Sustainability by numbers

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has fallen again in 2025

Progress on deforestation, but increased threats from wildfires.

Nov 4 • 

Hannah Ritchie

101

19

October 2025

Artificial intelligence could dramatically improve weather forecasting

An AI-based model outperformed every other in forecasting the Indian monsoon this year. This helped millions of farmers.

Oct 27 • 

Hannah Ritchie

116

16

How unprecedented is power demand growth in the United States?

Electricity generation is expected to rise. But will it grow much faster than it did in the past?

Oct 20 • 

Hannah Ritchie

133

15

Eliminating contrails from flying could be incredibly cheap

Could we halve aviation's climate impact at a fraction of the cost of sustainable aviation fuels?

Oct 7 • 

Hannah Ritchie

214

57

September 2025

The world is on track for record harvests this year

What do the latest projections expect for global food production and yields of different crops?

Sep 22 • 

Hannah Ritchie

199

121

My new book — Clearing the Air — is published in the UK today

A Hopeful Guide to Solving Climate Change — in 50 Questions and Answers

Sep 18 • 

Hannah Ritchie

172

137

The Electrotech Revolution: Some insights into a new way of thinking about the transition

From burning old sunshine to using it in real-time.

Sep 16 • 

Hannah Ritchie

178

51

Which countries are scaling solar and wind the fastest?

The leaderboard is quite different depending on what metric you look at.

Sep 9 • 

Hannah Ritchie

94

53

August 2025

What's the carbon footprint of using ChatGPT or Gemini? [August 2025 update]

A new study from Google suggests its Gemini LLM uses around 0.24 Wh per text query. That's the same energy as using a microwave for one second.

Aug 21 • 

Hannah Ritchie

188

34

How much do electric car batteries degrade?

Many electric cars will still have more than 80% of their initial capacity after 200,000 miles.

Aug 18 • 

Hannah Ritchie

250

33

July 2025

No, growing more food does not mean we always need more and more inputs

Many lower-income countries do, but high and middle-income countries have reduced fertilisers, pesticides, labour, and land without reducing food…

Jul 28 • 

Hannah Ritchie

165

34

Population growth or decline will have little impact on climate change

It'll be too slow and too late for the timeframes that we need to decarbonise.

Jul 15 • 

Hannah Ritchie

176

128