When I arrived in Dubai after 22 hours of air travel and layover I was fatigued, anxious about being in a new country and I was hungry.
The good news – I came to Dubai with a business associate turned trusted friend, and at 3:21am Dubai time, we ventured to Fillet King.
My reasons for attending COP include networking with folx across the globe working on climate change, to gain skills on partnership building within my community, and to build personal and professional capacity in order to increase activism across my workplace and within my realm of influence.
So far, my most important experiences include developing the bonds between my COP family and understanding the importance of people in this climate movement, all of which magnify the necessity of relationships, and the collective for climate response work. Building social capital is a must, and on the global scale, the COP provides a large return on this investment.
So far, who’s missing from COP? Young people. Youth education, language, buy-in and action are required to advance the Climate movement. Having youth centered and lead forums like YOUNGO provide space for coalitions of young folx to gather and dismantle barriers to engagement and involvement in climate change solutions. Their presence at the COP would be just that barrier, removed. Youth space and engagement cannot occur without their presence, their proclivity to push back against unjust systems and for risk taking momentum. We need them at COP.
Black Americans. Much of my experience and grounding in this work originated from a community of African American Minneapolitan experts in environmental justice, energized to deconstruct systems of racism, climate injustice, and inequities. As I explore the pavilions of COP presentations, I feel alone and unrepresented in this space. The myriad of coalitions in Minneapolis like CMEJ, EJCC, and the Green Zones working diligently to educate, support and interrupt activities that leave BIPOC residents out of the equation are vast, have legendary representation, and can workshop frameworks for capacity building and much more, that would have tremendous impact.
What I knew before COP, but has become more elevated is that everyone, in every position has a role in climate change mitigation.
When black people and youth are not a part of any conversation, key elements, historical context, experience and future considerations are missing. Representation, inclusion and anti-racism are not only acts of resistance, they are climate change solutions.
Markeeta Keyes is the Workforce Director for the Minneapolis Health Department and leads the Department’s Green Careers Exploration Program. The program advances equitable and inclusive education and training opportunities that lead to Green sector careers.
With the aim to reduce inequities, Markeeta leads a Green Career program that centers BIPOC representation and participation by reducing barriers to access, elevating local industry representatives of color and enlisting a framework that mitigates trauma.
Markeeta believes experiential learning opportunities and investment in strong, collaborative relationship building ensures this program is instrumental in gaining ground for environmental justice across our communities. The GCEP endeavors to collaborate and strengthen relationships with those leading the environmental justice movement through education, awareness and career readiness, offering students experiences that prepare them for a just and sustainable future.
Markeeta is a Climate Generation Window Into COP delegate for COP28. To learn more, we encourage you to meet the full delegation and subscribe to the Window Into COP digest.
The post Representation & Climate Change Solutions appeared first on Climate Generation.
Solar power has been a major element of China’s renewables buildout since the mid-2010s.
The country installed 315 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity in 2025, adding more than half of all new solar globally. The year before, it added 277GW.
But the picture in 2026 to date is very different. Installations in March fell 56% year-on-year to 9GW, while new capacity in April totalled 10GW, a 79% drop compared to a year earlier, according to Carbon Brief’s analysis of official data.
Domestic uncertainty
The lower pace in 2026 had been anticipated by analysts.
In previous years, massive solar installations were driven by strong policy support for renewables, including a fixed-price tariff for generators.
In February 2025, the government announced that new solar and wind projects would instead be financed through a new “contract for difference” (CfD)-style system.
Under the new system, power from a certain amount of renewable capacity will be purchased for a fixed “strike price”, which to date has been far lower than previous guaranteed tariffs. Further projects will need to secure their own contracts on the open market.
While the new system is posing challenges for developers in the short term, it is part of a longer-term shift towards market-driven pricing for renewables, which has already made them cheaper than coal.
The change led to a rush of new project installations ahead of the June 2025 cut-off date, so that they could fall under the old fixed-price regime.
New solar additions totalled 45GW in April 2025 and 93GW in May 2025, before falling to 14GW in June 2025, according to Carbon Brief analysis of government data.
Additions also spiked in December, in both 2024 and 2025, as developers raced to meet completion deadlines including those under the 14th five-year plan.
Some reports have attributed the precipitous drop this year to falling demand for solar in China.
But this is a “major oversimplification”, David Fishman, principal at energy consultancy the Lantau Group, wrote on LinkedIn.
The real challenge, he said, is that “developers and banks [are] still figuring out how to finance and build projects without policy-backed revenue guarantees”.
Yang Biqing, energy analyst for Asia at thinktank Ember, agrees, telling Carbon Brief that the new CfD-style system has created “greater uncertainty” for developers, compounded by fierce competition and a growing push for “consolidation” in the industry.
The government set a target for 200GW of new solar and wind capacity in 2026.
Fishman tells Carbon Brief that this will be “difficult” for the government to achieve, though not impossible. Current levels of solar additions – reaching perhaps 120GW for the year – plus an “ambitious” 80GW of new wind power, could help China to hit the target, he says.
Others are more bullish. The China Photovoltaic Industry Association forecasts 180-240GW of new solar in 2026.
But few believe additions will match the breakneck pace of 2025.
“China’s solar industry is no longer a story of capacity expansion”, says Yang, with officials now “increasingly” focused on integrating current generation into the grid.
Soaring exports
Meanwhile, China’s solar exports are still going strong.
China exported almost 1.2m tonnes of solar cells in April 2026, according to Reuters. Although down from a record high in March, it represented a 60% rise year-on-year, added the newswire.
This signals solar’s attractiveness globally in the face of rising energy prices caused by the Iran-US conflict, analysts have said.
High demand for panels has been reported across several continents, including Europe, Asia and Africa.
For example, in the Philippines, the conflict is “driving” solar uptake, one analyst told the Associated Press, adding:
“People want solar and people want solar now.”
The post Chart: Why China’s solar boom is slowing down appeared first on Carbon Brief.
Tribes with bison herds are seeking negotiations with U.S. Department of Interior officials to ask for an exemption from new rules they have called “DEI for cattle.”
SEATTLE—Tribal bison were on an extraordinary roll before the second term of President Donald J. Trump.
New BLM Grazing Rules Eliminate Tribal Buffalo From Public Lands
Increasing heat and drought are killing young pines planted on ground scorched by wildfires. Can seeds from the toughest trees grown in boot camp nurseries better endure?
Four years after the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burned 341,471 acres in northern New Mexico, the massive burn scar from the most destructive blaze in state history still holds vast stretches of leafless, barren and charred trees.
A ‘Reforestation Pipeline’ in New Mexico Trains Seedlings to Survive in Burn Scars
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