Good Climate and Environment News of 2026

Updated October 1, 2026 · 12 min read

Environmental progress rarely makes a loud headline. It shows up as a line in an energy dataset, a satellite count of forest, a new boundary on a marine map, or a bird removed from an endangered list. Here are the most significant positive climate and nature developments of the year so far, grouped by theme.

First, the honest context. The climate crisis is serious and these wins do not erase it. The International Energy Agency found that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions still reached a record high of more than 38 billion tonnes in 2025, and many species and ecosystems are still in decline. What follows is not a claim that the problem is solved. It is evidence that the work being done is producing measurable results.

Every item below was checked against a primary or authoritative source, and every figure is quoted from that source. Where 2026 reports describe 2025 data, we say so. For good news on every subject, see our good news stories of 2026, and for fresh stories each day, see good news today.

Jump to a section:

• Clean energy
• Oceans
• Forests and land
• Wildlife and species recovery
• Cities, air, and pollution
• Policy and agreements

Clean energy

The clearest progress of the year is in electricity, where new data published in 2026 shows clean power now covering almost all of the world's growth in demand.

Renewables overtook coal as the world's largest source of electricity in 2025

Ember's annual global review, published in April 2026, found that renewables supplied 33.8% of the world's electricity in 2025, ahead of coal at 33.0%. Wind and solar alone met 99% of the growth in electricity demand, solar generation rose by 636 terawatt hours, and generation from fossil fuels fell by 0.2%.

Source: Carbon Brief, April 2026

The world added a record 692 gigawatts of renewable power in 2025

The International Renewable Energy Agency reported that global renewable capacity grew by 692 gigawatts in 2025, or 15.5%, the highest annual increase on record. About three quarters of it was solar, which added 511 gigawatts, followed by wind at 159 gigawatts. Renewables now make up 49.4% of all installed power capacity. The pace still needs to rise: IRENA's 1.5°C scenario calls for 11.17 terawatts of renewable capacity by 2030, more than double the 5.15 terawatts in place at the end of 2025.

Source: IRENA Renewable Capacity Highlights 2026, March 2026

Solar became the biggest source of growth in the world's energy use

The IEA's Global Energy Review found that growth in solar power met more than a quarter of the increase in global energy demand in 2025, the first time on record that a modern renewable source contributed the largest share. Global coal-fired electricity fell by around 0.5%, the first decrease since the Covid-driven drop in 2020.

Source: International Energy Agency, April 2026

Wind and solar generated more of the EU's electricity than fossil fuels for the first time

Ember's European Electricity Review found that wind and solar produced 30% of EU electricity in 2025, ahead of fossil fuels at 29%. Solar generation grew by 20.1% to a record 13% of EU power, and wind and solar together outproduced all fossil sources in 14 of the 27 EU countries.

Source: Ember, January 2026

China's carbon emissions have now been flat or falling for more than two years

An analysis for Carbon Brief by Lauri Myllyvirta of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air found that China's CO2 emissions fell by 1% in the second quarter of 2026, extending a plateau that followed a peak in March 2024. Oil use fell by 9%, partly because of the Strait of Hormuz supply crisis, but the analysis credits electric vehicles and public transport as the larger, structural cause. China is also on track to add enough wind, solar, nuclear, and hydropower this year to cover its growth in electricity demand.

Source: Carbon Brief, September 2026

Oceans

Large new protected areas were created in 2026, and one of the world's most endangered whales had its best breeding season in years.

French Polynesia added 520,000 square kilometers of fully protected ocean

French Polynesia announced full protection for new areas around the Austral, Marquesas, and Western Society islands. Once implemented, about 1.4 million square kilometers, or 30% of its waters, will be protected from extractive activities, strengthening what Pew describes as the world's largest network of fully protected marine areas within a single exclusive economic zone.

Source: Pew Bertarelli Ocean Legacy, June 2026

Norway created its largest marine protected area

On September 18, Norway's government protected Andfjorden, a 1,848.5 square kilometer stretch of sea off Andøy, Harstad, and Senja in the north of the country. It shelters coral reefs, coral and sponge forests, and kelp forests, including a single coral reef north of Steinavær that covers 6 square kilometers and stands 40 meters high.

Source: County Governor of Nordland, Norway (in Norwegian), September 2026

North Atlantic right whales had their most calves in nearly two decades

NOAA Fisheries counted 23 right whale calves in the 2026 calving season, the highest number since 2009. Twenty of the 23 mothers had calved before, and 13 of them had last given birth in 2021 or 2022, a shorter gap than the recent average of 7 to 10 years. The species is still endangered, and NOAA says it is "cautiously optimistic for the species."

Source: NOAA Fisheries, April 2026

Forests and land

Forest loss is still far too high, but 2026 brought the strongest signs in years that it can be turned around.

Tropical primary forest loss fell by 36% in 2025

Data from the World Resources Institute's Global Forest Watch, released in April 2026, showed tropical primary forest loss dropped 36% from 2024 to 4.3 million hectares in 2025. Loss not caused by fire fell 23% to its lowest level in a decade, and Brazil's primary forest loss fell 41%. Loss is still 46% higher than a decade ago, and the world remains far off track for the goal of halting deforestation by 2030.

Source: Mongabay, April 2026

Amazon deforestation alerts fell to their lowest level since 2013

Brazil's space research institute, INPE, recorded 2,874 square kilometers of deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon between August 2025 and July 2026, down 36% from the previous 12 months and 55.6% below the average of the preceding decade. Official annual figures from Brazil's more detailed PRODES system are due later in the year.

