Good morning!

From scientific discoveries to activist wins, here are the latest news stories that showcase the people who are taking on climate change head on.

1. A new agreement on ocean protection

49 of the 56 Commonwealth nations have a coastline, and includes many small island states that are at risk of their land disappearing as sea levels rise. This weekend, Commonwealth leaders reached an agreement that these countries’ borders will remain unchanged even if the land itself sinks. This means they will maintain their valuable fishing rights and minimize the damage to their economies even if their populations are forced to migrate. Other aspects of the agreement include restoring at least 30% of degraded marine ecosystems by 2030 and reducing emissions from shipping.

2. New insight into the role of rocks in carbon removal

Specific types of rocks react with carbon in a way that removes it from the atmosphere and traps it in the soil, or turns it into rock itself. This is a naturally occurring process that occurs over millions of years, but to use it as a tool to tackle the climate crisis, we need it to happen slightly faster. So, by crushing rocks and spreading it over agricultural land, we can speed up this process and enable it to remove potentially billions of tonnes of CO₂. Here, researchers set out to fill in some of the major gaps in our knowledge about how this process work, finding that its effectiveness varies wildly thanks to factors such as the type of rock, soil type, and the climate.

3. Growing momentum around taxing the rich

Billionaire’s favourite toys, from mega yachts to private jets, have an immensely damaging toll on the climate—the 13,500 private jets in the US produce as much emissions as 50 million cars. Any efforts to tax these emissions have so far had an inadvertent negative effect on the general population, most significantly low earners. So, the authors of this argue we need to designate them in their own category—luxury emissions.

By taxing mansions or yachts, governments can drum up the cash they need for climate initiatives that benefit everyone else, like improved public transport and green spaces. It’s a simple policy solution that won’t make anyone worse off (billionaires won’t exactly feel the pinch) and one where pressure is mounting—for instance, it’s what Oxfam is calling on the UK chancellor to do ahead of Labour’s first budget statement this week.