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.

Abstract orange yellow, for article on nuclear fusion record

Nuclear fusion heat record a ‘huge step’ in quest for new energy source

By / / Good News For Humankind

Nuclear fusion just hit a stunning new benchmark: scientists at the JET facility in Oxfordshire sustained a reaction for five seconds, releasing 59 megajoules of heat — more than double what the same machine produced in 1997. Inside the doughnut-shaped reactor, plasma reached 150 million degrees Celsius, roughly ten times hotter than the sun’s core, fusing hydrogen isotopes the same way stars do. The five-second burst matters because it proves the fuel can be burned stably and repeatably — the foundation any future power plant will need. If researchers can keep building on this, fusion’s promise of abundant, carbon-free energy drawn from seawater could reshape what a just, livable energy future looks like for everyone.

Numbers on electric board, for article on clean energy investment

Global investment in low-carbon energy transition hits record $755 billion in 2021

By / / Good News For Humankind

Clean energy investment hit a record $755 billion globally in 2021, climbing 27% in a single year. What made it remarkable wasn’t just the total — it was the breadth. Automakers retooled factories for EVs, private capital poured into battery storage, and governments tied clean energy conditions to COVID recovery packages, pulling fresh money off the sidelines. China led the way, but the U.S., Germany, the U.K., and several emerging economies all posted real gains, suggesting the transition is spreading rather than clustering in one place. The harder truth: most of this money still bypasses the regions facing the steepest climate risks, and closing that gap is the work ahead.

Wind turbine, for article on renewable energy record

South Australia smashes renewable record using 100% solar and wind for full week

By / / Good News For Humankind

Renewable energy powered all of South Australia for seven straight days at the end of December 2023, the longest 100% clean run the state has ever recorded. Wind turbines did most of the heavy lifting, while rooftop solar on homes across Adelaide and the coast chipped in nearly a third of the total. The Hornsdale Power Reserve, a giant lithium-ion battery built in just 100 days back in 2017, kept everything steady when the wind eased or the sun dipped. Skeptics have long asked whether a modern grid can really run on wind and sun alone, without coal or gas waiting in the wings. South Australia just spent a week answering yes — and other regions are taking notes.

Front of GMC truck, for article on electric truck manufacturing

GM makes largest-ever investment, spending $7 billion on EV manufacturing capacity

By / / Good News For Humankind

GM’s $7 billion bet on electric vehicles is the largest single investment in the company’s 116-year history, and it lands squarely in Michigan. The plan upgrades an assembly plant near Detroit to build battery-powered Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, while a new facility in Lansing will produce the battery cells to power them. Together, the two sites will create more than 4,000 jobs and the capacity to build 600,000 electric trucks a year. Pickups are America’s bestsellers and among its heaviest emitters, so electrifying them at this scale shifts the emissions math of the country’s roads — and signals that the question for legacy automakers is no longer whether to go electric, but how fast.