New York — UN Climate Week Opens Amid Push for Solar by 2030

UN Climate Week convened in New York this week against a backdrop that columnist Bill McKibben calls mostly grim, even as solar, wind and battery deployment expands at what he describes as the fastest rate any energy source has ever grown, according to his Sept. 23 opinion piece for the Guardian.

What is fueling the pessimism at UN Climate Week?

McKibben writes that political momentum for emissions cuts has stalled even as physical warning signs accumulate. He points to what he calls a lack of urgency among world leaders, noting that the concern most likely to move politicians right now is AI agents breaching firewalls rather than nations facing firestorms, per his Guardian column.

What temperature and disaster records are on track for 2026 and 2027?

2026 is likely to set a new global temperature record, and 2027 is almost certain to break it as El Niño strengthens, McKibben writes, citing scientific projections referenced in his column. He also points to new research describing faltering ocean currents in the Atlantic as evidence the planet is approaching long-feared tipping points, according to the same Sept. 23 piece. On the disaster side, McKibben cites European heatwaves that killed tens of thousands and a flood in Nepal that wiped out entire communities as examples of climate-linked destruction already recorded this year.

Which governments are pulling back from clean-energy commitments?

The column identifies three governments moving away from earlier climate positions. The United States, described in the piece as "the host superpower," is pursuing what McKibben calls oil-focused "energy dominance" while pressuring other countries. Canada under Prime Minister Mark Carney — whom McKibben calls "the noblest" of Washington's opponents — is building new oil and gas pipelines, which the column attributes to efforts to shore up a strained economy. Britain, which removed coal power from its energy system last year according to the piece, appears set to approve new North Sea drilling, McKibben writes.

How fast is solar, wind and battery deployment actually growing?

Despite the political retreat McKibben documents, he reports that solar, wind and battery technology has expanded well beyond its original manufacturing base in China over the past several years. The column states that solar panels are going up in locations as varied as Karachi, California and Cuba, and characterizes the pace of solar installation as faster than any energy source has grown at any point in history. McKibben does not cite a specific gigawatt or percentage figure for this growth in the excerpt available, so no numeric installation rate is reported here.

Has clean energy growth started cutting emissions?

McKibben writes that China, the world's largest source of the solar, wind and battery buildout, has already begun a downward trajectory in its own emissions, and that this decline started years before comparable shifts in most other major economies. He frames this as evidence that the clean-energy trend can eventually translate into falling global emissions even without renewed political will from the governments he names.

The column was published by the Guardian's Comment is Free section on Sept. 23, 2026, as UN-linked climate discussions continued in New York. McKibben's piece is an opinion column, and its projections on 2026-27 temperature records and its characterization of solar's growth rate reflect his analysis rather than a cited government dataset.