Australia & Oceania

This archive covers progress stories from Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island nations. Expect reporting on environmental protection, Indigenous-led initiatives, public health advances, and policy wins that reflect the region’s distinct challenges and strengths.

Streets of Palau Koror and coves of coral reefs, for article on High Seas Treaty

Palau is the first nation to ratify treaty to protect high seas

By / / Good News For Humankind

Palau just became the first country in the world to ratify the High Seas Treaty, the international agreement aimed at protecting the two-thirds of the ocean that lies beyond any nation’s borders. This tiny Pacific nation of around 340 islands has long led by example, having already shielded 80% of its own waters from fishing and mining — the highest share of any country on Earth. Once 60 nations ratify, the treaty becomes binding law, opening the door to marine protected areas, environmental reviews, and shared benefits from deep-sea discoveries. Chile and the Maldives are close behind, with advocates hopeful the threshold could be met by mid-2025. Palau’s message is simple and powerful: the ocean has no borders, and protecting it is a shared inheritance.

Solar panels installed on rooftops in an African village for an article about Africa solar imports, for article on gigawatt-scale solar farm

Rio Tinto signs contract for Australian grid’s first gigawatt scale solar project

By / / Good News For Humankind

Rio Tinto has signed on to buy all the power from a 1.1 gigawatt solar farm in Queensland — the largest solar project ever contracted on Australia’s main grid. The electricity will flow to Rio Tinto’s alumina refinery, aluminum smelter, and boron plant near Gladstone, some of the most power-hungry industrial sites in the country. Built by Danish developer European Energy, the Upper Calliope farm will deliver clean energy at the scale of a large coal plant when the sun is shining. Heavy industry has long been one of the trickiest pieces of the climate puzzle, so a commitment this big from a global mining giant is a real signal that even the most energy-intensive sectors can start to run on sunshine.

Break Free From Fossil Fuels flyer

Australia and Norway to stop overseas fossil fuel financing

By / / Good news links

Australia and Norway have formally joined the Clean Energy Transition Partnership (CETP), a historic alliance aiming at ending international public subsidies for fossil fuels. The CETP was launched during COP26 in Glasgow and has grown to include 41 countries and organizations, signaling a significant step forward in combating the climate catastrophe.

School of fish with big fish in the middle, for article on marine protected area

New Caledonia expands strictly protected coverage of its swath of the Pacific

By / / Good News For Humankind

New Caledonia’s expansion of strict ocean protections shows what’s possible when Indigenous communities, industry, and governments genuinely share the table. The newly protected waters shelter migratory corridors for whales, sea turtles, and sharks, along with a deep-sea trench — ecosystems among the slowest on Earth to recover from disturbance. Kanak peoples, who have lived alongside these waters for thousands of years, helped shape the decree directly. Ten percent is a milestone, not a finish line, and global strict protection sits at just 2.9%. But this expansion shows that meaningful ocean protection is achievable.

Charging an EV, for article on Australia EV market share

EVs exceed 10% of monthly auto sales in Australia for first time ever

By / / Good News For Humankind

Australia’s EV market hit a milestone in September 2023, with plug-in vehicles making up 10.6% of new car sales — the first time the country has crossed double digits in a single month. That meant nearly 10,000 plug-in cars found new homes, led by the Tesla Model Y, which outsold every passenger car except two utes. The shift reflects more than new models on lots: salary sacrifice schemes, Chinese automakers expanding their reach, and access programs for public sector workers are bringing EVs to buyers who once found them out of reach. With transport responsible for nearly a fifth of Australia’s emissions, this kind of broad-based momentum is exactly what the climate transition looks like when it finally clicks into gear.

Model of a heart, for article on muvalaplin Lp(a) cholesterol

World-first drug lowers genetic form of “bad cholesterol” by up to 65%

By / / Good News For Humankind

Muvalaplin, a new pill from researchers at Monash University, lowered a dangerous genetic form of cholesterol by up to 65% in just two weeks during early trials. The drug targets lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a stickier cousin of LDL cholesterol that’s been called a “silent killer” because diet, exercise, and statins can’t touch it. Roughly one in five people worldwide carry elevated Lp(a), inherited risk they’ve long been told there’s nothing to do about. That muvalaplin works as a simple oral tablet, not an injection, could make it widely accessible if larger trials succeed. For global heart health, it’s a hopeful sign that even risks written into our DNA may not be the final word.

Melbourne skyline in the distance, for article on Victoria gas ban

Australian state of Victoria bans natural gas in new homes

By / / Good News For Humankind

Victoria’s gas ban on new homes is a meaningful shift in how Australia’s most gas-dependent state builds for the future — locking cleaner, cheaper energy into every new home from the foundation up. Around 80 percent of Victorian households currently run on gas, and doctors have long warned that gas appliances raise asthma risk in children and carry carbon monoxide dangers. All-electric new homes are projected to save owners roughly $1,000 a year, rising to $2,200 with solar. The harder challenge remains retrofitting existing homes, where lower-income households could be left behind without targeted support.