What caught our eye

Here are three stories that we found particularly interesting this week and why. We also give our lateral thought on each one.

• Renewables continue to get cheaper, but not everywhere.
• Just 30 days of storage needed for 100% renewable energy system in the UK?
• Finance and ethics - climate transition plans of the big 3 consumer goods companies.

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Renewables continue to get cheaper, but not everywhere.

According to recently published IRENA research renewables are continuing to get cheaper. That is good news yes? But, before you celebrate, it's worth digging some more into the data. China is doing well, but Europe clearly has some issues to sort out. These problems are not reasons to stop investing in renewables, but it's really worth trying to understand what the cause is, what we can do to reverse them, and how long it may last.

I am sure many of you will have seen this highlight from the report:

"After decades of falling costs and improving performance in solar and wind technologies, the economic benefits of renewable power generation – in addition to its environmental benefits – are now compelling. Indeed, due to soaring fossil fuel prices, the 2021 to 2022 period saw one of the largest improvements in the competitiveness of renewable power in the last two decades."

^{(Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2022, Executive Summary, IRENA)}