Cities

Flower floating on the water with lilies

New Delhi transforms degraded lands into biodiversity parks

/

New Delhi, India’s capital city, struggles with numerous environmental challenges, including extremely poor air quality and heat waves. In response, since 2004, the city has created seven large “biodiversity parks” on previously degraded land. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park, a 692-acre park located near an upscale neighborhood, is now a thriving forest of native plants. The Neela Hauz Biodiversity Park is home to a lake that was once a dumping ground for untreated sewage. All seven parks were restored by the Delhi Development Authority and the University of Delhi and together span 2,026 acres.

Minneapolis at night

Minneapolis to become first city in North America to own and operate biochar facility

/

Biochar is a specialized charcoal created by heating wood waste to 700 degrees in a low-oxygen environment. The Minneapolis biochar facility will have the capacity to annually: process over 3,000 tons of wood waste, produce over 500 tons of biochar, and remove nearly 3,700 tons of carbon dioxide (the equivalent of taking over 789 cars off the road). Construction is expected to begin this spring with biochar production beginning in the summer or early fall.

Electric bus

Nearly half of new E.U. city buses were zero-emission in 2024

/

49% of all new E.U. city buses were zero-emission in 2024, making city buses one of the early success stories of the European Green Deal. This growth is due to the faster-than-expected uptake in fuel cell buses, making up 3% of new E.U. city buses in 2024. Battery-electric, however, remains by far the dominant powertrain, with a 46% share. This success is due to both the new European regulation last year sending a clear market signal that the days of diesel buses are numbered and city-level policies such as zero-emission zones and fleet targets.

Solar farm in the desert

Abu Dhabi to build world’s largest solar energy project

/

Abu Dhabi will soon be home to a 5.2-GW solar farm, enough to power 750,000 homes and become the world’s new largest-ever solar energy project. The project will cost US$6 billion, and is set to be commissioned in 2027. It will consist of around 10 million solar panels across 20 square miles, more than 10,000 football fields. The new project in Abu Dhabi not only earns the United Arab Emirates major bragging rights, but also gets it closer to its Net Zero by 2050 target.

New York

New York City to get a $3 billion, 80,000-acre offshore wind farm

/

New York City will soon be getting its own personal offshore wind farm. The Empire Wind 1 project just received a US$3 billion project financing package and is expected to go online in 2027, powering roughly half a million borough residents. A turbine-laden 80,000-acre plot of Atlantic Ocean – which is nearly half the size of NYC – could generate 810 MW if running efficiently at its designed capacity. That is around 3.19 TWh per year or roughly 6% of NYC’s overall consumption. Empire Wind 1 will be the first offshore wind project to connect directly to NYC’s electrical grid.

child and autumn leaves

Tokyo to make daycare free for all preschool children

/

The world’s most populous city plans to make daycare free for all preschool children starting in September, the city governor has announced. The move aims to reduce the financial burden on families by expanding a policy of free daycare for second-born and subsequent children to first-borns as well. While many developed countries are struggling with low birth rates, the problem is particularly acute in Japan where the population has been declining for years.

Eiffel Tower in Paris City

Paris to replace 60,000 parking spaces with trees 

/

Paris aims to replace 60,000 parking spaces across the city with trees by the end of this decade, according to its newly released climate plan. The plan, which must still be approved by the Council of Paris, lays out steps to help the city prepare for more extreme heat. The goal of ripping up parking spaces is part of a larger aim to create more than 700 acres of green space by 2030. The plan also calls for setting up more cooling centers, creating more car-free zones, and installing reflective roofs on 1,000 public buildings.

Tulsa elects its first Black mayor

/

Monroe Nichols will become the first Black mayor of Tulsa. Nichols, a state representative, edged out Tulsa County Commissioner Karen Keith in a runoff election to become the mayor of Oklahoma’s second-largest city. Nichols’ election comes 103 years after the Tulsa Race Massacre, when a white racist mob, including some deputized by authorities, descended on the city’s Greenwood District, also known as Black Wall Street. They burned down homes and businesses, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 300 Black residents.

An Aerial/Drone Shot of The capital city of Tanzania

Bus rapid transit stations in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are getting EV charging stations

/

Tanzania has one of the most advanced Bus Rapid Transit systems on the African continent. Known as the DART, Dar Rapid Transit Agency began operations in 2016 and has 29 stations around Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam. In a significant step towards promoting sustainable transportation in Tanzania, the DART has signed a landmark contract with TRÍ to install an advanced electric charging system within the DART infrastructure.

The Hague waterfront and buildings

The Hague becomes world’s first city to pass law banning fossil fuel-related ads

/

New legislation in the Dutch city spells the end of publicly and privately funded advertising for petrol and diesel, aviation and cruise ships in city streets, including on billboards and bus shelters. It takes effect from the start of next year. It is the first time a city has banned high-carbon advertising through local legislation. The decision follows a call by the U.N. chief, António Guterres, earlier this year for governments and media to enact such bans, as they have done with tobacco.

Scroll to Top