44 Positive Environmental Success Stories — September 2025
The media has an important role to play in combatting climate doom. Therefore, this monthly news round up of positive environmental and climate change news, is designed to spark joy and show that progress is being made. We pick two positive headlines a day, ranging from renewable energy and preservation to eco-innovation, and arrange the articles according to their publication date. We also include some dates related to nature and wildlife for your calendar.
Environmental and Animal Awareness Days In The Next Month
Second Hand September – (1st — 30th September) An Oxfam-led initiative encouraging people to limit their purchases to used goods for 30 days in September.
Zero Waste Week – (1st — 5th September) A week dedicated to reducing the waste we create from a personal level all the way up to businesses.
World Clean Up Day – (20th September) A day that unites millions of volunteers, governments, and organizations in 191 countries to address the global waste issue.
Positive News Round up — Monday, 1st September
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has approved development consent for a 1.5GW offshore windfarm that will be in the Irish Sea. (Edie)
A recently discovered species from the Indian state of Uttarakhand was confirmed by researchers examining the diversity of bats in the Western Himalayas.(Mongabay)
Positive News Round up — Tuesday, 2nd September
The UK government has expanded the Electric Car Grant (ECG), which offers drivers up to £3,750 in discounts on new electric vehicles (EVs), to include models from Toyota, Skoda, Peugeot, Vauxhall, and Citroën. (Edie)
Businesses are now required to reimburse their employees for the cost of charging their company-owned electric vehicles (EVs) at home and in public, in accordance with new guidance from HMRC. (Edie)
Positive News Round up — Wednesday, 3rd September
The Wight Squirrel Project and Bournemouth University (BU) have recently conducted a study that has revealed the surprising resilience of red squirrels in the presence of climate change. (Euro News)
In California, dairy farms have successfully reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by a significant amount, resulting in an annual reduction of methane equivalent to 5 million tons of carbon dioxide. (Happy Eco News)
Positive News Round up — Thursday, 4th September
Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations made up 26.5% of the new car market in the UK in August, and demand for electric vans doubled from August 2024. (Edie)
Energy think tank Ember says that Turkey's total solar capacity surpassed 23 GW in June, which is more than the country's 2025 goal. (PV Magazine)
Positive News Round up — Friday, 5th September
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have created a process that converts plastic waste into materials suitable for CO2 capture, providing a potential method for more efficient and sustainable carbon dioxide management. (Science Daily)
Farmers in western France are testing a fertilizer made from algae grown on wastewater. Results show it could reduce mineral fertilizer use by up to 25% without lowering crop yields. (Euro News)
Positive News Round up — Monday, 8th September
Sri Lanka is constructing the 100 MW Siyambalanduwa ‘Rividanavi’ solar park, spanning about 500 acres in Monaragala district, Uva province. PV Magazine)
According to an analysis conducted by pv magazine, approximately 2.1 million battery energy storage systems (BESS) are currently operational in Germany. (PV Magazine)
Positive News Round up — Tuesday, 9th September
The government has announced that burning on England’s deep peat will be prohibited as part of efforts to restore habitats for rare wildlife and to mitigate air pollution and flooding. (The Guardian)
Amazon fires in Brazil have dropped 65%, reaching a record low. (Good News Network)
Positive News Round up — Wednesday, 10th September
Provisional data from Dutch New Energy Research shows that about 550 MW of sub-1 MW solar systems were installed in the Netherlands in H1. (PV Magazine)
The first solar-covered canal is operational in California. (Canary Media)
Positive News Round up — Thursday, 11th September
The House of Lords is proposing amendments to the planning bill that may require new buildings to include hedgehog highways and bird-safe glass. (The Guardian)
Farmers from Illinois are seeing the benefit of using solar pannels on their land along side the rearing of sheep. (Canary Media)
Positive News Round up — Friday, 12th September
According to a new action plan, China plans to install over 100 GW of new energy storage, mainly battery storage and not including pumped hydro, by 2027. (PV Magazine)
SunCable is to supply solar and storage to data centers by 2028. (PV Magazine)
