2025 is a month away, and looking back, 2024 had a good number of positive climate moments. Well, looking to recap everything green and good that happened this past year? Don’t worry, we’ve got you! From criminalising environmental damage to discovering the world’s largest single coral colony ever, we’re giving you the scoop on 10 of the weird and wonderful things that happened around the world in 2024 or so.
- The EU Parliament voted to criminalise environmental damage
The European Union has made history by becoming the first international entity to outlaw severe environmental damage akin to ecocide. Tougher penalties and imprisonment await those found guilty of ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss and illegal logging, under the EU’s updated environmental crime directive. In a resounding vote, European Parliament lawmakers overwhelmingly supported this measure, with 499 votes in favour, 100 against, and 23 abstentions.
The revised directive identifies various environmental activities, such as water abstraction, ship recycling, pollution, the introduction and spread of invasive alien species, and ozone destruction, as punishable offences. Notably absent from the directive are specific mentions of fishing, exporting toxic waste to developing nations, or carbon market fraud.
Individuals responsible for environmental crimes, including CEOs and board members, may face prison terms of up to eight years, escalating to 10 years if their actions result in a loss of life.
- The Hague has banned fossil fuel ads
The Hague has made history as the first city globally to enact a law banning advertisements for fossil fuel products and climate-damaging services. This legislation, effective from the start of next year, prohibits both public and private advertising for petrol, diesel, aviation, and cruise ships across the city, including on billboards and bus shelters.
The ban, which took two years to pass, marks the first instance of a city implementing such a restriction through local law. It follows a call earlier this year from UN chief António Guterres for governments and media to adopt similar measures, akin to those implemented for tobacco.
While the law is legally binding and targets high-carbon products and services, it does not apply to political advertising by the fossil fuel industry or general brand promotions.
- Deforestation alerts in the Brazilian Amazon fall to a 5-year low
The forest clearing identified by Brazil’s deforestation alert system has reached its lowest point in almost five years, as per data released by the country’s space agency, INPE, in April this year.
INPE’s satellite-based tracking system documented 162 square kilometres of deforestation in March 2024, contributing to a total loss of 4,816 square kilometres over the past twelve months, marking the lowest annual level recorded since May 2019. This twelve-month total represents a 53% decrease compared to the same period last year.
Imazon, an independent Brazilian NGO, operates a deforestation alert system that has reported an even greater decline of 65% for the year ending February 29, 2020. Remarkably, this reduction in deforestation comes despite a severe drought affecting much of the Amazon basin, leading to stranded communities, disrupted river traffic, decreased hydroelectric power generation, and wildlife fatalities. Additionally, fires in northern Brazil are reaching unprecedented levels in terms of both frequency and intensity.
- France’s CNews fined for broadcasting climate change denial
CNews, owned by billionaire Vincent Bolloré, delivers 24-hour news coverage both nationally and globally. It is the second most-watched news network in France, following BFMTV. The channel was criticised for permitting a guest to promote a contentious view on the human origins of climate change without presenting any opposing perspectives.
The Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (Arcom) fined the channel €20,000 for broadcasting controversial climate scepticism without balanced reporting.
“This is the first time in France and internationally that Arcom or a regulatory authority has issued a financial sanction for a breach concerning an environmental subject,” QuotaClimat, an association that campaigns for better media coverage of ecological issues, said in response.
- G7 nations agree to end use of unabated coal power plants by 2035
In May this year, ministers from the G7 nations reached an agreement to phase out unabated coal power plants by 2035, with provisions for countries with substantial coal reliance. Following extensive discussions in Turin, Italy, they issued a commitment to eliminate existing unabated coal power generation in their energy systems by the first half of the 2030s, aiming to curb the surge in global greenhouse gas emissions. This milestone agreement marks a significant stride in climate action for the G7, comprising the UK, US, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and Japan, who had grappled with coal phase-out negotiations for years.
