Nations

Offshore oil rig at sunset

Biden permanently bans offshore drilling in 625 million acres of ocean

/

President Biden has announced an executive action that will permanently ban future offshore oil and gas development in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in a way that could be especially difficult for the incoming Trump administration to undo. The ban will prevent oil companies from leasing waters for new drilling along the entire East Coast; the eastern Gulf of Mexico; the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California; and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea.

Prison cell

Zimbabwe abolishes the death penalty

/

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved a law that abolishes the death penalty in the southern African state with immediate effect. Mnangagwa’s move comes after Zimbabwe’s parliament voted earlier in December to scrap the death penalty. Zimbabwe last carried out an execution by hanging in 2005, but its courts continued to hand down the death sentence for serious crimes like murder.

Snow leopard

Kazakhstan’s snow leopard population reaches near-historic levels

/

The snow leopard population in Kazakhstan has rebounded to near-historic levels, with an estimated 152 to 189 individuals now residing in the country. This marks a significant achievement in conservation efforts, as such numbers were last observed in the 1980s. Since 2018, Kazakhstan has implemented a snow leopard conservation project under the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). UNDP initiatives have improved protection in 14 natural areas across the country through the use of advanced technologies, including camera traps, drones, and thermal imaging devices. As a result, the snow leopard population has increased by more than 26% since 2019.

Onager

Asiatic wild asses return to Saudi Arabia after 100 years

/

It’s been a century since an onager or Asiatic wild ass was last seen in Saudi Arabia. But in April this year, seven onagers were relocated from neighboring Jordan into one of Saudi Arabia’s nature reserves. One of the onagers has even birthed a female foal since then. Saudi Arabia was historically home to the Syrian wild ass , an onager subspecies that was hunted into extinction in the 1920s. But with the Syrian onager gone forever, it’s closest living relative, the Persian onager from Jordan, “was deemed the best alternative sub-species with which to re-populate the Middle East.”

Brazilian flag

Brazil passes law to cap emissions and regulate carbon market

/

Brazil will join the short list of countries, which includes China, Mexico, and Kazakhstan, and most E.U. member states, with a nationwide regulated carbon emissions system. The Brazilian government and the law’s proponents in the industrial sector say a regulated market will encourage companies to adopt low-carbon technologies and innovate toward greener production methods. Fines for not complying will be largely rerouted toward Brazil’s national climate change fund and administrative costs, with 5% of the fines destined to compensate Indigenous communities.

Cargo ship from above

Finland becomes world’s first country to ban cargo ships from dumping wastewater

/

Ship sewage discharged into the Baltic Sea contains large amounts of fecal bacteria and solid waste. Moreover, it is nutrient-rich, exacerbating eutrophication and causing toxic algal blooms in the summer months. Passenger ships in Finnish waters have long been prohibited from dumping this sewage into the sea, instead sending it to on-shore wastewater facilities. But now cargo vessels will be held to the same standard. The new law, set to take effect in July, will make Finland the world’s first country to implement such comprehensive wastewater regulations.

Good news for British climate action

Renewable power set to overtake fossil fuels in the U.K. this year for the first time

/

While particularly windy periods have meant certain days in the last few years have been dominated by renewable power as turbines lit up the grid, this is the first time through an entire calendar year that renewable energy will be greater than power generated from burning oil, gas and coal. The shift is driven largely by a decline in production from coal, gas, and oil, as well as growing wind, solar, and biomass power, according to think tank Ember.

Coal

Indonesia aims to phase out all coal-fired and fossil fuel power plants by 2040

/

Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto has announced his country will seek to phase out all coal-fired and fossil fuel power plants by 2040, pairing the goal with a target to build over 75 GW of renewable energy capacity over the same period. This brings forward Indonesia’s goal of retiring coal-fired power plants from 2056 to 2040. As the world’s fifth-largest operator of coal-fired power capacity at 52.3 GW, Indonesia’s promise to transition completely away from coal could serve as a pivotal step towards global decarbonization if implemented as planned.

Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Namibia elects Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its first female president

/

Nandi-Ndaitwah was a member of the underground independence movement in Namibia in the 1970s. She was promoted from foreign minister to vice president in February after President Hage Geingob died while in office. She was widely viewed as a steady hand, a seasoned diplomat not tainted by the corruption scandals that had engulfed some other members of the ruling Swapo party.

Turkmenistan flag

Turkmenistan to join global wildlife trade convention CITES

/

The Central Asian nation is set to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) beginning in 2025. Home to many charismatic and widely traded species, such as the Persian leopard, snow leopard, peregrine falcon and markhor goat, this move is a step toward regulating the legal wildlife trade and preventing the illegal trade in Turkmenistan and the whole of Central Asia.

Scroll to Top