Source: Mongabay, August 2026

Mangrove forests are growing again worldwide

A study in the journal Science, led by researchers at Tulane University and based on four decades of satellite data, found that mangroves are no longer in net decline. Nearly 2,900 square kilometers were lost from the 1980s to 2010, but gains have outpaced losses over the past 16 years, leaving only about a 1% net decline across the whole period.

Source: Tulane University, June 2026

Wildlife and species recovery

Species recoveries take decades of patient work, which makes each of these worth noticing. There are more stories like them on our good news about animals page.

The wood stork recovered and was removed from the US endangered species list

The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced the delisting of the wood stork, which became final on March 9. When it was listed in 1984, its population had fallen by more than 75% since the 1930s. There are now an estimated 10,000 to 14,000 nesting pairs in about 100 colonies, and the agency will monitor the species for 10 years.

Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, February 2026

A rare wetland plant, the northeastern bulrush, was delisted after recovering

When the northeastern bulrush was listed as endangered in 1991, there were only 13 known populations in six states. The US Fish and Wildlife Service now counts 148 known populations in eight states, a more than elevenfold increase, and has removed it from the federal list.

Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service, June 2026

The numbat is no longer classed as endangered

The IUCN Red List moved Western Australia's numbat from Endangered to Near Threatened. Its population fell to about 300 animals by the late 1970s and has recovered to between 2,000 and 3,000, thanks to predator control, fencing, captive breeding at Perth Zoo, and five new self-sustaining populations. It still occupies only 0.04% of its original range.

Source: IUCN, July 2026

Przewalski's horses returned to the Kazakh steppe for a second year

Five Przewalski's horses, one stallion and four mares from Switzerland and Hungary, were released into the Altyn Dala region of central Kazakhstan on May 25 after twelve months of acclimatization. The species disappeared from this landscape about 200 years ago, and the goal is 40 to 45 wild horses in the Turgai steppes by 2029.

Source: Frankfurt Zoological Society, May 2026

New Zealand's kākāpō population passed 300 after a record breeding season

Ninety kākāpō chicks reached the 150-day independence milestone, lifting the population of this critically endangered flightless parrot from 235 to 325. It was the largest breeding season on record, with 258 eggs laid and 106 chicks hatched. In the early days of the recovery programme, it took about 16 years to raise 90 chicks.

Source: RNZ, September 2026

Cities, air, and pollution

Air quality is one of the places where environmental policy pays off fastest, and the ozone layer remains the best proof that global cooperation works.

The ozone hole was among the smallest in decades

The World Meteorological Organization's 2026 bulletin found that the 2025 Antarctic ozone hole ranked as the fourth to fifth smallest since 1992, and it was the second consecutive year that both its depth and extent were significantly below the 1990 to 2010 average. WMO credits the Montreal Protocol and expects full recovery of the ozone layer within several decades.

Source: World Meteorological Organization, September 2026

Nineteen major cities cut air pollution by 20% or more

A report from Breathe Cities, an initiative of Bloomberg Philanthropies, C40 Cities, and the Clean Air Fund, identified 19 cities in nine countries that reduced both fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide by between 20% and 45% from 2010 to 2024. They include Beijing, London, Paris, Warsaw, and San Francisco, and the common thread was coordinated action on transport and energy.

Source: Breathe Cities, March 2026

China's air and water kept getting cleaner

China's government reported that average PM2.5 concentrations fell 4.4% in 2025 to 28 micrograms per cubic meter, and the share of days with good air quality rose to 89.3%. The share of surface water rated good quality reached 91.4%. Average levels are still well above the World Health Organization's guideline, so there is further to go.

Source: The State Council of the People's Republic of China, January 2026

Policy and agreements

These are binding international treaties and measurable commitments, not pledges or political promises.

The High Seas Treaty came into force

The UN agreement to protect marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction became legally binding on January 17. Those international waters cover nearly two thirds of the ocean, and the treaty provides a shared legal framework for creating marine protected areas on the high seas and assessing the environmental impact of activities there.

Source: Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, January 2026

The EU wrote a 90% emissions cut by 2040 into law

The European Union adopted an amendment to its Climate Law setting a legally binding target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 compared with 1990. At least 85% must come from reductions within the EU, with up to 5% from international carbon credits.

Source: European Commission, March 2026

The UN migratory species treaty added protection for 40 species and populations

At the Convention on Migratory Species conference in Campo Grande, Brazil, in March, governments agreed new or stronger protection for 40 species and populations, including 26 seabirds, three shorebirds, and four shark species. They also agreed a ban on retaining Appendix I species, the most endangered on the treaty's lists, when they are caught as bycatch. The need is real: 49% of the migratory species the treaty covers are declining.

Source: Mongabay, April 2026

What this progress does and does not mean

None of these stories means the climate crisis is over. Global emissions are still rising slowly, forest loss is still well above the levels needed to meet 2030 goals, and nearly half of the migratory species covered by the UN treaty are in decline. What the evidence does show is that clean energy is now growing fast enough to meet most new demand, that protection and restoration work when they are funded and enforced, and that species pulled back from the edge can recover. For the longer view, see our look at whether the world is getting better.

How we chose these stories

We looked for developments that are measurable and significant: energy data from Ember, the IEA, and IRENA, satellite records of forests, official species status changes, protected area designations, and international agreements with binding or measurable terms. Each item had to happen, or be reported, between January 1 and September 30, 2026, and each figure is taken from the linked source. We left out partisan political claims and announcements without a measurable target. This page is updated as the year goes on, and you can find the week's highlights on this week's good news.

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