Starbucks is piloting fully compostable cups in five cities
Starbucks is piloting cups that are just like the company’s normal cups, but the plastic lining has been replaced with a compostable liner, making the cups recyclable and compostable.
Today (2017 C.E. - 2025 C.E.)
This archive spans the years 2017 through 2025, a period marked by rapid advances in clean energy, medicine, technology, and social equity. It collects documented breakthroughs, policy wins, and scientific achievements from the present era. If you want evidence that progress is real and ongoing, this is where to look.
Norway to make all of its domestic flights electric by 2040
By 2040, the country intends all short-haul flights leaving its airports to be on aircraft powered by electricity.
Second-ever patient cured of HIV
A man from London has become the second person in the world to be cured of HIV, doctors say. Adam Castillejo is still free of the virus more than 30 months after stopping anti-retroviral therapy.
UBS ends financing for all new offshore oil projects in Arctic
In addition to this announcement, the investment bank has achieved its sustainable investment goal three years early, increasing its core sustainable investments by more than 56% to USD $488 billion.
Virginia legislature passes sweeping carbon reduction plan
The Washington Post reports that the Clean Economy Act will create many new employment opportunities in wind and solar industries as the state’s utility companies are now mandated to use only carbon-free electricity by 2050.
Blue whales seen in Antarctica for the first time since 1980s
Since the international moratorium on whaling in 1982, decades of protection have allowed the critically endangered blue whale to bounce back considerably after losing 97% of the species.
Nova Scotia will officially be home to North America’s first whale sanctuary
Nova Scotia will be the official home base to the first whale sanctuary in North America, with whales expected in the water just off the coast of Port Hilford before the end of 2021.
Florida approves largest community solar program in the United States
The Florida Public Service Commission unanimously approved the SolarTogether program, which will ensure the development of 1,490 MW of solar over the next two years making it the largest community solar program in the US.
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will no longer fund Arctic drilling
JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo will no longer fund oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The announcements come on the heels of similar commitments made by Goldman Sachs and BlackRock.
U.K. carbon emissions have fallen by 29% in last decade
In 2019, Carbon Brief found that the U.K.’s CO2 emissions fell by 2.9%, bringing the total reduction to 29% over the past decade since 2010, even as the economy grew by a fifth.