Against a backdrop of rising emissions and environmental anxiety, 2025 quietly delivered a series of meaningful breakthroughs for clean energy, forests, oceans, wildlife, and indigenous rights, offering cautious but real reasons for global hope.
The environmental story of 2025 has largely followed a familiar and troubling pattern. Global emissions continue to rise, ecosystems remain under pressure, and climate impacts are intensifying across continents. Yet beneath the dominant narrative of crisis, the year has also produced a set of quieter victories that point to what focused policy, science, and community leadership can achieve.
These developments did not arrive with fanfare. Many unfolded through technical decisions, long negotiations, or sustained local action rather than dramatic announcements. Together, however, they represent seven significant milestones for climate action and nature protection that deserve closer attention.
Renewable energy generation on the rise
One of the most significant shifts in 2025 has been the continued acceleration of renewable energy. For the first time, wind, solar, and other renewable sources overtook coal to become the world’s leading source of electricity generation.
China has been the central driver of this transformation. The country has rapidly expanded clean energy production while also becoming a major exporter of renewable energy technologies. Solar power capacity has grown at scale, and China has gone further by deploying hurricane-proof wind farms capable of withstanding extreme weather conditions, reflecting adaptation as well as mitigation.
Other countries are also making notable progress. In the United Kingdom, a 2025 energy review confirmed that wind power became the single largest source of electricity in the previous year, supplying around one-third of national demand. This effectively displaced coal as a primary energy source. The UK is also addressing one of clean energy’s biggest challenges, storage, with construction beginning on the world’s largest liquid gas battery storage facility in the north of the country. This project is designed to store surplus renewable energy when wind and sunlight are limited.
Globally, renewable energy capacity growth is accelerating rapidly. According to the International Energy Agency, renewable capacity is now expanding more than 80 percent faster across countries and is on track to double by 2030 compared to current levels. China accounts for a substantial portion of this increase.
As a result of its clean energy expansion, China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell for the first time in 2025. Analysis by Carbon Brief shows emissions declined in the 12 months leading to May 2025. A second Carbon Brief assessment suggests China’s emissions may have peaked earlier than expected, rather than continuing to rise through the end of the year.
China has also updated its emissions reduction pledge, even as many other countries have struggled to meet or strengthen their commitments ahead of UN climate talks. According to Ember, a global energy think tank, the growth of clean energy is now creating conditions for a global peak and eventual decline in fossil fuel use.
However, while clean energy growth is rapid, it is still not sufficient on its own to prevent dangerous climate change, highlighting the need for continued acceleration.
Protecting the ocean
The world’s oceans cover more than 70 percent of the planet, and the high seas, areas beyond national jurisdiction, account for roughly two-thirds of that total. Until recently, only about 1 percent of these waters were protected.
That situation is now changing. After decades of negotiations, a global treaty to protect the high seas was agreed in 2023 and ratified by enough countries to enter into force in September 2025. The treaty commits nations to designate 30 percent of high seas areas as marine protected areas.
These protected zones are intended to safeguard habitats, preserve marine biodiversity, and support healthy ocean ecosystems. The agreement marks one of the most significant advances in ocean governance in modern history.
Protection within national waters has also expanded. In 2025, the world’s largest marine protected area was established in Tainui Atea, French Polynesia. This vast conservation zone covers approximately 1,100,000 square kilometers of ocean and represents a major step in protecting marine life on a large scale.
Forest restoration
Forests took center stage in 2025 as Brazil hosted COP30, the first United Nations climate conference held in the Amazon rainforest. The summit, held in Belem in November, became known as the “forest COP,” reflecting its focus on deforestation, restoration, and forest finance.
Brazil announced plans for a roadmap aimed at ending deforestation by 2030. While the plan’s legal status remains uncertain and it is not formally embedded in the climate convention, more than 90 countries have expressed support.
The Brazilian government also launched the Tropical Forests Forever Facility, a funding platform designed to protect existing forest areas. The initiative seeks to make forest conservation more economically valuable than destruction by rewarding verified emissions reductions rather than simply preserving land area. The fund aims to raise $125 billion, although it has so far secured $6.7 billion.
Official Brazilian data shows deforestation in the Amazon fell by 11 percent in the 12 months to July 2025, reaching its lowest level in 11 years. The Cerrado ecosystem, another major biodiversity hotspot, also recorded a decline in deforestation. Independent monitoring by the NGO Imazon found deforestation in the Amazon was 43 percent lower in October 2025 compared to October 2024.
Globally, a 2025 United Nations report indicates that annual deforestation rates fell by 38 percent between 2015 and 2025 compared to levels recorded from 1990 to 2000. More than half of the world’s forests are now covered by long term management plans. Despite this progress, about 10.9 million hectares of forest, an area roughly the size of Nevada, are still cleared each year.
A landmark case
In a major legal development, the International Court of Justice issued a landmark ruling in 2025 that could reshape climate accountability. The decision opens the door for countries to sue other nations over climate related harm, particularly those most affected by climate impacts.
Although the ruling is not legally binding on domestic courts, experts say it will have far reaching influence on climate litigation worldwide. The judgment is expected to guide future legal arguments and strengthen the position of vulnerable countries seeking redress from major polluters.
Wild animals win
Several endangered species experienced notable recoveries in 2025. Green turtles, once pushed close to extinction due to poaching for eggs and shells, have rebounded following decades of conservation efforts. These initiatives included releasing hatchlings, protecting nesting sites, and reducing accidental capture in fishing nets.
As a result, green turtles were downgraded from endangered to least concern on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. Florida recorded a historic sea turtle nesting season, with more than 2,000 loggerhead turtle nesting sites documented.
India also reported major conservation success. The country is now home to approximately 75 percent of the world’s wild tiger population. Tiger numbers have doubled to more than 3,600 over just more than a decade. These animals occupy an area of 138,200 square kilometers and coexist with around 60 million people.
Conservation strategies focused on habitat protection, anti poaching enforcement, and reducing human tiger conflict have driven the recovery. Scientists say the effort demonstrates how biodiversity protection can also support local communities and economic stability.
Indigenous peoples’ development
In 2025, indigenous peoples achieved formal recognition as leaders in global conservation governance. During the final phase of the UN COP16 Biodiversity Conference in February, indigenous representatives were granted an official role in decision making through the creation of a permanent committee.
This move transformed indigenous participation from informal and symbolic involvement into an institutionalized role. The importance of ancestral knowledge was further highlighted at COP30 in Brazil, where indigenous groups formed the largest delegation in the conference’s history.
The summit resulted in new funding pledges and commitments to recognize indigenous land rights. In Brazil alone, ten new indigenous territories were established in 2025.
Despite these advances, concerns remain about implementation. During the conference, Survival International reported the violent killing of a Guarani Kiowa leader in southern Brazil, underscoring the continued risks faced by indigenous communities.
Klamath restoration
One year after the removal of four dams along California’s Klamath River, salmon have returned to ancestral spawning grounds that had been inaccessible for generations. The dams, which polluted the river for decades, were removed in 2024 following a tribal led campaign.
The ecological response has been swift. “Salmon are everywhere now,” Michael Harris, environmental manager for the Klamath Watershed Program for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told local media. “The speed at which they are coming back is remarkable.”
The restoration of the Klamath River stands as a powerful example of how indigenous leadership, environmental justice, and ecosystem recovery can align to produce rapid and tangible results.
Together, these seven developments show that while the global climate challenge remains immense, targeted action and sustained commitment can deliver meaningful progress, even in difficult times.
SOURCE :- BBC SINHALA
