Climate, minus the jargon

How climate stuff works

Plain-language, source-cited answers to the climate questions that sound simple — but have a surprising amount going on underneath. No lectures, no doom. Just how it actually works, with the receipts.

Prices, bills, grants and incentives are examples from one country — named in each answer — and can differ a lot elsewhere, along with the climate and energy mix that shape the answer. Treat them as illustrations, not figures for your own area.

Every source cited across the site, de-duplicated and numbered in the order it first appears. Our World in Data references follow OWID’s citation format; each links to the original.

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  5. [5] Carbon Brief. Investigation: Does the UK's biomass burning help solve climate change? carbonbrief.org
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  10. [10] Nuclear Engineering International (2024). China refuels thorium reactor without shutdown neimagazine.com
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  26. [26] Carbon Brief (2023). Revealed: more than 90% of rainforest carbon offsets by biggest provider are worthless, analysis shows carbonbrief.org
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  69. [69] Council of the European Union (EUR-Lex) (2022). Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices — cap on market revenues of inframarginal generators eur-lex.europa.eu
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  73. [73] U.S. Energy Information Administration (2025). Solar and wind power curtailments are increasing in California (28 May 2025) eia.gov
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