Nature's comebacks & green victories
🦢 Conservation
🔥 NEW TODAY
Once on the brink of extinction, the wood stork breeding population has more than doubled since 1984. Now estimated at 10,000-14,000 nesting pairs, it's officially off the endangered list. 🌍
Read Full Story →
🌳 Environment
🔥 NEW TODAY
From 25% forest cover to over 50%. Costa Rica pioneered paying landowners for ecosystem services — proving that economic incentives and conservation can coexist. A model for the world. 🌍
Read Full Story →
🌱 Environment
🍅 NEW
An ancient technique that uses no irrigation is making a comeback as droughts intensify. The twist? Plants that work harder produce more intense, concentrated flavours. European winemakers have known this for centuries.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
⚡ LANDMARK
The European Union just made it illegal for companies to destroy unsold textiles and footwear. With 92 million tonnes ending up in landfills every year, this landmark regulation forces fashion brands to resell, donate, or reuse.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Conservation
⚡ WORLD FIRST
For the first time ever, lion DNA has been used to convict poachers. Two men in Zimbabwe received 24-month prison sentences after forensic evidence matched lion claws and teeth to a specific animal from Hwange National Park's DNA database. The breakthrough sends a powerful message: science is fighting back against wildlife crime. "A message of hope," says one expert. 🧬⚖️
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🌳 CLIMATE WIN
A NASA and Caltech study confirms that China's 40-year effort to plant a "Green Great Wall" around the Taklamakan Desert is working. After planting 66 billion trees since 1978, the project has turned the desert's edge into a carbon sink, actively lowering local CO2 levels from 416 ppm to 413 ppm (below the global average). It's the first proof that human intervention can turn even the harshest deserts into climate allies. 🌍💚
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🦅 Wildlife
💚 CONSERVATION WIN
In 2014, Sardinia's griffon vulture population had collapsed to just 60 individuals—on the edge of extinction. Today, the island is home to over 500 birds, marking one of Italy's greatest conservation success stories. The "Life Safe for Vultures" project created safe feeding stations, made power lines bird-safe, worked with hunters to use lead-free ammunition, and released young vultures from Spain. Results: 21% population increase in one year, 120 territorial breeding pairs (up 14.3%), fledged young up 15.5%. The goal: extend the vultures' range across the entire island. When humans commit to protecting wildlife, remarkable recoveries are possible. 🦅💚
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
⚡ Renewable Energy
🔥 BREAKTHROUGH
Scientists created a game-changing molecule that captures sunlight, stores the energy in chemical bonds for up to 3 YEARS, and releases it as heat on demand—powerful enough to boil water in half a second. The pyrimidone-based compound stores 1.65 MJ/kg (more than lithium batteries!) and works in water, making it perfect for building heating. "We can recycle the molecule as fuel instead of burning it," says UC Santa Barbara's Dr. Grace Han. Charge it with light, trigger heat release with acid or warmth, reuse indefinitely—no emissions, no waste. Inspired by DNA damage chemistry, the breakthrough (published in Science) could revolutionize how we store and use solar energy. Half of global energy goes to heating—this tackles that challenge. Simple to make, stable for years, and recyclable: the holy grail of solar thermal storage. From summer sun to winter warmth—stored in molecules. 🌞💧
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
⚡ Energy
🔥 99% RENEWABLES
Government data confirms America's energy revolution: 99.2% of all new electrical generating capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind, and batteries. Solar grew 28% year-over-year, battery storage exploded 49%, and renewables now provide 25.7% of total US electricity—while coal capacity plummeted 4,141 megawatts. Wind and solar combined now generate more electricity than coal AND nuclear power. The EIA projects another 69,579 megawatts of renewables + storage will be added this year. "Unstoppable growth," says industry expert. The future of American energy is renewable—and it's arriving NOW. 🌱
Read Full Story →
🌊 Environment
🔥 TODAY
Five years into a historic 10-year fishing ban, the Yangtze River is teeming with life again. Fish populations surge, endangered finless porpoises rebound, and one of the world's boldest conservation experiments proves successful. From 230,000 relocated fishermen to ecosystem-wide revival, this is proof that when we protect nature, nature heals. A blueprint for degraded river systems worldwide. 🌊
Read Full Story →🇮🇳 INDIA JUST DID SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY 36.6 GIGAWATTS of solar in ONE YEAR. That's 43% more than 2024. 18 MILLION homes worth of clean energy. And renewables are now 75% of ALL new power capacity
Read More →
🌊 Environment
🔥 RECORD
In 2025, The Ocean Cleanup pulled 55 million pounds of plastic from global waters—2,000 garbage trucks' worth. Their cumulative haul: 45 million kilos since operations began. The breakthrough? River interceptors now stop plastic at the source, targeting the 1,000 rivers responsible for 80% of ocean pollution. Their mission: 90% removal by 2040. With the 30 Cities Program launched at the UN Ocean Conference, they're tackling urban rivers responsible for a third of ocean-bound waste. The tide is turning. 🚀
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
⚡ Energy
🔥 HISTORIC
In one year, China installed 434 GIGAWATTS of renewable energy—more than any nation has EVER built. That's 315 GW solar + 119 GW wind. Two wind turbines every hour. Solar panels covering 20 football fields per hour. ALL YEAR LONG. The result? Coal consumption fell 1.6% while the economy grew—the FIRST TIME this has happened. China accounts for 90% of global emissions growth since Paris. This watershed moment could mark the peak of global emissions. 🌱
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🐟 NATURE WIN
After 70 years of decline, the Yangtze River is bouncing back. Fish biomass has doubled, biodiversity up 13%, endangered porpoises increasing. One biologist calls it "the most positive freshwater conservation story in 20 years." China's $3B investment in a 10-year fishing ban, alternative jobs for 200,000 fishers, and evolutionary game theory design is working. Proof that even heavily damaged ecosystems can heal with the right approach.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🔬 Science
⚡ BREAKING
Wind becomes Spain's #1 energy source as renewables hit 55.5% in 2025 and continue dominance into 2026. Wind power alone supplied 31.9% of January's electricity, with production increasing 7% year-over-year—proving clean energy works even when demand peaks. Spain generated a record 150.8 terawatt-hours of renewable energy in 2025 while electricity demand increased 2.7%. The renewable transition isn't coming—it's already here. 🌱
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🔬 Science
⚡ TIPPING POINT
For the first time in history, wind and solar generated more EU electricity than coal, oil, and gas combined—30% vs 29%. Experts call it a "structural tipping point" where renewables become the foundation, not the alternative. Portugal hit 80.7% renewables, Norway reached 97%. 10 countries signed the Hamburg Declaration pledging 100GW offshore wind by 2050 (enough for 143 million homes). The future arrived quietly in 2025.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
💊 Health
🚫 POLICY WIN
After 140,000 citizens demanded action, France implemented a comprehensive ban on PFAS "forever chemicals" in cosmetics, clothing, and more. The law prohibits PFAS where safer alternatives exist, mandates expanded water testing, and holds polluters accountable. PFAS never break down—they've been found in 98% of Americans tested, Antarctic penguins, and Everest snow. France's law could become a model for global health protection.
