Stormy Thunder

Significant update from Carbon Brief. I’ve followed this closely for five years. China’s CO₂ emissions fell 3.1% in Q3, strengthening the evidence of a structural shift following 2025’s annual decline. Clean energy is displacing coal, EVs are cutting oil demand, & the transition is increasingly showing up in the emissions data.

America’s #EV numbers are miserable. Trump owns the decision to make them worse. These figures are battery electric vehicles only, excluding plug-in hybrids. They show the share of new sales. Emerging markets are racing ahead while America sits at 6.8%. Trump has made obstructing the transition government policy: attacking EV standards, targeting charging investment and ending purchase incentives. Trying to shelter a declining combustion business comes at the expense of America’s next generation of industries. To me, that retreat is a commercial gift to China. Chinese manufacturers are building scale, expanding overseas and supplying affordable electric transport across the Global South. Here in Australia, we are beneficiaries too, with growing choice and competition. America’s obstruction cannot stop that transition. It gives competitors more room to establish themselves. But for the first time in three years, I think we can finally lift some of the doom and gloom about America. Voters have delivered a scathing verdict. Democrats have won both chambers of Congress. Trump is a lame duck with a very big congressional muzzle coming in January. He retains executive powers and a veto, but his congressional free ride is finished. My reading of this result is clear: Americans want relief from punishing living costs, expensive energy and endless conflict. They deserve cheaper goods, including affordable EVs, and leadership focused on making everyday life better. Now the governors, senators and representatives who understand the global transition have a bigger platform and an urgent job: turn that opportunity into lower bills, investment and productive industries. That means EVs, electric trucks, solar, wind and battery storage. It means lithium, rare earth processing and domestic manufacturing. It means building the affordable electricity supply that new industry and AI infrastructure will need. America has the brains, resources, capital and industrial capability. Give those strengths a government prepared to help them build, and the comeback could be extraordinary. Think back to 2020. Now imagine what a stronger, more determined push could deliver by 2028–2030. I haven’t felt this kind of political hope for America since then. Hope is alive again. Watch America roar.