Scotland is shaping up as an exemplary host for this year’s UN climate conference, as the country is on track to move its energy sector to 100 percent renewables by the end of this year – around the time when the international climate talks are to take place.
Environmental organization Scottish Renewables put together a report tracking the country’s renewable progress. It shows Scotland renewables provided 76 percent of the electricity consumption based on 2018 data in the report, and the percentage is expected to keep rising and will reach 100 percent soon.
That’s because unlike many countries, Scotland is actually moving away from fossil fuels rapidly. Scots have completely kicked coal, shutting down the nation’s last coal-fired power plant in 2016.
The nation has been replacing all that dirty energy with renewables. In the first half of 2019, Scotland’s wind turbines provided enough energy to power every home in the nation and millions of homes in North England.
As the world’s largest emitters are still falling behind taking serious action against climate change, seeing Scotland being in line with having an energy grid fully based on renewables paints an encouraging picture about the future.