The year 2025 was pivotal for the global sustainability and climate agenda, marked by breakthroughs in clean energy transitions, policy accountability, and international cooperation, even as the planet faced accelerating climate impacts and persistent implementation gaps. From record-breaking renewable energy growth and landmark climate commitments to worsening forest loss, extreme weather, and uneven accountability, the year underscored the urgency of bold, collective action. At the Alliance for Sustainability Education, we continued advancing environmental literacy, amplifying youth voices, and promoting evidence-based policies that safeguard people and the planet.
This Year in Review highlights 23 of the most significant positives and negatives that shaped the climate and sustainability landscape in 2025—drawn from ASEC reporting.
1. Declaration on Information Integrity Launch: Launched at COP30 on November 12, 2025, in Belém, signed by Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, and others, combats climate disinformation, promotes evidence-based info, protects journalists/scientists, first prioritization in UN talks. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7395797359785525249
2. ICJ Ruling on Climate Responsibility: The ICJ ruled countries accountable for climate inaction, enforcing obligations under international law, empowering vulnerable nations like those in Africa and islands toward justice and stronger commitments. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7354010613922091009
3. French Court Greenwashing Ruling: In October 2025, Paris court convicted TotalEnergies of misleading practices on carbon neutrality, ordering claim removals, first against major oil firm, setting consumer protection precedent. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7388449166466834432
4. Launch of BIM Pilot Phase: The Barbados Implementation Modalities (BIM), approved earlier and launched at COP30 with a $250 million envelope, represented a long-awaited breakthrough as the Fund’s start-up phase, enabling initial grants for economic and non-economic loss and damage interventions while testing modalities to inform long-term operations. https://lnkd.in/gQC_9XZi
5. Adoption of Global Adaptation Indicators at COP30: In Belém, 59 voluntary indicators were approved to track adaptation under the Global Goal on Adaptation, offering qualitative and quantitative measures across sectors like water and health, with guidelines for use but no new obligations, fostering accountability despite flexibility concerns. This technical breakthrough aids resilience in vulnerable countries. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:740666399587045376
6. Ghana Revokes Mining Legislation in Forests: Following advocacy, Ghana revoked instruments allowing mining in reserves, prioritizing sustainability over short-term gains, acknowledging 3% annual forest loss, and committing to conservation in development planning. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7407748653597126656
7. Green Economy Surpasses $5 Trillion: The green economy exceeded $5 trillion in 2024, projected to hit $7 trillion by 2030, with mitigation at 78% of value, adaptation at 22%, and segments like carbon management growing 15% CAGR, supported by net-zero commitments from 142 countries. Companies in green markets grow faster and access cheaper capital. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7403795077501796352
8. China’s Dominance in Green Tech: China’s strategies like Made in China 2025 led to control over green value chains, investing $659B in clean energy in 2024, doubling wind capacity since 2020, and leading 60% of global renewable additions, shifting export profiles to low-carbon tech. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7404559504278994944
9. Global Net-Zero Commitments Surge: 142 countries cover 76% of emissions with net-zero pledges; science-based targets rose to 10,949 companies, representing 40% of market cap, driving annual 6% green economy growth amid falling tech costs. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7403795077501796352
10. Ember Mid-Year Electricity Insights: In the first half of 2025, solar and wind power grew faster than global electricity demand, surpassing coal’s share for the first time at 34.3%, while coal fell to 33.1%. Solar drove most of the increase, up 31% YoY, led by China, then the US, EU, India, and Brazil. Together with wind, renewables not only met new electricity needs but slightly reduced coal output. Regional progress varies fossil fuels declined in China and India but rose in the US. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7381376105578106881
11. Africa’s Solar Boom: Solar imports from China surged 60% to 15 GW by June 2025, 20 countries setting records, shortening paybacks to months, boosting energy access.
