Politics
Solar, wind capacity growth slowed last year, analysis shows
BANGKOK: Planned or under-construction solar and wind projects slowed last year, analysis showed Tuesday, casting doubts on whether countries will hit a goal of tripling renewable capacity by decade-end.
Dozens of nations agreed in 2023 to triple renewable energy capacity by 2030 as part of efforts to limit global warming.
But announcements and construction starts of new wind and solar projects grew 11% in 2025 — down from 22% in the previous year, as wind development projects faced hurdles, Global Energy Monitor (GEM) said.
“Wind developers experienced political barriers and a streak of failed wind power auctions in wealthy nations,” GEM research analyst Diren Kocakusak said.
US President Donald Trump has blocked wind projects, and made no secret of his antipathy towards renewables, though the global slump was not attributable to any one country, Kocakusak said.
GEM’s research also found that just a small fraction of wind and solar growth came from rich G7 countries, with the “centre of gravity” now shifting “decisively toward emerging and developing economies.”
As has been the case for years, China is expanding renewable capacity on a scale unmatched elsewhere.
It accounted for around a third of global capacity growth in 2025 — 1.5 terawatts — more than growth in the next six countries combined.
But that was not enough to set the world on track to meet the 2030 goal.
‘Disappointing developments’
Even if all the projects currently announced and under-construction proceed, the world would still fall short.
GEM’s research has found almost 40% of planned projects begin operations after their announced start date, or are put on hold or scrapped.
However, Kocakusak said that did not mean the goal was out of reach.
“Momentum appears to be slowing, but that’s not due to a lack of potential,” he told AFP.
There is still “enough time” for countries to ramp up capacity, and solar projects that have not yet been announced could be completed before 2030, he said. Wind projects can take longer to get up and running.
More than 3.5 terawatts of wind and solar projects have also been announced without a confirmed start date, and could help meet the 2030 goal if they come online quickly enough.
Some wealthy countries are supporting renewable growth, with Japan seeking to revise wind auction guidelines and Britain boosting investment.
These policies sit alongside “disappointing developments”, though, like reports Germany may limit grid priority for renewables, Kocakusak said.
“Whether the 2030 tripling target is achieved will depend on the level of commitment and implementation from countries and developers,” he said.
- Over 3,200 events planned across all 50 states of United States.
- Organisers expect more protests in smaller communities this time.
- Protests driven by backlash against Iran conflict, Trump’s policies.
Massive protests against President Donald Trump kicked off Saturday across the United States and beyond, as millions of people vent fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.
It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called “No Kings,” the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.
Now they have something new to fume over — the war against Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion.
The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome.
US protests began in several cities, including Atlanta, where thousands of people gathered in a park to decry authoritarianism.
One man at the rally held a sign that read “We Are Losing Our Democracy.”
In the Michigan town of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, people braved below-freezing temperatures to protest.
Record numbers expected
The first “No Kings” nationwide protest day came last June on Trump´s 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade he organised in Washington. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco.
The second such protest, in October, drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organisers.
The goal now is to bring out even more people Saturday, as Trump´s approval rating sinks below 40% and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump´s Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress.
Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his “Make America Great Again” movement, he is disliked with equal passion on the other side of America’s wide political chasm.
Foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his apparent obsession with fossil fuels and climate change denial.
They also dislike his gutting of racial and gender diversity programs, and his taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.
“Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war,” said Naveed Shah of Common Defence, a veterans association connected to the “No Kings” movement.
“At home, we’ve watched citizens killed in the streets by militarised forces. We´ve seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king.”
Springsteen in Minneapolis
Organisers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, in major cities and in suburbs and rural areas — even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.
Minnesota is a key focal point, months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump´s violent immigration crackdown.
Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song “Streets of Minneapolis” in the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of the northern state.
Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump´s immigration offensive.
What began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a “No Kings” movement of national resistance to Trump.
Organisers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds — a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.
- Zelenskiy continuing Gulf visit after arriving in Riyadh on Thursday.
- Qatar says Doha, Kyiv have signed defence cooperation agreement.
- UAE, Ukraine earlier agreed to cooperate on security and defence.
Ukraine on Saturday agreed to cooperate on defence with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to both countries amid escalating tensions in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Doha and Kyiv have signed a defence cooperation agreement, which includes the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
Zelenskiy had earlier been to the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the two countries agreed to cooperate in the fields of security and defence.
“Our teams will finalise the details,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app with reference to the UAE discussions.
Ukraine, which now has years of experience shooting down Russian drones and missiles, was close to clinching several security agreements to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha had told Reuters on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has killed more than 2,000 people, upended global markets and spurred Iranian retaliatory strikes that have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and targeted several countries across the Gulf with missiles and drones.
Zelenskiy had first arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday where the two countries also signed an agreement on defence cooperation.
- After Oli’s arrest, supporters staged protest rallies.
- Oli had resigned after fatal protests last September.
- Police say Oli and Lekhak will be brought to court Sunday.
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, was arrested on Saturday as police investigate whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, said officials.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he should be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.
76 people were killed last September during a police crackdown and arson and violent unrest during the protests, which led to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest on Saturday, supporters staged protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tyres near the prime minister’s office. Police lobbed a teargas shell and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an act of “revenge”. It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for Sunday.
Shankar Pokhrel, a senior party official, told reporters that protest notes against the arrest would be handed to the government in all 77 districts of the country on Sunday.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
Election defeat
Oli was prime minister four times between 2015 and 2025 but never served a full five-year term. In 2020, he published a new political map including in it a small stretch of disputed land controlled by India, giving him a popularity boost in Nepal.
His popularity did not last, and he was beaten by Shah in his home constituency in an election this month, his second defeat since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Anger over the deaths in September’s protests helped Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party win the election by a landslide.
The panel investigating last September’s violence held Oli and Lekhak responsible for not taking any action to stop hours of firing on the protesters by police.
Police spokesperson Om Adhikari said Oli and Lekhak would be brought to court on Sunday.
Oli, 74, who has had two kidney transplants, has been transferred to a hospital from the police office where he was first taken, witnesses said.
His lawyer, Tikaram Bhattarai, told Reuters that the arrest was unwarranted and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“They have said it (the arrest) is for investigation. It is illegal and improper because there is no risk of him fleeing or avoiding questioning,” he said.
Lekhak and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
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