"Chinese solar companies have built enough capacity to meet world demand roughly twice over, and have lost money, individually and collectively, for years despite record installations."
This is a financing and supply chain problem to soak up all of this production globally. And we must go faster.
- Global fossil fuel CO2 emissions have grown 0.8% per year on average between 2019 and 2025. Here we project a decrease of 0.4% in 2026, probably as a short-term response to the energy shock triggered by the Iran conflict. Electric vehicles and solar and wind power offset about 64–79% of increasing emissions from demand growth through 2028; acceleration in clean technology deployment is needed to guarantee emissions peak and subsequent decline.
From:
China solar giants shed another 40,000 jobs last year as overcapacity persists - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50107347 - October 2026
"Chinese solar companies have built enough capacity to meet world demand roughly twice over, and have lost money, individually and collectively, for years despite record installations."
This is a financing and supply chain problem to soak up all of this production globally. And we must go faster.
Related:
A further acceleration of clean energy is needed for global CO2 emissions to peak and decline - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-026-02821-8 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-026-02821-8 | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50487568 - November 10th, 2026
- Global fossil fuel CO2 emissions have grown 0.8% per year on average between 2019 and 2025. Here we project a decrease of 0.4% in 2026, probably as a short-term response to the energy shock triggered by the Iran conflict. Electric vehicles and solar and wind power offset about 64–79% of increasing emissions from demand growth through 2028; acceleration in clean technology deployment is needed to guarantee emissions peak and subsequent decline.