Here’s today’s stories of progress in the fight against climate change.

🔋 CO2-breathing batteries could be on the way

Researchers are investigating the possibility of creating batteries that store energy while absorbing carbon dioxide. As well as driving down the levels of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, these batteries could be leveraged for missions to Mars, where the atmosphere is 95% CO2. The challenge scientists currently face is drawing out their lifespan, as the batteries currently last less than 100 charging cycles, and only in ideal (not real-world) settings.

🇺🇸 The states making fossil fuel companies cough up 

Vermont and New York were the first states to pass climate Superfund laws requiring fossil fuel giants to pay damages for climate-related disasters like floods and fires. What they owe is calculated according to their historic emissions, with new technology even allowing scientists to trace extreme weather events to specific oil and gas companies. Eleven more states have now introduced similar bills, such as Maryland, which has paid over $10bn for recovery from climate disasters since 1980. And, rather than discouraging them, federal opposition to climate action is only spurring on the activists and advocates who are pushing for these laws. 

 🐦‍⬛ Saving birds from skyscraper collisions

For birds, glass buildings that are lit up at night can be a death trap – the reflections disguise the building’s solidity and confuse them, resulting in fatal collisions. Around one billion birds die this way every year in the US. But some skyscrapers are now switching to bird-safe glass, with patterns that alert the birds to the building's presence. Plus, some campaigns are pushing the deadliest buildings to dim their lights during migration season, which has the added benefit of cutting out the light pollution that threatens our view of the stars.

The Green Light is written by freelance climate writer Molly Millar.