to dominate the market.
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| 2019 | Wind power provided approximately 6% of global electricity generation, demonstrating significant progress in renewable energy technology and adoption. |
| 2019 | Solar power provided approximately 3% of global electricity, primarily through photovoltaic (PV) solar panels installed on buildings and in utility-scale solar parks. |
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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Sustainable Development Goal 7, Energy poverty and cooking, Green recovery, Public schemes for energy efficient refurbishment, Solar water heating, Sustainable energy, Green building certification systems, Breakthrough Energy & Beyond Coal, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.