Read Full Story →
🔬 Science
🌍 Environment
🔥 BREAKTHROUGH
UC Berkeley scientists from Nobel Prize winner Omar Yaghi's lab have created COF-1000, a revolutionary material that captures CO₂ from outdoor air faster than any technology ever developed. Published in Nature Sustainability, the breakthrough shows the "molecular sponge" reaching 80% capacity in just 20 minutes and completing full capture-release cycles in 90 minutes—capturing its own weight in carbon DAILY. This isn't theory—it's Nobel-winning chemistry offering real hope for practical climate solutions.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🌳 FRESH
In one of the most ambitious environmental engineering projects ever attempted, China has successfully transformed the periphery of the Taklamakan Desert—a "biological void" larger than Montana—into a thriving carbon sink. The Great Green Wall project planted 66 billion trees, creating vegetation that now absorbs more CO₂ than the desert releases. Scientists confirm this is the world's first desert-to-carbon-sink transformation—proving even the harshest landscapes can be healed.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🏆 MILESTONE
After 38 years of community-led conservation, Rainforest Trust has protected an area the size of the United Kingdom—60 million acres of critical rainforest habitat across Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. The milestone came with the establishment of new Community Forest Concessions in the Congo Basin, safeguarding endangered Grauer's Gorillas and African Forest Elephants while empowering local communities. Proof that patient, partnership-based conservation works.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
⚡ BREAKING
While China built its economy on coal, India is leapfrogging straight to solar and EVs. The world's third-biggest polluter is charting a faster path to clean energy—generating more solar, burning far less fossil fuel, and electrifying transport at record speed. Nearly 60% of India's three-wheelers are now electric. Economics, not activism, is driving the revolution that could reshape the global climate fight.
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
🌊 RECORD YEAR
In a record-breaking year, The Ocean Cleanup pulled over 55 million pounds of plastic from global waters in 2025 alone. That's 2,000 garbage trucks' worth. With innovative river interceptors stopping plastic before it reaches the ocean, and a new 30 Cities Program targeting the worst-polluting rivers, they're on track to remove 90% of ocean plastic by 2040. Hope floats.
Read More →
🌍 Conservation
⚡ BREAKING
After 45 years of absence, the green and golden bell frog is making a stunning comeback in Australia's capital territory. Scientists created "frog saunas" (warm shelters that kill deadly fungus) and "frog spas" (saline ponds). Over 300 captive-bred frogs released, 180 saunas installed, 8,000 eggs per female expected. It's extinction reversed through conservation innovation. 🐸💚
Read Full Story →
🌍 Environment
NEW
Major environmental victories: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and 6 others commit to 100GW of offshore wind power by 2050 (enough for 143 million homes). Dr. Toby Kiers wins the Tyler Prize for groundbreaking work on mycorrhizal fungi—nature's hidden carbon capture champions. Plus: Solar and wind now generate more EU electricity than fossil fuels!
Read More →
🌱 Environment
Africa is lighting up like never before. Solar installations across the continent surged by a stunning 54% in 2025, marking the sharpest acceleration in the continent's solar history, according to the
Read More →
🌍 Environment
Natural England chair Tony Juniper declares "enthusiastic" support for bringing back the Eurasian lynx, extinct for over a millennium. The return could restore balance to woodlands and control overabundant deer populations.
Read More →
🌍 Environment
Africa achieved its fastest year of solar growth ever in 2025, with installations soaring 54%. Clean energy is bringing power, opportunity, and resilience to communities across the continent.
Read More →
⚡ Energy
Finland is harnessing sand to decarbonize industrial heat — one of the largest and hardest-to-solve sources of carbon emissions (20% of global energy use). The simple solution: heat sand with renewables, store thermal energy, and deliver it on demand to factories.
Read More →
🌍 Environment
The historic agreement is now active, opening the door to conserving vast areas of international waters and protecting marine life.
Read More →
🌍 Environment
Euronews highlights breakthrough discoveries in carbon capture using fungi and new regulations tackling harmful forever chemicals.
Read More →
🌍 Environment
Positive News reports on a new national park, health records, and the mission to unlock a cancer mystery in their weekly good news roundup.
Read More →
🌍 Environment
The United Nations University highlights the key environmental developments and hopeful trends to watch this year.
Read More →