Guinea worm is on the brink of becoming the second human disease in history to be eradicated
A painful, parasitic disease that once infected 3.5 million people per year is tantalizingly In 2022, just 12 cases were record worldwide.
International community
This archive collects stories in which the international community — nations, multilateral bodies, and coalitions acting collectively — plays a central role in driving positive change. Coverage spans diplomacy, global agreements, humanitarian efforts, and cross-border cooperation that produce measurable progress.
10% of global car sales were electric in 2022 for first time ever
Electric vehicles crossed a quiet but enormous threshold in 2022, making up one in every ten new cars sold worldwide for the first time. Roughly 7.8 million fully electric vehicles found buyers that year, even as overall car sales slipped. China led the charge, with EVs accounting for nearly a fifth of new cars sold there, while Europe wasn’t far behind at 11%. Behind the numbers is a deeper shift: battery prices have fallen dramatically over the past decade, and major automakers are doubling their EV output even as their broader sales decline. Ten percent is the moment a technology stops being niche and starts reshaping an industry — a hopeful signal for the global push toward cleaner transport.
Global investment in clean energy matches that in fossil fuels for the first time ever in 2022
Clean energy investment hit $1.1 trillion globally in 2022, matching every dollar spent on fossil fuels for the first time ever. Electric vehicles led the charge, with spending jumping 54 percent in a single year to $466 billion. Wind, solar, batteries, and heat pumps all set records too — this wasn’t a fluke driven by one hot sector, but money moving across the whole clean economy. China poured in nearly half the total, sparking a kind of race that tends to push costs down for everyone. Parity isn’t the finish line — the world still needs to roughly quadruple this pace to hit net zero by 2050 — but it’s the moment the global energy story quietly flipped.
In historic deal, nearly 200 countries agree to protect 30% of land and sea to protect biodiversity
Nearly 200 countries just agreed to protect 30 percent of the planet’s land and oceans by 2030 — a leap from the 16 percent of land and 8 percent of seas currently safeguarded. The deal, struck in the early hours of a December morning in Montreal, also commits wealthy nations to send $30 billion a year to developing countries for nature protection. Crucially, Indigenous communities — who steward an estimated 80 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity — won language protecting their land rights and traditional knowledge in how these areas are governed. Past pledges have faltered, and enforcement remains the open question. But for a world losing species at rates unseen since the dinosaurs, having nearly every nation in one room agreeing to reverse course is a milestone worth marking.
Shark-fishing gear banned across much of Pacific in conservation ‘win’
The measure adopted by the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission is seen as a major and potentially precedent-setting win for conservationists.
Heat pump sales are soaring around the world
Sales of the climate-friendly heating technology are set to hit record levels, especially in Europe where some countries are seeing sales double in the first half of 2022 compared with the same period last year.
Indonesia seals $20 billion deal with G7 to speed up clean energy transition
Under the partnership, Indonesia will aim to cap its emissions from the power sector by 2030, faster than the initial target of 2037, and to generate 34% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
Ozone layer hits a “significant milestone” as concentrations of harmful chemicals drop 50%
In 1987, just seven years after ozone depletion from chemicals was made most obvious, every country on Earth ratified a treaty, known as the Montreal Protocol, to regulate the chemicals to protect Earth.
U.N. General Assembly declares access to clean and healthy environment a universal human right
The resolution, based on a similar text adopted last year by the Human Rights Council, calls upon States, international organizations, and business enterprises to scale up efforts to ensure a healthy environment for all.
Wind and solar generated a record 10% of the world’s power in 2021
Wind and solar power together generated 10.3% of the world’s electricity in 2021, crossing double digits for the first time in history. That’s a remarkable leap considering these two sources were barely a blip on the global grid just twenty years ago. Fifty countries now pull more than 10% of their power from wind and sun, with Denmark leading the pack at 52%. Even China, the world’s largest electricity market, quietly joined the 10% club that same year. The milestone matters because it shows the clean energy transition isn’t a far-off hope but a measurable, accelerating shift — one that, if its current pace holds, could keep the power sector aligned with the 1.5°C climate goal.