H. Holden Thorp
Even though 2025 presented many troubling challenges for science, there was a bright spot: It was the first year in which more power was generated worldwide from renewable energy, including wind and solar, than from coal. The situation came very close to “peak carbon,” the point at which fossil fuel emissions peak for the world and then start to decline. That milestone may now be only a few years away. These encouraging changes were mainly a result of the greater availability of solar and wind energy technology and cheaper lithium batteries to run electric cars and store solar energy. Because of these achievements, Science has selected “Rise of the Renewables” as its Breakthrough of the Year.