2025's Climate Justice Wins

This edition is available to all. Happy Holidays! Subscribe for just $35 a year — a discount of the usual $50 ahead of the new year.

LISTENING: to my nonstop sniffles
FEELING: stuffy :( but joyful
SEEING: all the presents I need to wrap pile up

2025 has been one of the roughest years in a long while. And that's saying a lot coming from me, someone who is regularly going through it. This year, however, was perhaps the first since my teenage years when I felt the darkness of depression sweeping over me. It's the first time in a long time that I reverted to unhealthy coping mechanisms and shut down.

President Donald Trump 2.0 and his all-out attack on immigrant families like mine will do that to a person. Witnessing apartheid up close on the streets of the West Bank will do that to a person. Confronting the hardships of climate calamity will do that to a person.

Despite these pains and struggles, 2025 has also brought me moments of newfound faith. For one, my partner and I got engaged last week after nearly eight years devoted to one another. My brother and his partner announced they'll be having their first child: a serious source of excitement for my family. A cousin welcomed his own little bundle of joy this year. Nothing makes me happier than the babies in my life.

Beyond the personal, the climate world has seen reversals and losses left and right. I don't need to list out every which way this year reminded us how far we have left to go. If you're reading this, you know. It's been a hard year for those of us committed to securing a planet for future generations. Without a doubt. There's no sugarcoating the urgency of this moment.

That being said, there's no way to continue doing this work without also recognizing the strides communities have made. Yes, people have experienced loss and hardship this year — from Los Angeles to Jamaica. However, people have also experienced victories. As I do every year, I'm here to remind you all of those. We need those reminders to carry forward — to march on in a seemingly never-ending fight for justice.

There are more wins than I expected. Enjoy and be merry, friends. 🌀

(Here are the last few years if you're interested: 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.)

Renewables Surge Globally

The journal Science has named renewables this year's breakthrough. The energy sector may seem dark in the U.S., but other countries are showing real leadership in reducing energy emissions. 2025 marked a new chapter for solar and wind energy, especially in China. Finally, renewables are eclipsing fossil fuels. In Europe, South Asia, and the Global South, small-scale rooftop solar is surging, leaving regions like the U.S. behind. Coal, oil, and gas are relics of the past. I'm so glad the rest of the world isn't succumbing to Trump's delusions about polluting energy sources.

Climate Candidates Won Local Elections

I am shamelessly a Zohran Mamdani fan over here. His mayoral win was one of many to show the country that climate candidates can still win — yes, even in Trump's America. In Georgia, the Public Service Commission added two Democrats to the mix who have promised to keep energy bills clean and cheap. We saw similar wins in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, San Diego, California, and Arizona. Local politics matter!

NYC's Congestion Pricing Works

The wails of New Yorkers who were mad about the city's congestion pricing program were heard around the world! Well, I'm sorry to say that they were wrong, and environmentalists were right. New research out from Cornell University found that air pollution from particulate matter — nasty little specks that can lodge themselves in people's lungs and even make their way to the heart — dropped by 22 percent in the city's Congestion Relief Zone during its first six months.

This drop is higher than what other cities like London and Stockholm have seen with their own types of congestion pricing programs. Yay, New York!

No Dirty Extraction in the Colombian Amazon

At this year's climate negotiations, known as COP30, the Colombian government announced it would end all oil and mining projects in its portion of the Amazon rainforest. This will put a pause on 43 sections of oil reserves in the Colombian Amazon, as well as 286 mining requests. Next door, Peru and Brazil aren't yet doing the same, but this is a start for the planet's vital ecosystem.

New Indigenous Territories in Brazil

Brazil did do one thing this year: At COP30, it announced the creation of 10 new Indigenous territories. This is an imperfect achievement. These areas are supposed to be protected, especially from outside private players, but the reality is a lot more nuanced because those protections need to be enforced. The Brazilian government doesn't have the best track record on enforcement. Still, this is an important effort to recognize on behalf of the Indigenous and quilombola (Afro-descendant) communities that have been fighting for their recognition.

Dirty Data Centers Take a Hit

I'm so bored by all the attention on artificial intelligence. AI is lame as hell, and I'm so glad to see communities rising up to defend their water resources from tech companies hoping to build nearby data centers to power their AI-fueled wet dreams. In Pennsylvania, one town voted against a proposed data center. In New York, the Tonawanda Seneca Nation and Sierra Club have been rallying against another proposed project. Through the courts, they temporarily stopped one — but another even larger one has sprung up in its wake.

Meanwhile, a coalition of some 230 groups (including leading environmental and climate groups) has called for a moratorium on data centers altogether.

World's Highest Court Defends the Most Vulnerable

This year, the International Court of Justice ruled that countries have a legal obligation to address climate change. That's no little thing. Judges across the globe can turn to that ruling to help them in the climate cases that come to their courtrooms. It also provides some teeth to arguments folks are building against the fossil fuel industry or their governments, which are failing to pass sufficient climate policy. Plus, this case before the ICJ was launched by island nations that are some of the world's most vulnerable to climate change. Hell yeah!

Iowa Courts Remain Strong

Speaking of lawsuits, the fossil fuel sector isn't the only one out here getting hit with lawsuits. In Iowa, chemical companies supplying the agricultural sector with pesticides are, too. And for good reason: Farmers are facing increasing rates of cancer, and they blame these toxic companies.

Well, this year, the industry convinced lawmakers to introduce a bill that would absolve these companies of any responsibility. The people stood up and demanded that lawmakers not pass the policy — and won. This isn't their first time dealing with such a bill, so it surely won't be their last.

UK Cancels Financing of Dirty Gas in Mozambique

Mozambique has been trying to build a major natural gas project for years. It's hit some obstacles, but the latest is the U.K. government's withdrawal of some $1.15 billion in funding. Let's not forget where those dollars come from: taxpayers! Organizers at Oil Change International say that this is the first time the U.K. government has reversed its commitment to finance an overseas project. The Dutch government followed suit, totalling a $2.2 billion loss for the fossil fuel project.

Thanks to those who contributed their insight: Caz Watson of Black Earth Podcast, Adam McGibbon of Oil Change International, Mark Schlosberg of Food & Water Watch, Sarah Lane of the Jane Fonda Climate PAC, and Ryan Madden of NY Renews.

Rest in Power

While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.

In Gaza, strong winds and low temperatures have killed at least two children and three adults.

A storm and subsequent floods in Morocco earlier this week left at least 37 people dead.

The devastating floods in Washington killed at least one person who was submerged in his car.

Currently Reading

I've been under the weather and haven't read much besides Richard Powers' latest work of fiction!!! Sorry!!!

Poetry

TO BE IN LOVE
to be sweet in love,
oh, how love makes my heart sing
love saves broken souls

-ylf-

See you next week. xx

- Yessenia