A Danish Climate Refugee Drama, Electric Air Taxis, Peak Emissions In China?, and More!

Hey climate heroes! Welcome to The Climate Roundup, where we round up the change, er the news about climate and the environment. As part of the Gen E community, we thank you for making climate action part of everyday life. (Reading this newsletter counts!)

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In Pop Culture:

Disaster doesn’t always look dramatic. In “Families Like Ours”, a new Danish drama by the Oscar-winning director Thomas Vinterberg, Denmark is disappearing due to sea level rise, and calmly begins evacuating its entire population. No explosions, no chaos, just the quiet dread of millions becoming climate refugees. The brilliance of the show (per this opinion piece, and other reviews) lies in its ordinariness: family dinners, teen angst, and awkward goodbyes play out against the backdrop of existential upheaval. It’s an eerie mirror to our own reality, where the climate crisis worsens, yet the majority of people keep scrolling. The trailer is moving, and I really hope we’re able to watch this soon in the US.

Philanthropy At Work:

🧘‍♀️ Lululemon commits to 50% renewable electricity for core suppliers by 2030. Stand.earth celebrated this milestone as a big step toward cutting pollution from the apparel industry’s supply chain, which is one of fashion’s dirtiest secrets. The move came after sustained advocacy from Stand’s Fossil Free Fashion campaign, which pushes major brands to ditch coal-powered factories. While it’s progress, Stand is calling on Lululemon to go further by adopting a 100% renewable goal and publicly disclosing supplier emissions.

💪 You can support groups like Stand.earth through Gen E.

In Environmental News:

🚁 Electric air taxis are coming to the Olympics. Archer Aviation will be the official air taxi provider for the 2028 LA Olympic and Paralympic Games, aiming to shuttle VIPs and fans via its zero-emissions aircraft. The sleek electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) taxis are cleaner and quieter than helicopters, but the whole plan hinges on FAA approval. If cleared, they’ll start flying in the US next year and could help cut traffic chaos when the world arrives in LA.

👨‍🌾 Farmers sued and won. After quietly scrubbing key climate info from its websites, the USDA has agreed to restore online tools and pages about climate-smart agriculture and rural clean energy. The about-face follows a lawsuit from farmers and environmental groups, who say the data is essential for adapting to extreme weather. Some pages are already back, but advocates are watching closely to ensure the agency fully delivers.

💡 Finland is turning data center waste heat into home heating. Data centers generate intense heat as servers process massive amounts of data, and in cold Nordic countries like Finland, that excess warmth is now being piped into homes. Microsoft’s new facility in Finland will be the largest project to use this heat recovery model, and will heat about 40% of homes in Espoo, Finland’s second largest city. It’s a smart way to utilize a by-product of the evergrowing data center farms, though while it can help offset some energy needs elsewhere, these facilities still pose a major environmental burden.

🚘 Global EV sales are expected to increase from 20% of all cars sold in 2024 to 25% in 2025, with the growth coming mostly from China and Europe, per the latest IEA report. And while Trump tries to kill the EV market here in the US, with the latest blow likely coming from an anticipated rollback of the $7,500 tax credit enjoyed by many from the good old Biden days, it’s slightly comforting to see other parts of the world staying the course. One positive thing for the US market: GM announced a new battery partnership that will lower prices of its next gen electric trucks and SUVs while increasing range to 400 miles, in what would be the industry’s first lithium manganese-rich (LMR) batteries. Power on, GM.

👀 In 2021, China pledged to stop financing new coal plants abroad. New research shows that it has actually kept that promise. However, coal plants that it financed prior to 2021 are beginning to come online and will release the dirtiest of emissions for decades. Still, there are many signals and data showing that China is moving in a cleaner direction…

The Future Is Worn

👚 In the US, the secondhand clothing market grew 5x faster than its virgin counterpart last year, and tariff-mania is expected to further accelerate the trend as shoppers look for cheaper alternatives. On that note, did you know that ThriftCon is a thing? Yep.

When it comes to brands building their own resale programs, a Colorado company is behind this emerging pocket of circular fashion. Tersus Solutions cleans, repairs, and ships secondhand gear for brands like Lululemon, Patagonia, and The North Face, using waterless CO₂ cleaning tech that keeps clothes in circulation and out of landfills. With 25,000+ repairs a year and zero waste from operations, Tersus is quietly becoming the engine behind resale and repair for the outdoor and apparel industry. Can you imagine a world where all clothing starts and ends at a facility like this?