Solutions Journalism Network

Do Good Foods makes chicken feed from supermarket surplus foods to keep food from ending up in landfills emitting methane.

Australian company Rumin8 is creating feed additives containing bromoform to reduce methane emissions from livestock without depending on seaweed farming.

Anuar Abdullah restores coral reefs with practical expertise he’s gained through years of practice and observation. Now, people come to him to learn his ways, ask him to restore reefs, sponsor his projects, and even work alongside him.

Through "debt swaps" and blue bonds, The Nature Conservancy helps governments trade high-interest debt for new debt with lower payments to free up funds for environmental action projects. A recent debt swap in Barbados resulted in $50 million in savings for the country, which is now being put toward protecting its oceans.

An ecosystem restoration project that included a conglomeration of cutting water diversions, protection at different governmental levels, research, and stewardship has resulted in enough water reaching Mono Lake to keep the ecosystem alive and healing.

In an effort to reduce or fully eliminate carbon emissions, several companies are proposing cycle-to-work schemes and financial incentives to get their employees to travel to work in a more sustainable fashion. Some of these initiatives, like the cycle-to-work scheme, have been used by over 1.6 million commuters working for over 40,000 different employers since it was introduced by the UK government in 1999.

Local farmers, government officials, and nonprofits, including the faith-based conservation organization A Rocha Canada, partnered to prevent further loss of land due to flooding. They planted fast-growing plants, like willow and cottonwood shoots, into the eroded bank to replicate the ecosystem before agriculture and development cleared the land. The method — low-tech riparian restoration – is a cost-effective approach that has mitigated land erosion due to flooding. The project also helped to bridge longstanding divides between participants.

Gipave is a new type of asphalt technology that combines plastic waste with bitumen, a material already used to pave roads, to make recyclable road surfaces with longer lifespans and reduce emissions from road work by 70%.

Off the coast of Grimsby, England, the largest offshore wind farm in the world created over 500 jobs for a deteriorating fishing town while providing enough clean, renewable energy to power over 2 million homes each day.

Innovation prizes funded by people like Elon Musk and Prince William spark innovation and investment to solve the world's biggest problems.

Denver offers rebates up to $1,700 for residents purchasing electric bikes to encourage their adoption, increase accessibility for low-income residents, and help reduce air pollution.

To tend their urban garden in extreme heat, the healthcare clinic Native Health of Phoenix partners with two nonprofits, Keep Phoenix Beautiful and the Salt River Project, to use flood irrigation techniques built on Huhugam agricultural practices and canals. Every other week during the hottest months 1,600 gallons of water flow through the garden and drain out.

Researchers are studying the peatlands in Minnesota to understand how to best enhance their carbon storage and minimize carbon and methane emissions as the climate warms.

Uruguay has turned to biomass, solar, and wind energy to transition to a 98% renewable energy grid that decreased over half a billion dollars from their annual budget along with their carbon footprint.

Nebraskans struggling to keep their lawns green during droughts are converting to prairie lawns. These lawns include a variety of native grasses and plants that are more resilient to changes in climate and can help retain water in the soil.

The Wheatridge Renewable Energy Facility in Oregon is the first in the United States to use wind energy, solar energy, and battery storage on a large scale to provide consistent energy without using fossil fuels to fill gaps.

In India, experience-based tourism promotes sustainability and conservation awareness while supporting local economies. For this style of tourism, tourists experience life like local indigenous communities in everything from eating to helping in agricultural fields.

Regenerative agriculture — a technique originally developed by Native peoples — is a farming practice that can not only improve the quality of farms and their products but also serves as a response to growing climate change concerns. While regenerative agriculture currently only accounts for 10% of farms and ranches today, the numbers are slowly increasing.

Cars are Europe’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the leading killer of children. In recent years, Paris has implemented an array of measures to prioritize pedestrians, cyclists, and transit while reducing car use. As a result, car use has dropped about 45% since 1990, the use of public transit has risen by 30% and the share of cyclists has increased tenfold.

Pedal Ahead provides low-income locals access to e-bikes at no initial cost, while agreeing to ride an average of five miles a day, track and share rides for a study, and secure their own bike insurance. If the participants successfully complete the program after two years, they own the bike. Since its launch, the organization distributed over 400 bicycles across the county.

In Lithuania, building owners looking to retrofit to improve energy use, reduce heating costs, and lower carbon emissions, can make use of a lending approach that pairs grants and loans. The grants are intended to offset the expense of the loan and can act as a first-loss guarantee for investors.

Rewilding Europe is a river-restoration project working to preserve rivers as biodiversity hotspots and prevent damage from human activity. Since Rewilding Europe was founded, its projects have stretched across the continent, including to countries like Spain Italy, Bulgaria, and Sweden and was recently awarded a grant of £4.1m to scale up its work.

Agricultural projects in Egypt are launching apps to help farmers get the best yield possible while dealing with the effects of climate change. The apps provide weather forecasts, advice, climate warnings, and connections to buyers.

Dig Deep Farms provides sustainable jobs for people coming out of jail, who have a difficult time finding work. The farm employs about 15 people who grow food for county health initiatives, runs a job-training program for formerly incarcerated people, and operates a food hub to distribute fresh produce to people in need and recently increased its acreage to provide even more opportunities and resources.

A global movement to localize the construction process, and design buildings for the climate they reside in, is bringing back practices like green roofs and using natural materials like mud and salt to keep people cool as the planet warms.