Hydropower is likely one of the world’s largest sources of renewable electrical energy.

However final yr, climate circumstances triggered hydropower to fall brief in a serious approach, with era dropping by a report quantity. In actual fact, the lower was important sufficient to have a measurable impact on world emissions. 

Whole energy-related emissions rose by simply over 1% in 2023, and a shortfall of hydroelectric energy accounts for 40% of that rise, based on a brand new report from the Worldwide Power Company.

Between year-to-year climate variability and local weather change, there might be rocky occasions forward for hydropower. Right here’s what we will count on from the ability supply and what it’d imply for local weather objectives. Learn the complete story.

—Casey Crownhart

This story is from The Spark, our weekly local weather and power e-newsletter. Join to obtain it in your inbox each Wednesday.

How reproductive expertise can reverse inhabitants decline

Again in October, we held a subscriber-only unique Roundtables dialogue on how improvements from the lab may have an effect on the way forward for households. Antonio Regalado, our biotechnology editor, sat down with entrepreneur Martín Varsavsky, founding father of fertility clinic Prelude Fertility, to discover the reason for plummeting beginning charges worldwide, and far more.

For those who missed it the primary time spherical, subscribers can watch a recording of the dialogue right here—and for those who’re not already a subscriber, why not grow to be one?