Volkswagen will invest $193 billion in electric cars and software
Volkswagen announced a blockbuster investment in new EV and battery development that will greatly increase its North American manufacturing presence.
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.
Iraq to plant 5 million trees to combat climate change and desertification
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said his government is also planning to build new irrigation projects, cut flaring from oil drilling, and ramp up clean energy, aiming to draw 30% of the country’s electricity from renewables by 2030.
Adani Green Energy commissions world’s largest solar-wind hybrid project in India
# Excerpt\n\nIndia’s renewable energy ambitions just got a tangible boost. Adani Green Energy has completed a 700 megawatt solar-wind hybrid project in Rajasthan that pairs solar panels with wind turbines on the same site—smoothing out the gaps that would otherwise force utilities back to fossil fuels. The design is elegant: solar peaks during the day, wind fills in at night and across seasons, delivering power at an efficiency rate of at least 50%, exceptional for either technology alone. This single project moves India’s 500-gigawatt renewable goal from aspiration toward real arithmetic.\n\n—\n\n**Word count: 98**
Scotland becomes world’s first country to ban environmentally harmful anesthetic
NHS data suggests the gas, used to keep people unconscious during surgery, has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.
GE installs world’s first spiral-welded wind turbine tower
Spiral-welded wind turbine towers could quietly dissolve one of the biggest barriers holding back wind energy: the highway. Because conventional towers must be trucked in, U.S. road regulations cap their diameter — and therefore their height — well below what the physics of wind actually allows. Keystone’s mobile factories build towers on-site from coiled steel, removing that constraint entirely and making towers tall enough to reach stronger, more consistent winds. One tower doesn’t rewrite the industry, but it proves the concept works. If the approach scales, it could bring competitive wind energy to regions that have never had it.
South Africa introduces new incentives for renewable energy
Businesses will be able to reduce their taxable income by 125% of the cost of a renewables investment. Individuals will be able to claim a rebate to the value of 25% of the cost of solar panels.
E.U. Parliament votes to effectively ban new combustion engine cars by 2035
Final approval is expected to be given by March, meaning the world’s largest trading bloc will soon officially be on track to almost completely phase out vehicles powered by combustion engines.
The E.U. to invest more than $270 billion in its own “green deal”
The Green Deal Industrial Plan will simplify regulation to help get proposed green projects up and running faster, accelerating access to investment, developing programs to train skilled workers in green industries, and more.
Ecuador establishes new reserve protecting over 3 million acres of forest
Indigenous land protection at this scale is rare — and this story shows what’s possible when communities lead the way. Four Indigenous nationalities in Ecuador’s Morona Santiago province spent more than a year in community-led consultations before a single boundary was drawn. The resulting reserve connects to protected areas across eastern Ecuador and northern Peru, giving jaguars, tapirs, and thousands of bird species room to move and survive. When Indigenous communities hold legal authority over their own land, forests stand a far better chance — and that’s a model the world needs more of.
Wind and solar were E.U.’s top electricity source in 2022 for first time ever
Wind and solar together generated 22.3% of the European Union’s electricity in 2022, edging past nuclear and gas to become the bloc’s largest power source for the first time ever. What makes this remarkable is the year it happened — Europe was navigating war-driven gas shortages, a once-in-500-year drought that crippled hydropower, and unexpected nuclear outages. Clean energy quietly absorbed most of the shock, with solar alone climbing 24% and twenty countries setting national solar records. Analysts now expect fossil fuel generation to fall by a record 20% in 2023 as the buildout continues. Europe’s experience offers a hopeful signal to the rest of the world: renewables aren’t just keeping the lights on through a crisis — they’re becoming the backbone of a modern grid.