The agreement notably addresses unabated coal, allowing countries to continue coal use for electricity generation provided they employ carbon-capture technology to mitigate emissions. Furthermore, it offers flexibility to nations such as Japan and Germany, acknowledging their heavy coal dependence and offering the option of aligning with a timeline aimed at limiting global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
- The U.S. SEC will require companies to disclose their emissions and climate risk
The much-debated climate disclosure rule was passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) earlier this year. This rule now requires public companies to disclose climate-related risks in their SEC filings. Notably, the SEC has eliminated the requirement for companies to include Scope 3 emissions in their disclosures. Additionally, the agency has adopted a “phased in” approach for mandating companies to disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions.
For large accelerated filers—those holding at least $700 million in shares owned by public investors—the obligation to disclose Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions begins in fiscal year 2026. Accelerated filers, which include companies with between $75 million and $700 million in publicly held shares, must start making these disclosures in FY2028.
Companies obligated to disclose greenhouse gas emissions will also follow a phased compliance timeline for receiving assurance on those emissions. With the unveiling of the SEC mandate, manufacturers and their suppliers are now tasked with determining how to comply with the rule.
- ‘Nature’ is now an official, credited artist on streaming platforms
On April 18, a new artist made her debut on Spotify and other streaming platforms, though her sounds were already familiar—like ocean waves, birdsong, or falling rain. The artist was nature, and her streaming music is aimed at raising funds for conservation.
The Museum for the United Nations – UN Live, a Copenhagen-based organisation that leverages pop culture to promote climate awareness and action, launched Sounds Right, an initiative to use nature’s music to support conservation. By listing nature—styled as NATURE—as an official, credited artist on streaming platforms, at least half of all royalties will go to conservation partners.
The initial royalties will be directed to EarthPercent, a charity co-founded by ambient music pioneer Brian Eno. An advisory panel comprising conservation experts, biologists, environmental activists, and Indigenous representatives will then allocate the funds.
- South Korea recycles 98% of its food waste
Two decades ago, South Korea was discarding 98 percent of its food waste. Now, every day from 5 a.m. onwards, dozens of trucks deliver more than 400 tons of pungent, sticky food waste from restaurants and homes to a facility the size of two football fields. There, the waste is transformed into enough green energy to power around 20,000 households.
The Daejeon Bioenergy Center is one of roughly 300 facilities that enable South Korea to recycle nearly all of its 15,000 tons of daily food waste. This waste can be composted into fertiliser, used as livestock feed, or converted into biogas, a form of renewable energy. Without such efforts, most of the food scraps would have ended up in landfills, polluting the soil and releasing methane—a greenhouse gas far more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term.
Today, thanks to measures like banning food scraps from landfills and requiring residents to separate and pay for food waste disposal, 98 percent of it is repurposed as feed, compost, or energy, according to the South Korean Ministry of Environment.
- 1,000 ad agencies refuse work from fossil fuel industry
Clean Creatives, an award-winning campaign group against fossil fuels in the advertising and PR industry, celebrates a significant milestone: 1,000 creative agencies worldwide have pledged to reject ad campaigns from Big Oil.
Over the past three years, Clean Creatives has exposed the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to shape public opinion through misinformation and greenwashing, facilitated by major advertising and PR firms. The world’s six largest advertising and PR companies—Omnicom Group, WPP, Interpublic Group (IPG), Publicis Groupe, Dentsu, and Havas—are reportedly linked to the fossil fuel industry.
Clean Creatives offers a pledge for agencies and individuals to refuse collaboration with fossil fuel polluters. With over 1,000 agency signatories, doubling since April 2023, this milestone highlights the campaign’s growing influence and the increasing concern within the creative industry about ethical practices in the face of climate change.
- The world’s largest single coral colony ever recorded was found in the Solomon Islands
On an expedition to the Solomon Islands, divers affiliated with National Geographic have found the world’s largest single coral colony ever recorded.
It’s longer than the largest blue whale. At 34 metres in length, and with a width of 32 metres, it could sit corner to corner across 5 tennis courts. Experts believe it has been growing for between 300 and 500 years.
The mammoth coral was discovered by scientists from National Geographic’s Pristine Seas Initiative, which aims to gather scientific data to inform conservation measures in places where marine life is bountiful. During an expedition to the Three Sisters island group in the Makira-Ulawa Province of Solomon Islands, they thought at first its massive shadow under the water was a shipwreck.
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