Climate crisis

Chevron gas station

Chevron ordered to pay $740 million to restore Louisiana coast in landmark trial

By / / Good news links

Jurors have found that energy giant Texaco, acquired by Chevron in 2001, had for decades violated Louisiana regulations governing coastal resources by failing to restore wetlands impacted by dredging canals, drilling wells, and billions of gallons of wastewater dumped into the marsh. The case was the first of dozens of pending lawsuits to reach trial in Louisiana against the world’s leading oil companies for their role in accelerating land loss along the state’s rapidly disappearing coast.

Finnish flags

Finland has effectively phased out coal as a source of electricity generation

By / / Good news links

The closure of a coal power plant in Finland today brings the country to the brink of a full coal phase-out – four years ahead of schedule. Power utility company Helen officially decommissioned its Salmisaari plant in Helsinki on 1 April, dropping coal to a less than 1% share of the country’s energy mix. Since 2020, coal generation has dropped by 73% from 2.44 terawatt hours to 0.67. Over the same span, wind power has more than doubled since 2020 to supply a quarter of the country’s energy.

Solar farm and wind turbines on sunny day

Renewables account for 92% of new power capacity worldwide in 2024

By / / Good news links

Countries added a record amount of renewable power in 2024, according to an analysis from the International Renewable Energy Agency. The analysis found that solar is by far the fastest-growing form of renewable power, amounting to 77% of new capacity, with wind in a distant second at 19%. Continuing its clean-energy dominance, China installed more renewable power than all other countries combined last year. Still, growth is not on pace to meet a global goal to triple renewable capacity by the end of this decade.

A household heat pump

California to install 6 million heat pumps by 2030

By / / Good news links

In 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom set a goal for the world’s fifth-largest economy to deploy 6 million heat pump units by 2030. Last week, the California Heat Pump Partnership announced the nation’s first statewide blueprint to achieve the state’s ambitious goals for deploying heat pumps, a critical tech for decarbonizing buildings and improving public health. Looking beyond the 2030 target, the Golden State ultimately needs to deploy an estimated 23 million heat pumps to decarbonize its residential and commercial sectors by 2045.

Big Ben

U.K. emissions fall to lowest level since 1872

By / / Good news links

In a major win for climate action, a new analysis from Carbon Brief has found that the country’s planet-warming emissions fell by 3.6% to 371 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2024, the lowest since Queen Victoria’s reign. Last year’s decrease was largely driven by a drop in coal use, led by the closure of the UK’s last coal-fired power station and one of its last blast furnaces. Other contributors included a drop in demand for oil and gas and a nearly 40% rise in electric vehicles on the road.

Minneapolis at night

Minneapolis to become first city in North America to own and operate biochar facility

By / / Good news links

Biochar is a specialized charcoal created by heating wood waste to 700 degrees in a low-oxygen environment. The Minneapolis biochar facility will have the capacity to annually: process over 3,000 tons of wood waste, produce over 500 tons of biochar, and remove nearly 3,700 tons of carbon dioxide (the equivalent of taking over 789 cars off the road). Construction is expected to begin this spring with biochar production beginning in the summer or early fall.

California now has more EV charging ports than gas nozzles

By / / Good news links

California has steadily amassed its EV charging network with both public and private charging ports over the last few years. In 2024, California boasted 178,500 total EV ports compared to around 120,000 estimated gas nozzles, according to the California Energy Commission. The number of accessible chargers across California has nearly doubled since 2022. Since August, the last time these figures were publicly updated, the state has recorded roughly 26,000 additional publicly accessible EV chargers.

Electric bus

Nearly half of new E.U. city buses were zero-emission in 2024

By / / Good news links

49% of all new E.U. city buses were zero-emission in 2024, making city buses one of the early success stories of the European Green Deal. This growth is due to the faster-than-expected uptake in fuel cell buses, making up 3% of new E.U. city buses in 2024. Battery-electric, however, remains by far the dominant powertrain, with a 46% share. This success is due to both the new European regulation last year sending a clear market signal that the days of diesel buses are numbered and city-level policies such as zero-emission zones and fleet targets.

High-speed train

Canada to build massive, fully electric, 185-mph inter-city rail network

By / / Good news links

Canada is set to begin work on a high-speed inter-city rail network – the largest infrastructure project in the country’s history. Spanning 621 miles, the fully electric new rail network will serve 18 million people – nearly half of Canada’s population – across the Toronto-Quebec City corridor. It’s expected to serve 13 times more passengers annually than the current service. Canada is expected to invest nearly $3 billion USD over the next six years to bring the project to light.

Industrial pipes and infrastructure at a coastal energy facility for an article about carbon capture and storage

France runs fusion reactor for record 22 minutes

By / / Good news links

Achieving the dream of commercial fusion power is the Holy Grail of engineering and has been for 80 years. With a single gram of hydrogen isotopes yielding the energy equivalent of 11 tonnes of coal, a practical fusion reactor would hold the promise of unlimited, clean energy for humanity until the end of time. France has upped the ante in the quest for fusion power by maintaining a plasma reaction for over 22 minutes – 25% longer than the previous record set by China in January 2025.