Our top 5 good news stories of 2020

Because we could all use a little more cheer.

We can all agree that 2020 was a challenging year.

Good news feels hard to come by lately. And when you work in environmental news, it can seem even more rare.

Yet, the year was not without progress (yes, seriously!). Check out five good news stories from our newsroom that you may have missed below.

1. A Northeast US climate initiative has had a major side benefit—healthier children

Researchers estimate a climate effort in the Northeast U.S. helped the region reduce toxic air pollution and avoid hundreds of asthma and autism cases, preterm births, and low birth weights.

2. Roadmap points Europe toward safer, sustainable chemicals

EU Commission releases ambitious strategy for getting hormone-disrupting chemicals out of food, products, and packaging.

3. Solar power on the rise at US schools

Report finds an 81% increase in K-12 schools using solar power over the last 5 years.

4. Pittsburgh’s Black farmers work to grow a new future

A small group of new farmers have seeded a movement to change the local food industry.

5. Derrick Z. Jackson: A Rhode Island city gets serious about climate justice

In its climate action plan, Providence, Rhode Island, is giving frontline residents' health equal billing with carbon reduction. Other cities should pay attention.

Banner photo: Ebony Lunsford-Evans, owner of FarmerGirlEB in Pittsburgh, helps a customer. (Credit: Brian Cook)

A delivery bicycle with a white box attached is parked on a sidewalk in front of a restaurant with a sign painted on the window.

Credit: Claudio Olivares Medina/Flickr

Affordable e-bikes are transforming delivery work for Latin American migrants

For immigrant delivery workers in Colombia, affordable e-bikes — financed by start-ups like Guajira — are proving to be a game-changer, offering a faster, cleaner, and more cost-effective alternative to motorbikes.

Mariel Lozada reports for Reasons To Be Cheerful.

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Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

An old, rusted wastewater pipe extends onto a beach.

Credit: Simon Bleasdale/Flickr

Britain’s sewage crisis is poisoning its waterways and economy

Widespread sewage spills are contaminating Britain’s waters, threatening businesses, biodiversity, and public health, while weak regulations and corporate profits take priority over investment in critical infrastructure.

Kate Holton and Dylan Martinez report for Reuters.

In short:

Britain’s largest offshore mussel farm, located to avoid sewage pollution, is still plagued by harmful bacteria like E. coli, blocking exports to Europe and damaging the shellfish industry.
Water companies discharged sewage for 3.6 million hours in 2023, contaminating rivers and coastlines, harming tourism, and forcing the government to review the sector. Privatized firms, which have paid billions in dividends, are accused of neglecting infrastructure upgrades.
Activists and clean water advocates are fighting back, linking sewage failures to stalled construction projects, biodiversity collapse, and public health risks, forcing officials to confront decades of underinvestment and weak oversight.

Key quote:

“It’s criminal that they’re allowed to dump what they dump in the seas and get away with it. It's affecting all sorts of businesses, including us.

— Sarah Holmyard, sales manager at Offshore Shellfish

Why this matters:

As climate change intensifies rainfall, Britain’s crumbling infrastructure is reaching a breaking point. Regulators, long accused of looking the other way, are under mounting pressure as activists connect the dots between failing water infrastructure, stalled housing projects, and collapsing ecosystems.

Our top 5 good news stories of 2020

Because we could all use a little more cheer.

1. A Northeast US climate initiative has had a major side benefit—healthier children

2. Roadmap points Europe toward safer, sustainable chemicals

3. Solar power on the rise at US schools

4. Pittsburgh’s Black farmers work to grow a new future

5. Derrick Z. Jackson: A Rhode Island city gets serious about climate justice

Affordable e-bikes are transforming delivery work for Latin American migrants

Britain’s sewage crisis is poisoning its waterways and economy

America’s ports made progress on pollution, but will it last?

France’s new tidal turbines aim to power thousands of homes with clean energy

In short:

Key quote:

Why this matters:

Sardines forced to eat plastic as Mediterranean plankton shrinks

Unprecedented climate disasters surged worldwide in 2024

Trump’s team opens Alaska lands to oil, reigniting drilling debate

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Op-ed: Why funding for the environmental justice movement must be anti-racist

We must prioritize minority-serving institutions, BIPOC-led organizations and researchers to lead environmental justice efforts.

Biden finalizes long-awaited hydrogen tax credits ahead of Trump presidency

Responses to the new rules have been mixed, and environmental advocates worry that Trump could undermine them.

Op-ed: Toxic prisons teach us that environmental justice needs abolition

Prisons, jails and detention centers are placed in locations where environmental hazards such as toxic landfills, floods and extreme heat are the norm.

LISTEN: Reflections on the first five years of the Agents of Change program

The leadership team talks about what they’ve learned — and what lies ahead.