Positive News Round up — Monday, 15th September
Australia is set to surpass its 2030 rooftop solar goal, adding 1.1 GW across 115,584 sites in early 2025. (PV Magazine)
The UK Government will allocate part of its £448m pledge to maritime decarbonisation projects nationwide, supporting electric vessels and fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol. (Edie)
Positive News Round up — Tuesday, 16th September
The electric Mercedes-Benz GLC offers an optional Vegan Package with certified vegan seats, steering wheel, door trims, and centre console. Mercedes-Benz claims this makes it the first carmaker in the world to feature the Vegan Trademark. (Plant Based News)
A new analysis says clean technologies could meet 75% of current fossil fuel demand, suggesting oil, gas and coal producers may be overestimating their future markets. (Edie)
Positive News Round up — Wednesday, 17th September
Implementing straightforward climate adaptation strategies has the potential to save over 725,000 lives each year and reduce global healthcare expenditures by $70 billion. (Edie)
By smashing 6 Million Sea Urchins using hammers has helped to save a California kelp paradise due to volunteer divers. (Good News Network)
Positive News Round up — Thursday, 18th September
Peru designated the Medio Putumayo Algodón Regional Conservation Area in Loreto, protecting 283,000 hectares and 53% of the country's carbon stock. (Mongabay)
After the 2019 bushfires, Barrington Tops National Park saw a surge in rare veined doubletail orchids. Now, traditional landowners conduct controlled burns to help these flowers thrive despite invasive species. (Phys)
Positive News Round up — Friday, 19th September
Global solar energy capacity grew by 64% in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2024. (Canary Media)
Red squirrel numbers on Isle of Wight may nearly double, study shows. (The Guardian)
Positive News Round up — Monday, 22nd September
Global Power Energy (GPE), an energy advisory firm, reports that the proportion of renewable energy in Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) energy mix hit a record 77.9% late on September 21st, surpassing the previous high of 76.8% set the day before. (PV Magazine)
Researchers have created a sunscreen made from pollen which could block harmful UV rays just as well as sunscreens made from chemicals that bleach coral and pollute the oceans. (Mongabay)
Positive News Round up — Tuesday, 23rd September
Apple is investing in restoring and sustainably managing a working California redwood forest with The Conservation Fund. (Apple Newsroom)
The DRC is putting an end to the unsustainable trade of African gray parrots, helping to protect the species. (Mongabay)
Positive News Round up — Wednesday, 24th September
Clean energy jobs in America have increased at triple the pace of the overall economy last year, a new analysis shows. (YaleE360)
Kichwa, Ticuna, and Matsés women are leading forest patrols and training others to use technology like GPS, drones, and satellite alerts to protect the Amazon. (Mongabay)
Positive News Round up — Thursday, 25th September
Ireland awarded just over 860 MW of new solar capacity in its fifth RESS auction, as per provisional results released Wednesday. (PV Magazine)
A new study finds that the largest trees in the Amazon are increasing in size and number, demonstrating how undisturbed rainforests absorb and store atmospheric carbon dioxide. (The Guardian)
Positive News Round up — Friday, 26th September
Last year, carbon-free sources supplied over 80% of China's new electricity demand, a significant increase from 2011–2020 when they provided less than half, according to Ember. (Canary Media)
According to the Centre for Net Zero (CNZ), renewable energy microgrids may be a cheaper and faster power solution for UK data centres than nuclear small modular reactors. (Edie)
Positive News Round up — Monday, 29th September
A significant World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, which was the result of years of negotiations and national approvals to tackle over fishing, was officially implemented on September 15 to mitigate overfishing. (Optimist Daily)
There were 25% to 47% fewer plastic bags on beaches and shorelines in places where plastic bag bans or fees are in place, according to a recent nationwide study. (Happy Eco News)
Positive News Round up — Tuesday, 30th September
In the second quarter, renewables provided 54% of net power, driven by increasing PV output, while solar accounted for 22% of electricity in the EU in June, overtaking nuclear as the largest source. (Optimist Daily)
On Tuesday, September 16, the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued a new bulletin stating that the Earth's protective ozone layer is expected to recover by the middle of the century. (Optimist Daily)
