• Renewables set to overtake coal as the world’s largest source of electricity by 2024. IEA (PDF link).
• World record: Wind turbine generates enough energy in a day to power 170,000 homes. Euronews.
• 15% of world auto sales are electric vehicles. Clean Technica.
• A Canadian study gave $7,500 to homeless people. The results show the power of cash transfers to reduce homelessness. Vox.
• Within a decade of implementing stricter laws, monthly drunk-driving injuries in Taiwan fell by nearly 40 percent, and monthly alcohol-related traffic deaths dropped by more than 80 percent. Think Global Health.
• Punjab, home to over half of Pakistan’s population, has doubled school enrollment from 13 million to 26 million students between 1998 and 2020. World Bank.
• China’s ‘war against pollution’ over the past decade has led to a 42% drop in pollution levels since 2013. This remarkable progress has added 26 months to the average Chinese citizen’s lifespan. CNN.
• Drones help boost immunization rates in remote parts of Ghana. VaccinesWork.
• Scotland is planning a transition to a 4-day workweek for civil servants and wants the private sector to follow suit. Fortune.
• Peregrine falcons, once extremely endangered, now stable in Iowa skies. The Gazette.
• Tantalising sign of possible life on faraway world. BBC.

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• Schoolkids in 8 US states can now eat free school meals, advocates urge Congress for nationwide policy. AP.
• The poverty rate in Bangladesh declined by 5.6% between 2016 to 2022, lifting almost ten million people out of poverty. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (PDF link).
• Violent deaths in Brazil reach lowest number in 12 years. Fohla De S.Paulo.
• Montreal adds nine more car-free streets after ‘mind blowing’ success. Energy Mix.
• Ocean cleanup group removes record 25,000 pounds of trash from Great Pacific Garbage Patch in one extraction. ABC News.
• A family-run environmental organisation in Indonesia called Sungai Watch has successfully removed 1.2 million kilograms of plastic from polluted rivers and mangroves. Mongabay.
• The takahē, a large, flightless bird once thought to be extinct, returns to New Zealand wild. The Guardian.
• After 90% of the wild population was wiped out by disease, the Tasmanian devil breeding program in New South Wales has produced its 500th joey. ABC.
• Renewables generated 25% of US power in the first half of 2023. Electrek.
• The price of solar modules has reached a record low of $0.15 per watt. pvxchange.
• South Africa, the world’s most coal-dependent economy, has been installing enormous amounts of solar. Bloomberg.
• Mozambique has connected half a million people to tap water. The World Bank.
• Young adults in U.S. drink less alcohol than in prior decades. Gallup.
• Electrified cement could turn houses and roads into nearly limitless batteries. Science.
• Smart contact lens battery charged by human tears. Interesting Engineering.

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• Polio has nearly been eradicated. Nature.
• 30 million more children have access to school meals than in 2020. World Food Programme (PDF link).
• US murder rates in 2023 are down nearly 13%. Jeff-alytics.
• The number of people without access to electricity has fallen from 1.1 billion in 2010 to 675 million today. Energy Progress Report (PDF link).
• The Okaloosa darter, a tiny two-inch fish, is no longer an endangered species. US Fish & Wildlife Service.
• The amount of global renewable capacity rose by 13% last year and this year it’s expected to jump by a third. IEA.
• Stanford University scientists have invented a new kind of paint that can keep homes and other buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, significantly reducing energy use, costs, and greenhouse gas emissions. Stanford News.
• Colony collapse disorder has been managed. There are now more honey bees on the planet than there have ever been in human history. New York Times.
• Bali rice experiment cuts greenhouse gas emissions and increases yields. Mongabay.

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• Maharashtra becomes first state in India to introduce universal healthcare policy. Hindustan Times.
• Iraq eliminates trachoma as a public health problem. WHO.
• Once nearing exinction, Brazil’s golden lion tamarins have rebounded from 200 monkeys in the 1970s to around 4,800 today. AP.
• 18 countries have abolished the death penalty in the last ten years. ES Euro.
• 16 million less children suffered from stunting in India in 2022 compared to 2012. Times of India.
• Fatal heart disease in the United States dropped about 4% a year between 1990 and 2019. American Heart Journal.
• Shootings in New York are down 26% this year, and the murder rate has declined by 11%. New York Times.
• Number of Mexicans in poverty declined by 8.9 million from 2020–2022. Mexico News Daily.
• Between 2005 to 2021, particulate emissions in Europe fell by 27%, and emissions of sulphur dioxide fell by 80%. European Environment Agency.
• Large majority of EU countries will hit 2030 solar targets ahead of schedule. Politico.
• India succeeds in reducing emissions rate by 33% over 14 years. Reuters.

