Ethiopia has launched a record-breaking push to plant 700 million trees in a single day, part of a plan to grow 50 billion by 2026 to fight deforestation, boost livelihoods, and tackle climate change. By early morning, 14.9 million people had already planted 355 million seedlings. The nationwide effort has been championed by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since 2019 as a personal and national priority.
Colorado is building one of the world’s largest wildlife overpasses across Interstate 25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. The $15 million Greenland Wildlife Overpass will be 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, giving elk, mule deer, and pronghorn a safe route across six lanes of highway. Designed with natural vegetation and sloped entrances, the structure is expected to cut vehicle-animal collisions by up to 90% while reconnecting 39,000 acres of habitat to Pike National Forest. Scheduled for completion in late 2025, the project shows how infrastructure can reduce accidents and restore ecological connectivity.
Italy has agreed to a Vatican plan to build a solar farm on 1,000 acres near Rome, aiming to make Vatican City the world’s first carbon-neutral state. The Santa Maria Galeria project will generate enough clean energy for the micronation while preserving the land’s agricultural use and minimizing environmental impact. This step marks a significant commitment by the Vatican toward sustainability and climate leadership.
Buildings are one of New York’s biggest climate polluters, responsible for nearly a third of the state’s emissions. In 2025, the state finalized the nation’s first statewide gas ban, requiring most new buildings to run on electric systems, with larger ones following in 2029. A federal court upheld the law, clearing the way for implementation. By ending fossil fuel hookups in new construction, New York is cutting a major source of greenhouse gases, improving air quality, and creating a model for other states—pushing the country closer to a future where all buildings help solve the climate crisis, not fuel it.
Australia will cut student loan balances by 20%, delivering over A$16 billion in relief to three million people. A graduate with an average loan of A$27,600 will see about A$5,520 erased, with changes backdated to June 1, 2025, before a 3.2% inflation adjustment. The law also lifts the repayment threshold to A$67,000 in annual income, easing the burden on lower earners and delaying repayments for many.
For years, the Caribbean island nation’s gross indecency and buggery laws have criminalized same-sex relations, even in private. Under those laws, consensual male homosexuality could be punished with up to ten years’ imprisonment. Even attempting to “commit buggery” could be met with a sentence of five years. Now, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court has ruled that the law violates the rights to privacy, life, liberty, security of the person, freedom of expression, protection from discrimination on the basis of sex, and protection of the law.
Cuba’s National Assembly of People’s Power has passed a landmark law granting people the right to change their gender markers without first proving they’ve undergone genital-affirming surgery—a breakthrough victory years in the making for the nation’s trans and nonbinary communities. The new Civil Registry code also expands recognition of love and partnership, formally acknowledging unmarried couples through emotional unions and cohabitation agreements. Together, these reforms mark a major step toward greater dignity, equality, and legal inclusion for all Cubans.
The U.S. FDA has approved lenacapavir (Yeztugo), the first HIV prevention shot that’s given just twice a year. In large studies, it was virtually 100% effective—no HIV cases were seen in one trial, and only two cases occurred in another with more than 2,000 people. This long-lasting protection could make it much easier for people to stay protected, especially for those who find taking a daily pill difficult. By reducing the need for frequent dosing, the new treatment has the potential to greatly expand access to HIV prevention and help move the world closer to ending the deadly epidemic that has killed more than 44 million people worldwide since 1981.
The World Health Organization certifies malaria elimination when a country has zero indigenous cases for three consecutive years. So far, 47 countries and one territory have earned this status. A Southeast Asian nation, committed to fighting malaria since gaining independence in 2002, has now joined them—demonstrating the impact of sustained, focused efforts to defeat this devastating disease.
A landmark decision by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands has cleared the way for countries to sue each other over climate change. Campaigners and climate lawyers have called this a “watershed legal moment” and hope the decision will pave the way for compensation from countries that have historically burned the most fossil fuels. The unprecedented case was the brainchild of a group of young law students from low-lying Pacific islands on the frontlines of climate change, who came up with the idea in 2019.