12. Cost-Competitive Decarbonization: Over 50% emissions reducible with affordable solar, wind, EVs scaling rapidly, EU committing €40B to hydrogen and electrification. Source: ASEC LinkedIn post. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7403795077501796352
13. COP30 Key Outcomes: Belém advanced key sustainability priorities despite mixed outcomes. A new Gender Action Plan promotes inclusive climate policies, disaggregated data, and addresses vulnerabilities shaped by age, disability, and race, reflecting strong youth advocacy via YOUNGO. Climate finance returned to the centre stage, with a two-year programme aiming to scale funding to $1.3 trillion/year by 2035, including $300 billion in public finance for developing countries. While no clear fossil fuel roadmap or subsidy reform was agreed, the Belém Mission to 1.5, Global Implementation Accelerator, and a Just Transition mechanism were launched to support technical cooperation and knowledge sharing. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7398572201685463040
14. Countries Commit to Ocean-Focused NDCs: By 2050, rising seas and coastal erosion could put over one billion people at risk. The Blue NDC Challenge, launched at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference by Brazil and France, encourages countries to embed ocean action in their national climate plans, with early participation from Australia, Fiji, Kenya, Mexico, Palau, and Seychelles, and six more countries committing at COP30. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7397619319796371456
15. EU’s CBAM Implementation: Starting January 2026, CBAM imposes carbon fees on imports in high-emitting sectors like steel, tying fees to EU trading prices around $90/ton CO₂, encouraging low-carbon production and competitiveness while aiding developing countries through opportunities in clean investments. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7405264881157009408
16. UN Plastic Treaty Collapse: UN Plastic Treaty Negotiations Collapse The resumed fifth session (INC-5.2) of UN talks in Geneva (5-15 August 2025) ended without consensus on a treaty text, adjourning early after rejecting two draft proposals amid deep divisions. A small group of oil-producing nations (including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait) and major producers (US, China) blocked provisions for production limits, chemical phase-outs, and binding measures, favoring voluntary waste management despite its proven failures. This second consecutive failure (after Busan 2024) delays action on the full plastic lifecycle, exacerbating pollution choking oceans, health, and ecosystems. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7362222392426876932
17. Triple Planetary Crisis Accelerates: The OECD Environmental Outlook highlights the interconnected Triple Planetary Crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. If current policies persist, by 2050 global temperatures could rise 2.1 °C, biodiversity decline will accelerate, plastic waste will grow 66%, and fossil fuel use will increase 16% despite renewable growth. Agriculture and resource use will continue driving land conversion, water stress, and material consumption. These pressures reinforce each other: climate change exacerbates biodiversity loss, which weakens ecosystem resilience, intensifying pollution and extreme weather impacts. Current policies remain fragmented, with trade-offs poorly managed. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7400976553041506306
18. Africa Plastic Pollution Rise: Africa’s plastic consumption surged dramatically, with reports indicating over 80% of plastic waste mismanaged in many coastal and sub-Saharan countries, leading to severe marine pollution, ecosystem damage, health risks from microplastics, and economic losses in fisheries and tourism. Rapid urbanization and inadequate waste infrastructure exacerbate the crisis, turning rivers and oceans into dumping grounds despite bold bans in leading countries. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7359200396180951040
19. Record Tropical Forest Loss: In 2024, tropical primary forests lost 6.7 million hectares—nearly double 2023’s rate, equivalent to 18 soccer fields per minute—driven primarily by wildfires for the first time, releasing 3.1 Gt of CO₂ emissions and threatening the 2030 goal to halt deforestation. Countries like Brazil and Bolivia saw massive spikes, undermining carbon storage, biodiversity, and Indigenous livelihoods amid climate-amplified dry conditions. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7335620611693522945
20. 2024 Hottest Year: The past decade (2015-2024) marked the ten warmest years on record, with CO₂ levels at their highest in 800,000 years, pushing 2024 as the first full year exceeding 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and intensifying extremes like heatwaves, floods, and wildfires worldwide. This streak signals accelerating human-induced warming with irreversible impacts on oceans and ecosystems. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7313500773936427008
21. Limited Climate Education in NDCs: Despite the Paris Agreement’s emphasis on education, fewer than 50 countries meaningfully integrated climate and environmental education into their NDCs, with less than one-third even mentioning it, overlooking opportunities to build green skills, public awareness, and long-term resilience in youth and communities. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7331356431041937408
22. WMO 2024 Climate Report: The March 2025 WMO report confirmed 2024 as the warmest year on record at 1.55 ± 0.13°C above pre-industrial levels, with record ocean heat absorption, accelerating sea-level rise, glacier melt, and extreme events causing massive social and economic disruptions—some irreversible for centuries. https://wmo.int/publication-series/state-of-global-climate-2024
23. Children’s Climate Exposure Study: A May 2025 Nature study found over 50% of children born in 2020 will face unprecedented lifetime exposure to extremes like heatwaves, crop failures, droughts, and floods—even at 1.5°C warming—with risks multiplying under higher scenarios, exposing intergenerational inequity and vulnerability in tropical and low-income regions. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7392616242072891392
