I’ve been reflecting on what I could share with those of you following our COP experiences from home. I’ve had countless memorable experiences while navigating the conference’s bustling “streets,” and many I would love to process in writing. Today, however, I’m feeling especially grateful for the opportunities I’ve gained by introducing myself to others as a teacher.
On the Wednesday before I left for COP, I asked my 9th grade students to submit one question they’d like me to find the answer to while I was at COP.
I prompted them to think about what they already know about climate, how climate issues might affect the people in the countries where their families are from, or if there’s anything they’re curious about related to COP. In my rush to pack and prepare for my substitute, I didn’t get the chance to read their questions before I left, thinking I’d read them once I arrived.
My first day at COP felt aimless. The venue was enormous and maze-like, and event schedules were rich yet confusing. By day two, I had gotten the lay of the land, but still felt awkward walking into various pavilions, not knowing what to ask.
By midday, I decided to take a break. In a secluded, shady spot, I opened my laptop to read my students’ questions. I was flooded with new energy as I read questions like, “What is Somalia doing for climate change,” “Are poor countries represented as much a rich countries,” “If one country stops carbon emissions, will that be enough to solve climate change,” and my personal favorite, “Do you like it.”
With these questions in hand, I set off towards the Somalia pavilion with renewed purpose. After greeting the hosts, I watched their faces light up as I explained I was a teacher in Minnesota and my Somali students had questions for them. They showered me with pamphlets, business cards, and warmth.
For the rest of COP, I have centered my agenda on my students’ curiosity.
It has led to some incredible encounters. While visiting the Iraq pavilion on behalf of another student, I was greeted with enthusiasm. Just before I walked away, the host called me back to give me two “Iraq COP28” metal water bottles: one for my student and one for me. At the Palestine pavilion, I was brought to tears while listening to the host respond to my student’s question about climate justice issues in Gaza. During the Q&A portion of a panel about land conservation with indigenous women, I introduced myself as a high school teacher and asked a student’s question. Afterward, I showed one of the panelists my students’ handwritten land acknowledgments (crumpled from their journey inside my backpack) and an audience member came up to ask me how I support my students with climate anxiety. Today, I met a Canadian man at a panel who shared his gratitude for my work. Minutes later, a Korean woman at my lunch table expressed a similar sentiment, noting that climate literacy is vital to our world. I was touched.
In one of the world’s most diverse spaces, I’ve found a universal connection with others through my role as a teacher. I feel lucky to represent more than just myself because it has opened doors to connections I would never have had otherwise. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with 87 questions to answer by hand, but I wouldn’t have my COP experience any other way. To answer my student’s question, “Yes, I like it.”
Abby is a Language and Literature and Leadership teacher at a Fridley High School, an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School located in Fridley, MN. She is passionate about teaching climate literacy through stories to empower youth with knowledge of climate change, climate justice, and creative solutions. She has participated in climate educator fellowships through the University of Minnesota Center for Climate Literacy and The Climate Initiative. In the classroom, Abby shares her love of community building, lively discussion, reading, and music with her students. Outside of the classroom, Abby enjoys baking, hiking, bicycling, and listening to audiobooks on neighborhood walks.
Abby 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 The universality of saying “I’m a teacher” 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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