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• In India, over 135 million people were lifted out of multi-dimensional poverty between 2015 to 2021. NITI (PDF link).
• Egypt used to have the highest rate of hepatitis C in the world. In 2018, the government decided to implement a campaign to screen and treat every citizen. Today, Egypt has eliminated hepatitis C from its entire population. Forbes.
• In the last 12 months, an NGO called Evidence Action has installed over 24,000 new chlorine dispensers in Uganda and Malawi, providing 9.8 million people with access to safe water. Evidence Action.
• Connecticut has not only cut its number of imprisoned people in half, but it has been able to close more than ten prisons while keeping its crime rate at its lowest level in more than 40 years. Slate.
• Ant Forest, a mobile app game in China, is responsible for the planting of over 400 million trees. China Daily.
• Maryland has repopulated more than 10 billion oysters in the Chesapeake since 1994, improving water quality, and providing a welcome habitat for other marine life. Washington Post.
• Since 2021, eleven states have passed child tax credits that include the lowest-income families with no reported labor income, many with bipartisan support. Jain Family Institute.

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• HIV treatment averted almost 21 million AIDS-related deaths between 1996 and 2022. UNAIDS (PDF link).
• America’s gender pay gap has shrunk to an all-time low. CBS News.
• Solar installations in Brazil have created around 960,000 jobs and offset 40.6 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions since 2012. Renewables Now.
• In the first half of this year, wind and solar generated more power than coal in the United States. Canary.
• Bhutan and Timor-Leste eliminate rubella. WHO.
• The number of poor people in Cambodia was halved from 5.6 million to 2.8 million in the last 8 years. The Star.
• Sierra Leone is the latest country to expand free education for children as legal right to free education grows globally. Human Rights Watch.
• Since joining the Built for Zero program in 2015, Detroit has reduced veteran homelessness by approximately 60 percent. Reasons to be Cheerful.

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• Between 1990 to 2019, the share of the global population living in extreme poverty dropped from 38% to 8.5%. World Bank.
• 25 countries halved multidimensional poverty within 15 years. UNDP.
• Deforestation in Colombia fell 29% last year. The Guardian.
• New rapid malaria test: A breakthrough by Angolan twins. DW.
• Philadelphia’s eviction diversion program kept thousands housed. New York Times.
• How a simple tag helped India save fuel worth $8.4 billion. Rest of World.

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• Trials have shown dementia drugs donanemab and lecanemab slowed cognitive decline by 35% and 27% respectively. The Guardian.
• Cambodia has reduced its maternal mortality rate from 810 per 100,000 live births in 2008 to 154 per 100,000 live births in 2021-2022. During the same time, under-five mortality has fallen from 55 to 16 per 1,000 live births, and overall life expectancy has risen from 61 and 64 years to 74.3 and 76.8 years for men and women, respectively. Khmer Times.
• Saudi Arabia introduced a set of legal reforms which increased women’s labor force participation from 22 percent in 2019 to almost 37 percent today. Arab News.
• ‘Knock Knock’ enables victims of domestic violence in South Korea to report abuse to the police with just two taps on their smartphone. It shares the victim’s location and allows them to stream evidence to the police live. LBB.
• 4ocean has recovered 30 million pounds of plastic waste and man-made debris from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines since the company began in 2017. Oceanographic.

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• Between 2000 and 2022, 2.1 billion people gained access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion gained access to safely managed sanitation. WHO (PDF link).
• Globally, deaths from drowning decreased by 44.5% between 1990 and 2017. BMJ.
• In the United States, child poverty has been reduced by 40%, and the gains made by low-wage workers have reduced income disparity by 25%. Prospect.
• Low emission zones in cities have reduced heart and circulatory problems, resulting in an estimated health cost savings of €4.4 billion. The Guardian.
• Wind and solar saved consumers in Texas approximately $11 billion in 2022. PV Magazine.

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• Belize certified malaria-free. WHO.
• How data helped Mexico City reduce high-impact crime by more than 50%. World Economic Forum.
• Israel reduced the suicide rate in the military by about 30 percent. Think Global Health.
• Indonesia and Malaysia have cut deforestation in half in last five years. Yale 360.
• China on course to hit wind and solar power target five years ahead of time. The Guardian.
• A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate has been discovered in Norway, enough to satisfy world demand for fertilizers, solar panels and EV batteries for 100 years. Euractiv.
• Conservation efforts celebrated as 26 Australian species no longer need threatened listing. The Guardian.
• A new TB vaccine could save 8.5m lives over the next quarter of a century. The Economist.
• Day care for less than $10: how Canada is easing the burden for parents. The New York Times.

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