Climate crisis

The climate crisis demands action — and action is happening. This archive tracks real progress: policy wins, clean-energy milestones, community resilience, and scientific advances that show meaningful change is possible. Stories here come from every corner of the world.

And nine more of humanity’s social change milestones from the week of July 1 – 7 2024 C.E., for article on China renewable energy

Wind and solar capacity overtake coal in China in historic first

By / / Good News For Humankind

China renewable energy just hit a milestone that seemed unthinkable a decade ago: combined wind and solar capacity has officially surpassed coal, with the country on track to reach 1,200 GW of installed clean power by the end of 2024 — six years ahead of its own national target. The pace is staggering. Since 2020, China has added more than 100 GW of wind and solar every single year, and in 2023 alone it installed a record 293 GW. Coal generation actually dipped year-on-year in May and June of 2024 as renewables picked up the slack. When the world’s largest energy consumer crosses a threshold like this, the global math on climate genuinely begins to change.

South African flag, for article on South Africa Climate Change Act

South Africa passes its first sweeping climate change law

By / / Good News For Humankind

South Africa’s new Climate Change Act, signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in July 2024, gives the country its first legally binding framework for cutting emissions and adapting to a warming world. For a nation that generates roughly 40% of sub-Saharan Africa’s carbon emissions, that legal spine matters enormously. The law creates enforceable carbon budgets, requires government departments to report progress every five years, and writes just transition principles directly into the text, recognizing coal workers and their communities as the energy system shifts. Advocates spent years pushing for this across multiple administrations. It’s a foundation rather than a finish line, but a foundation that can be built upon, challenged in court, and strengthened in ways voluntary pledges never allowed.

Ocean water, for article on law of the sea treaty, for article on ITLOS climate ruling

Island states win historic climate case in world oceans court

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nine small island nations just won a landmark climate ruling from the world’s top ocean court, with judges declaring for the first time that greenhouse gases absorbed by the sea legally count as marine pollution. The coalition — including Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, Vanuatu, and Palau — argued that countries have binding obligations under the Law of the Sea to limit warming to 1.5°C, and the tribunal agreed. Though the opinion is advisory, it’s already shaping two pending climate cases at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the International Court of Justice. For nations whose very existence is threatened by rising seas, it’s a reminder that patient diplomacy and international law can still give the smallest voices real weight in the global climate fight.

Fervo Energy geothermal plant, for article on enhanced geothermal power purchase agreement

World’s biggest geothermal power purchase agreement completed in western U.S.

By / / Good News For Humankind

A Utah geothermal project just secured what developers are calling the world’s largest geothermal power purchase agreement — a 15-year deal to deliver 320 megawatts of always-on clean electricity to Southern California Edison, enough to power roughly 350,000 homes. Fervo Energy’s Cape Station plant uses horizontal drilling borrowed from the oil and gas industry to circulate water through deep hot rock, unlocking geothermal power in places where it was never viable before. First electrons are expected to flow in 2026, with the rest coming online by 2028. For a clean grid that needs to run when the sun sets and the wind stops, this kind of steady, weather-proof power may be the missing piece — and a signal that geothermal is ready for prime time.

Rows of offshore wind turbines at sea for an article about EU wind power, for article on EU renewable electricity

E.U. surpasses 50% renewable power share for first time ever in first half of 2024

By / / Good News For Humankind

Renewable energy just hit a milestone Europe has never seen before: in the first half of 2024, clean sources generated exactly half of the EU’s public electricity, the first time the bloc has crossed that line. Add nuclear into the mix and three-quarters of Europe’s power came from low-carbon sources, up from 68 percent the year before. Germany pushed even further, with wind alone supplying 34 percent of its public grid. What makes this hopeful isn’t just the number — it’s the pace. Europe blew past its 2030 renewable targets years ahead of schedule, suggesting the clean energy transition can move faster than policymakers, or skeptics, dared to imagine.

Earth's atmosphere glowing blue from space for an article about ozone layer recovery, for article on Montreal Protocol ozone layer, for article on HCFC atmospheric decline

For the first time, researchers detect significant dip in global atmospheric levels of HCFCs

By / / Good News For Humankind

Atmospheric HCFCs are finally falling — the first decline since scientists began tracking these ozone-depleting chemicals in the late 1970s, and it arrived about five years ahead of what the leading models predicted. Researchers at the University of Bristol pinpointed the turnaround to 2021, drawing on a global network of air-sampling stations that has quietly watched the skies for decades. The drop is a direct result of the Montreal Protocol, the only environmental treaty ratified by every UN member state, which paired firm timelines with real financial help for lower-income countries making the switch. It’s a hopeful reminder that patient, well-designed international cooperation actually works — a template worth studying as the world tackles the harder climate fights ahead.

Bison, for article on Portugal wild bison

Portugal welcomes first wild bison in 10,000 years as part of plan to rewild a quarter-million acres

By / / Good News For Humankind

European wood bison are back in Portugal for the first time since the last Ice Age, with a small herd settling into the Greater Côa Valley. They came from Poland, where more than 4,000 wisent now roam wild — a remarkable turnaround for a species that survived the 20th century with just 50 animals left in zoos. Conservationists hope the bison will reshape the landscape through grazing and trampling, encouraging biodiversity and even helping break up the dense, dry vegetation that fuels Portugal’s wildfires. It’s a small herd with a big role to play, and a hopeful sign of what Europe’s growing rewilding movement can do when given room to breathe.

A person preparing for planting the plant, for article on Colombian Amazon restoration

Campesinos plant nearly a million trees in deforestation hotspot in the Colombian Amazon

By / / Good News For Humankind

More than 700 campesino families in the Colombian Amazon have planted nearly a million native trees across former cattle pasture, transforming one of the country’s worst deforestation hotspots into recovering forest. In just four months, families across the Cuemaní region planted over 984,000 trees and palms — and tapirs, deer, and parrots that had disappeared with the chainsaws are already coming back. Teenagers who joined botanical surveys alongside scientists discovered they could earn a living as local forest experts, with some now pursuing degrees in agroforestry. What makes this remarkable isn’t just the scale, but the model: when the people who once cleared the land become its protectors, restoration starts to hold — a lesson echoing across the Amazon and beyond.

Vast salt flat, for article on Chile salt flat protection network

Chile to create network of protected salt flats

By / / Good News For Humankind

Chile’s salt flats just got a major boost: a new protected network will triple formal safeguards for these high-altitude ecosystems, covering 14 salt flats and 13 lagoons across the country’s north. These aren’t just mineral-rich landscapes — they’re living wetlands where three of the world’s six flamingo species breed, and where a tiny fish called Orestias ascotanensis exists nowhere else on Earth. The move brings Chile closer to the global goal of protecting 30% of the planet’s ecosystems by 2030, even as the country expands lithium mining in the same region. How Chile navigates this balance between clean energy minerals and irreplaceable biodiversity will shape conservation choices well beyond its borders.

Aerial view of a geothermal power facility surrounded by tropical landscape for an article about Indonesia coal phase-out, for article on India coal capacity share

Coal’s share of power capacity in India drops below 50% for first time since 1960s

By / / Good News For Humankind

Coal now powers less than half of India’s electricity capacity for the first time since the 1960s — a quiet but historic line just crossed by the world’s most populous country. Renewables made up nearly three-quarters of the new capacity India added in the first quarter of 2024, and the country has already hit its 2030 goal of sourcing half its power from non-fossil sources, six years ahead of schedule. India has also climbed from ninth to third in global solar generation in less than a decade, behind only China and the United States. It’s a vivid reminder that when ambition, policy, and investment line up, energy transitions can move faster than almost anyone expected.