Happy Friday!

Here are today’s stories of progress in the fight against the climate crisis and nature loss.

🇨🇳 China’s CO2 emissions have stayed flat

New analysis shows that emissions from China – currently the world’s biggest polluter – have been flat or falling for the last 18 months. The success of electric vehicles, major investments in technologies like solar panels, and declines in cement and steel production have all been contributing factors. The country added a huge 240GW and 61GW of wind and solar power respectively in the first nine months of the year.

🐒 When tourism helps bring back wildlife

A push to conserve the unique biodiversity surrounding Vietnam’s caves through sustainable tourism has seen a rebound in local wildlife. With an increase in tourists visiting to explore the vast cave system, hunters and loggers have found new jobs as tour guides or in the restaurants and hotels that have popped up. As a result, species such as pangolins and monkeys that were being hunted are once again flourishing. 

👨‍🌾 How to spark a composting revolution

Besançon in France is a model for how to make composting popular and easy for residents. As well as bins for households, it has convenient drop-off points around the city where people can deposit their scraps, which are taken to a farm and turned into a natural fertiliser for new crops. The city also requires residents to pay a fee based on the weight of their trash, encouraging them to think twice before throwing away. Thanks to these and other efforts, the city cut waste by 42% between 2008 and 2024. 

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