Top News Stories Of Last Week – There have been seismic shifts in energy, major medical advances, animal returns, weekly four-day trials, a renaissance of the night train, and plenty of other good news.
Two things happened this year that may have changed the energy paradigm forever. The first was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the West’s subsequent rush to get rid of Russian gas while increasing renewable energy.
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Putin’s war was “a historic turning point for a cleaner future”, said the International Energy Agency, which for the first time predicted that global demand for fossil fuels would peak in the mid-2030s due to conflict.
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Even without the war, the economic and moral case for fossil fuels looked increasingly weak in 2022, with Lloyds and HSBC among the banks that pledged to stop funding new oil and gas fields. On the other hand, investment in renewable energy has increased.
As the smart money moved towards wind and solar energy, in a Californian laboratory, scientists gave the world a glimpse of the energy of the future. US physicists have unraveled one of the biggest mysteries of nuclear fusion, bringing the prospect of nearly limitless low-carbon energy one step closer.
The climate crisis came into focus in 2022, with more alarming reports and extreme weather. As it stands, the world is on track for 2.5°C of warming by 2100, according to the United Nations. This is higher than 2C’s “upper safe limit”, meaning more radical action is needed.
Encouragingly, there were signs of progress. The US (the second largest emitter in the world after China) has passed legislation to supercharge its decarbonization program. Analysis suggests it could reduce US emissions by 44% by 2030. The EU has also set an emissions reduction target: by 55% this decade.
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Climate litigation has emerged as an effective tool to trigger action in 2022, with high-profile wins including a Philippine ruling that declared big polluters to be “morally and legally” responsible for climate damage.
“Climate litigation cases have played an important role in the movement towards the phase out of fossil fuels,” commented the London School of Economics, which said climate-related lawsuits had doubled since 2016.
For decades, poorer countries have begged richer nations to compensate them for the damage caused by climate change. For decades, his calls went unanswered. Yet.
In the Egyptian desert in November, delegates to the COP27 climate summit agreed to create a “loss and damage” fund to help developing countries deal with a crisis to which they barely contributed.
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Exact details have yet to be worked out, but the pledge was hailed as an otherwise unimpressive summit victory. It followed earlier commitments by Denmark and Scotland to compensate poor countries for climate damage.
The magnitude of the climate crisis leaves many people wondering how much of a difference they can really make. But research published this year suggests that citizens have direct influence over the 25% to 27% of the emissions savings needed to avert climate chaos.
The study was led by academics at the University of Leeds, who suggested six lifestyle changes that could help reduce emissions. None of this absolves governments and corporations of their responsibilities, but it does provide a welcome sense of agency.
In the ultimate gesture of corporate responsibility, the owner of multi-billion dollar clothing company Patagonia donated the company to help fight climate change.
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“The Earth is now our only shareholder”, announced the company’s CEO, Yvon Chouinard (pictured), who said that every dollar of profit that is not reinvested in Patagonia will be used to protect nature and biodiversity.
Patagonia’s move is part of a broader trend for companies to expand their remit beyond simply making money. Other companies have given nature “a seat on the board”, tied bonuses to sustainability goals and used algorithms to clean up supply chains. Expect the trend to accelerate in 2023.
The list of endangered species has continued to grow at an alarming rate, but some creatures have recovered in 2022, proving that extinction is not inevitable.
Beavers, bison and pelicans are among the species identified as bucking the trend by the Return of Wildlife Report, published in September. Most are the subject of reintroduction programmes, including the bison, who are roaming England again for the first time in thousands of years.
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Other notable success stories include the return of the rhino to Mozambique, the reported resurgence of fin whales, and the tiger clawing its way back from the abyss.
There is much work to be done, but these conservation victories have brought hope. So did December’s COP15 global biodiversity agreement, which committed the world to halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. An agreement to protect sharks was another notable victory.
In March, wildlife-rich Panama became the latest country to introduce a rights of nature law, joining countries such as Ecuador, Mexico and New Zealand.
Passing such a law is one thing, enforcing it is another. In Ecuador, some controversial extraction projects remained ecologically sensitive, although the law successfully prevented others from proceeding.
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The year came to an end with the news that nations had struck a deal to protect a third of the planet for nature by 2030.
It wasn’t the only sign of progress. In California, a swath of redwood forest has been returned to the descendants of Native American tribes; Ecuador determined that indigenous communities should have more autonomy over their territory; Europe has removed a record number of dams, returning hundreds of rivers to their original free-flowing state; and England got its first wetland “super-reserve”.
Meanwhile, in Brazil, the new president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has pledged to halt deforestation and revive the Amazon Fund, which allows rich countries to finance the conservation of Brazil’s rainforest.
There is cautious optimism that Ethiopia’s civil war could finally end, after the warring sides agreed to permanently end hostilities in November.
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The two-year conflict between the government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has displaced millions and caused misery for many more.
New fronts in the fight against cancer opened this year, with scientists developing better tools to detect and treat the disease.
Tests have been developed that appear to be able to diagnose cervical cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of the disease using blood and urine samples and other non-invasive checks. The research is ongoing, but it looks promising.
Experimental treatments also provided good news. In December, a teenager diagnosed with “incurable” leukemia was cured, thanks to what scientists say is the most sophisticated cellular engineering to date.
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Likewise, a woman who didn’t think she would survive last Christmas is celebrating a new lease on life, having had a remarkable response to an experimental bowel cancer drug.
Meanwhile, in the largest study of its kind, researchers harnessed the power of whole-genome sequencing to uncover a “treasure trove” of clues about the causes of cancer — discoveries that could improve diagnosis and patient outcomes.
The hitherto futile search for a cure for Alzheimer’s took a big step forward in November after a new drug was found to slow the disease.
Lecanemab works by clearing the amyloid protein that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. In a clinical trial, it was found to slow cognitive decline, a development described as “a huge step forward for dementia research”.
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Separately, an international study of Alzheimer’s disease has identified 75 genes associated with the disease, including 42 that were not previously linked. Identifying specific risk genes and the role they play in brain cell death could pave the way for new therapies, the researchers said.
Another study identified seven habits people can adopt to reduce their risk of developing dementia: exercising regularly; Eating healthily; Do not smoke; maintain a healthy weight; keep blood pressure under control; have healthy cholesterol levels; and maintain healthy blood sugar levels.
Among this year’s other notable medical achievements is the development of a bioengineered cornea, which restored the vision of 20 people in a clinical trial. The discovery could help an estimated 12.7 million people worldwide whose corneas are damaged or diseased.
Treatments have also improved for rare blood disorders and malaria, with researchers declaring a new malaria vaccine the “best yet”. The charity Malaria No More said childhood deaths from malaria could end “in our lifetimes” thanks to the drug.
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Meanwhile, some of the largest trials to date involving psychedelics have suggested that hallucinogens could provide an effective treatment for addiction, depression and other mental health conditions when combined with talk therapy.
It may not seem like it at times – particularly in 2022, the year of the so-called ‘permacrisis’ – but the world has become a better place to live in the past 11 years.
That’s according to the latest Social Progress Index, published last month. Each year, it assesses life in 169 countries, giving annual scores for nations and the world as a whole. Despite the good news, the index showed that progress was uneven and slow.
The UK, for example, has been identified as one of four countries in a “social progress recession”. The others were Syria, Venezuela and Libya.
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Fortunately, a separate study found that despite attempts by some to divide the UK, a tolerant core prevails. He reported a “surprising and reassuring feeling” of unity among Britons, even on supposedly divisive issues such as race.
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