Hawaii startup just launched world’s first ocean-assisted carbon removal plant
Each Heimdal can pull 1,000 tons of carbon out of the ocean per year at just a fraction of the cost of air-capture methods.
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.
New Zealand passes landmark climate legislation, helping switch to EVs
New Zealand’s sweeping 15-year emissions plan shows what climate legislation can look like when it’s built to last — with near cross-party backing making it harder for future governments to unravel. Central to it is a “scrap and replace” program giving lower- and middle-income families real help trading older vehicles for electric or hybrid ones, tackling the equity problem that typically leaves cleaner cars out of reach. Greener buses, trams, and cycling infrastructure round out the approach, recognizing that fewer car trips matter as much as cleaner ones. It’s a model other countries will be watching closely.
Germany makes renewable energy cheaper for households and businesses
The legislation effectively removes the renewable levy added to power bills and as a result, an average German family can look forward to saving approximately 300 euros per year.
Tasmania is now carbon negative
Researchers concluded the change in carbon footprint could be attributed to the reduction in native forest logging.
New seed-firing drones are planting 40,000 trees every day to fight deforestation
In comparison to traditional methodologies, they are not only 25 times faster, but 80 per cent cheaper, according to developer AirSeed Technologies.
Egypt to build world’s first climate-positive, net-zero city
The new city, Nexgen, to be located east of Cairo, will produce more food and energy than it consumes.
Washington state takes strongest clean commercial building action in the U.S.
Under the new code that will take effect in July 2023, new commercial buildings will be built with high-efficiency electric heat pumps for water and space heating.
‘Radical’ solar technology breakthrough allows energy to be stored for up to 18 years
Solar energy that lasts 18 years in a bottle? Researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University have built a molecule that absorbs sunlight, holds it as a liquid, and releases it as electricity only when a catalyst says go. To prove it works, they charged the liquid with Swedish sun, shipped it to a partner lab in China, and three months later powered a tiny chip — just 800 nanometers thin — that turned the stored sunlight into electricity. Output is still small, but the concept is validated. If it scales, it points toward a future where clean energy isn’t tethered to grids or mining-heavy batteries, but travels quietly in a jar to wherever people need it.
Zurich begins to turn off natural gas networks
The current shutdown in Switzerland’s biggest city is due to be completed in 2024 with more areas of Zurich set to see the end of natural gas between now and 2040.
Denmark announces aggressive carbon tax
Companies that do not pay for their pollution in the EU quota system now must pay DKK 750 per ton of CO2 they emit.