This year's environmental context is familiar: emissions are increasing and nature continues to decline. But even so, there have been positive moments in 2025.

Targeted action on clean energy, conservation, and Indigenous rights has led to tangible positive results for the climate and nature.

These quiet advances sometimes go unnoticed, so here's a look back at 6 milestones achieved this year.

1. Rise of Renewables

Wind, solar, and other renewable sources overtook coal as the world's leading source of electricity this year.

Global growth in renewables is being driven by China, which is massively expanding its clean energy production and dominating exports of clean energy technologies.

In addition to the huge growth in solar power, China is even harnessing the energy of extreme storms with typhoon-resistant wind farms.

Other countries have also seen remarkable progress thanks to wind.

In the UK, a 2025 review concluded that wind had become the largest single energy source the previous year, covering approximately one-third of demand, while coal has virtually disappeared as an energy source.

The UK is also making progress in how to store clean energy when the wind isn't blowing (or when the sun isn't shining) by starting construction on the world's largest liquid-air battery storage facility in the north of the country.

Globally, the growth rate of renewable energy capacity is accelerating in more than 80% of countries.

By 2030, total renewable energy capacity is on track to double compared to current levels, according to the International Energy Agency.

Much of that growth is due to China. As a result of its push for clean energy, China saw its CO? emissions fall this year for the first time, according to an analysis for Carbon Brief,with a decline in the 12 months leading up to May 2025.

Although it is still early, it indicates that the country's emissions may be peaking, and the trend appears likely to continue through the latter part of the year, according to a second analysis by Carbon Brief.

China also updated its commitment to reducing emissions, although many other countries did not submit their updated commitments ahead of the UN climate negotiations.

Overall, the global clean energy boom is creating the conditions for a global peak and fall in energy-related fossil fuel use, according to a report by global energy think tank Ember.

While clean energy growth is rapid and accelerating, it is not fast enough to avert dangerous levels of climate change.

2. Ocean Protections

Nearly two-thirds of the world's oceans are waters outside national jurisdiction.

Currently, only 1% of this vast area is protected, but that is about to change.

After decades of negotiations, a global agreement to protect the seas was reached in 2023 and finally ratified by enough countries in September 2025 to enter into force.

This High Seas Treaty commits to allocating 30% of these waters to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): parts of the ocean dedicated to the protection of healthy marine habitats, species, and ecosystems.

Oceans in national waters have also received additional protections.

This year, the world's largest MPA was established in Tainui Atea, French Polynesia: the MPA will aim to protect 1,100,000 km² of ocean.

3. Forest Recovery

This year, Brazil hosted COP30, the first UN global climate conference to take place in the Amazon rainforest, making forests a key platform.

The November negotiations in Belem, Brazil, were dubbed the “COP of the Forest.”

Although Brazil didn't quite live up to the name, the country did announce plans for a “roadmap” to implement a previous commitment to end deforestation by 2030.

It was supported by more than 90 countries, although it exists outside the formal summit text and its legal status remains uncertain.

Brazil also established a financing platform to protect existing forest areas called Permanent Tropical Forest Facility (TFFF).

Its aim is to ensure that maintaining tropical forests is valued more than destroying them, with financial rewards for those who have taken successful and verified steps to keep their forests in good condition.

operation.

It's a different approach to many other forest funds, which tend to reward emissions reductions rather than maintained forest areas. Its target is US$125 billion, although pledges to the fund so far have reached only US$6.7 billion.

Official data from Brazil shows that deforestation in its part of the Amazon fell by 11% in the 12 months leading up to July 2025, to the lowest rate in 11 years.

Deforestation also declined in its delicate Cerrado ecosystem, another biodiversity hotspot.

Similarly, the independent NGO Imazon found that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon was 43% lower in October 2025 than in October 2024. Globally, annual deforestation rates were 38% lower in the period 2015-2025 compared to 1990-2000, according to a 2025 UN report, with more than half of the forests now covered by long-term management plans. Some 10.9 million hectares (26.9 million acres) are still being cleared globally each year, it said. 4. A landmark legal case

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), considered the world's highest court, issued a landmark ruling this year, paving the way for countries to sue each other over climate change.

This move could help nations severely affected by climate change to take legal action against polluting countries.

The ruling is not binding on the court itself or on national courts, but experts say the ICJ's findings carry significant weight and could considerably influence how climate cases are handled elsewhere.

5. Victories for Wildlife

Several endangered species experienced a remarkable comeback this year.

Once hunted for their eggs and decorative shells, green sea turtles have been rescued from the brink of extinction.

Their populations rebounded thanks to decades of conservation efforts, from releasing hatchlings on beaches to reducing bycatch in fishing nets.

This year, the species was reclassified from “endangered” to “least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.

Florida, meanwhile, saw a record-breaking sea turtle nesting season, with more than 2,000 leatherback turtle nests.

Meanwhile, India is now home to 75% of the world’s tigers, having doubled its tiger population to more than 3,600 in just over a decade.

6.Indigenous Developments

This year, Indigenous peoples were formally recognized at the UN level as leaders in protecting and managing the planet.

The final part of the UN COP16 biodiversity summit, held in February, saw Indigenous peoples gain an official voice in global conservation decision-making.

The agreement on a new standing committee enshrined this right, replacing the informal and symbolic status of Indigenous peoples in discussions with something lasting and formal.

Emphasis was placed on the importance of ancestral knowledge, which was taken to the COP30 climate conference in Brazil. There, Indigenous voices were represented by their largest delegation in COP history.

Victories during the climate summit included the adoption of new funding commitments and the recognition of Indigenous territorial rights.

Ten new indigenous territories were created in Brazil alone.

But concerns remain that the promises will not translate into real change and that threats to many indigenous communities continue.

During the conference, Survival International reported the violent death of a Guarani Kaiowa leader in southern Brazil.