Sustainability

This archive collects 524 stories about sustainability milestones — from renewable energy gains and regenerative agriculture to plastic reduction and corporate accountability. Each piece focuses on what’s working, who’s driving it, and how far it’s come. If you follow environmental and economic progress, this is a reliable place to track it.

Aerial view of a Hawaiian coral reef and turquoise coastline for an article about Hawaii climate resilience fee

Hawaii becomes first U.S. state to charge tourist ‘Green Fee’ to fund climate resilience

By / / Good news links

Act 96 will raise the state’s current transient accommodations tax by 0.75% for a total of 11% placed upon the nightly lodging rate, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The fee will apply to travelers staying in hotels, short-term vacation rentals, and for the first time ever, cruise ships. Tourist taxes are quickly emerging worldwide as more destinations face the impacts of over-tourism and climate change. Last year, Greece, Bali, and the Galápagos Islands all implemented or raised their fees on travelers to contribute to sustainability programs.

Industrial turbine machinery in a modern power facility for an article about supercritical CO2 power generation — 13 words.

China connects the world’s first commercial supercritical CO2 power generator to the grid

By / / Good News For Humankind

Supercritical CO2 power generation has reached a historic milestone as China’s Harbin Electric Corporation becomes the first in the world to operate a commercial-scale turbine using supercritical carbon dioxide — and connect it to a live national grid. The technology replaces conventional steam with pressurized CO2, achieving thermal efficiencies above 50% compared to roughly 40% for the best modern steam plants. Beyond efficiency, the turbines are dramatically more compact and work across multiple energy sources, including solar, nuclear, and industrial waste heat. China’s success gives the global engineering community proof that this long-pursued technology can actually work at scale, likely accelerating development timelines worldwide.

Aerial view of a Hawaiian coral reef and turquoise coastline for an article about Hawaii climate resilience fee

Hawaii becomes the first U.S. state to charge visitors a climate resilience fee

By / / Good News For Humankind

Hawaii’s climate resilience fee, signed into law in May 2025, makes the state the first in the U.S. to require visitors to pay a dedicated charge funding environmental protection. Governor Josh Green’s signing of Senate Bill 1396 creates a roughly 5-per-trip levy directed toward coral reef restoration, coastal defense, and sea-level rise adaptation. With around 10 million annual visitors, the fund could generate hundreds of millions of dollars each year. The move positions Hawaii as a potential national model for making tourism directly accountable for the ecological costs it creates.

Cryo sauna for whole body cryotherapy

Cryo-cooling breakthrough slashes the energy cost of serious cold by 71%

By / / Good news links

Cryogenic cooling is used to preserve tissues, eggs, sperm, and embryos and CAT scanners, CERN’s massive particle accelerators, and the James Webb Space Telescope possible. It may also one day be the key to making fusion power or quantum computers a reality. However, it is also quite energy-intensive. Fortunately, researchers at the U.S.’s National Institute of Standards & Technology have recently discovered a way to reach near-absolute zero up to 3.5 times faster or using about 71% less energy.

Wooden satellite

Japanese scientists build world’s first wooden satellite

By / / Good news links

The satellite dubbed LignoSat, a collaboration between Kyoto University and the company Sumitomo Forestry, is reportedly slated for launch in September onboard a SpaceX rocket. If successful, the tiny device — just four inches on each side — could represent a major breakthrough in space sustainability efforts. The idea is that it’ll burn up entirely upon reentry, vastly reducing its environmental impact compared to traditional metal spacecraft.