— Written by Lyle Jarvis

2025: Our Best Year Yet

By many metrics, this was Pique’s best year yet. We worked with and employed 56 people, sponsored seven events, grew our partners, told instrumental stories, and started producing our first feature documentary with climate leaders like Dr. Dana Fisher (check out her TED Talk) and Dr. Katharine Hayhoe.

We put out climate content of all shapes and sizes, telling important stories about cool climate solutions, and sharing reasons for optimism:

• Launched Unf*cking the Planet - Season 2 

• Trailer and teasers for the Moonshot Podcast 

• Posted Season 2’s final episode of Reinventing Tomorrow 

• Began production on Saving Ourselves in Altadena and Washington, DC

We’re also proud to have published an incredible Climate Creators to Watch List this year, putting the spotlight on some hugely talented creators helping change the narrative on climate action.

We helped bring the climate community closer than ever by sponsoring some awesome events (across 34 days), and showing up as a team at: 

• Hollywood Climate Summit

• Climate Film Festival

• Panel at Los Angeles Climate Week + Official Media Sponsor

• Carbonauts + Pique Mrs. Robinson Screening

• Harvard / CCTWL

• True/False sponsorship

• Film2Future

We garnered some remarkably flattering reactions to our work…

“These are so good! I literally started getting a tear in my eye because they are so powerful — and they hit all the right notes.” - Climate fund

“ Hi team, Thank you so much for the incredible video. It is a work of art”. Department of Energy

"It was an absolute hit. It was incredibly well received. Everybody in the room loved it." - Climate philanthropy 

And along the way, we picked up some new hardware for the Pique trophy case:

• Telly Award - Audience Award GOLD 2025

• Telly Award - Silver Award - Branded Series 2025

• Webby Award 2025

• Shorty Award - Finalist - Branded Series 2025

The Elephant in the Room

It’s impossible to summarize 2025 without acknowledging the broader political and cultural landscape. The Trump Administration has reshaped our institutions, our public policies (specifically to climate policy and the I.R.A.), and our national discourse – especially around climate. Climate change and ESG not only became dirty words, they were effectively run out of town.

We witnessed first hand the corporate pull-back from climate communications, the evolution of sustainability framing, the dissolution of the EPA and much of the DOE. Many of the organizations we relied on as partners, clients, and allies were forced to scale back or redirect.

And yet, we emerged as a storytelling force. 

Pique-ing around the corner into 2026, we have a great deal to look forward to and to do. Supporting science, truth, and climate communications are absolutely critical, and next year, we will double our efforts to share stories to compel, inform, and inspire. We have some very exciting announcements in early 2026, so stay tuned!

2025 Was Far From Perfect, but Progress Prevails

Despite some of the headwinds mentioned above, there were still plenty of reasons to feel optimistic this year. Here are just some of the many wins we’re celebrating:

• Public Lands Were Saved from Sale: In a huge win for conservation, a provision in the disastrous budget bill that would have sold off millions of acres of public land was successfully pulled after massive public mobilization.
  

• States Drove the Clean Energy Transition: When federal efforts stalled, many states charged ahead, passing crucial laws to accelerate clean energy goals and lower energy bills for families. This is critical, as state-level action is a primary way to sustain progress and usher in wins. For instance, Nevada mandated heat mitigation plans for its most populated counties to combat extreme heat, and Ohio repealed harmful coal bailouts.
  

• Global deforestation appears to be in decline: Over the past few decades, the amount of forest lost around the world has been cut by millions of hectares. While it's still off track to meet critical targets, experts say it's trending in the right direction.
  

• Solar Shined Brighter Than Ever: Solar power continued its massive surge. This was supported by the growing excitement around our new tradition, Sun Day!
  

• A.I. further proved itself a climate solution. Mangrove-Planting Drones supercharged restoration across the globe. The new AI-powered platform Climate TRACE, co-founded by Al Gore, started fundamentally changing how we track emissions. Many, many more cool tech-powered solutions are paving the way for climate progress!

Hand Up: A Global Reality Check

Looking into a more broad “state of the union,” it’s time to say the quiet part out loud. The climate movement faced some serious challenges this year. The "Big Ugly Bill" was considered “the most anti-environment bill in American history,” Check out this article for a deeper dive into how the law is impacting states across the country.

Bonus read: Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is one big betrayal of American energy progress (Fortune)

As a result, the U.S. remains the world's largest producer of oil and gas. It also reached record production highs this year. Globally, new reports show that to meet the Paris Agreement goal, climate action needs to accelerate at least twofold, and up to fourfold in many sectors. 

Bonus read: 2025: The year the US gave up on climate, and the world gave up on us (Grist)

It’s becoming clearer than ever that the leader across green innovation and deployment of clean energy technology is China. Despite being the world's largest emitter, they boasted some significant climate strides this year. And while motivation from Chinese Leadership still appears to be economic, we'll take all the wins we can get.

Bonus read: There’s a Race to Power the Future. China is Pulling Away. (New York Times)

Moving into 2026, we’ve got our sights set on some important goals; like the global momentum toward improved climate finance and the $1.3T target, and the rise of A.I 's climate potential.

Newsletter Mailbag: Some Top Stories from the Year

Thank you all for another great year together. Whatever happens in 2026, we’ll be celebrating the wins, learning from the losses, and growing our community in the best ways we know how. Have some climate wins you’re celebrating this holiday season? Reply to this email to tell us about them!

In the meantime, rolling a few re-runs to close us out:  

• Up in the Air: The Future of the E.P.A. ☁️: The EPA is the government agency tasked with protecting our clean air and water. And despite a decades-long track record of protecting us from environmental threats, the EPA faced serious threats of its own this year.
  

• Your Imports Just Got Hotter: The Climate Impact of Tariffs: Tariff turbulence grinds on. And while much of the conversation is around geopolitics and economics, tariff policies can also pose massive impacts for our climate future. Read on to learn more!
  

• Better State than Never: Climate Progress in 2025: The Federal Government has flat out left us out to dry in the climate action department. Luckily, state and local efforts have been working double time to pick up some of the slack left by the feds.
  

• Climate Impacts Aren’t Colorblind: Climate change is hitting Black and Brown communities hardest — not by accident, but by design. In this Juneteenth edition, read on to see how history, policy, and pollution collide.