Renewable energy has grown faster than every major forecast predicted in 2015. There's now four times as much solar power as the International Energy Agency (IEA) expected 10 years ago. Last year alone, the world installed 553 gigawatts of solar power-roughly as much as 100 million U.S. homes use-which is 1,500% more than the IEA had projected. Investors are now pouring twice as much into renewables as into fossil fuels.
Four teams of scientists, including a team co-led by Columbia University researchers, will receive up to $45 million over five years for research that advances human understanding of the global carbon cycle driving a changing climate. The teams are the first to be funded through the Virtual Institute for the Carbon Cycle (VICC), an initiative of Schmidt Sciences that aims to reduce uncertainty in the global carbon cycle to inform effective climate policy and solutions.