The International Energy Agency says the amount of green electricity added across the globe in 2015 is evidence of a rapid transformation in energy system markets. The organization forecasts that over the next five years, capacity from renewables will grow faster than oil, gas, nuclear, or coal—reaching 60 percent of net capacity additions by 2021. The Guardian
For the fifth year in a row, the governments of Australia and Queensland rated the natural wonder "poor" for its overall health. The annual report card measures the reef's ecosystem health and its progress toward water pollution targets. To make matters worse, the assessment is based on data collected before this year's catastrophic bleaching event, suggesting next year the grade may sink even further. But remember: the reef is not dead yet! The Guardian
To encourage hosts to go solar, SolarCity is offering people who use Airbnb to rent their properties a $1,000 discount on installations. Bloomberg
The agricultural industry is a major source of global methane emissions, but Australian researchers have found that adding a small amount of dried Asparagopsis taxiformis seaweed to a cow's diet can reduce the amount of methane it produces by up to 99 percent. ABC
Following last year's massive leak at the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles (and in the midst of the area's battle with a brush fire), a new White House report outlines the safety and environmental risks posed by the 400 gas storage facilities across the country. The report includes 44 recommendations to prevent future incidents. ThinkProgress
After announcing that September 2016 was the hottest September in 136 years of record keeping, NASA says we're essentially locked in to setting a new annual record. Gizmodo
The Global Wind Energy Council says emissions reduction targets and the rapidly falling price of wind power could result in as much as 20 percent of global electricity being wind-generated within the next 15 years. The world's wind power installations in 2015 were up 17 percent from the year earlier, and they're set to grow substantially in 2016, too. Reuters
New data from NASA say that September 2016 was 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average. With just three months left in the year, it's all but certain that 2016 will overtake 2015 as the hottest year on record. Mashable
This month, the Paris Agreement went into effect, Canada announced a national carbon tax, the International Civil Aviation Organization reached a deal to limit emissions from the aviation industry, and 170 countries agreed to cut hydrofluorocarbons—potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration. None of these developments go far enough, but they're certainly steps in the right direction. Let's keep up the momentum, world! Motherboard
Researchers have been working on technology that would actually remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But the ideas are new and the scalability, costs, and hazards are unknown. Because of these big question marks, a new paper argues that countries need to focus instead on drastically cutting emissions. Climate Central