All the negative news we have been hearing this year has left us drained. Indeed, two years of pandemic, the war in Ukraine, inflation, the energy crisis, the intensification of natural disasters, and the protests in Iran are a lot to take in. In our field, there was also the worst market environment since the Global Financial Crisis.
Every year in December, the Oxford English Dictionary chooses a representative Word of the Year. The winner, announced earlier this week, is Goblin mode – “a type of behaviour which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations.” It seems like many of us need some rest now.
Despite all the negative news, something positive has happened also this year.
In January, Moderna announced the first clinical trial of its experimental HIV vaccine. After decades of research, the use of the mRNA technology, applied in the COVID-19 vaccines, has pushed forward the research on HIV shots. According to the UNAIDS Global AIDS Update 2022, in the world, 4000 people are still becoming infected with HIV every day. Moderna is still in the early phases of human testing, but it is a step in the right direction.
In May, the European Commission presented REPowerEU, a plan to transform the European energy system, allowing Europe to become independent from Russian fossil fuel and accelerating the energy transition, with a positive impact on climate change. The war in Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis have exposed how much European countries rely on Russia for fossil fuels. Besides diversifying the sources of fossil fuels, Europe is increasing its 2030 target for renewables from 40% to 45%. The plan also includes targets for reducing fossil fuel consumption in the industrial and transport sectors.
In November, after the presidential election, the Brazilian Supreme Court ruled for the reactivation of the Amazon Fund. The fund protects the Amazon forest and limits deforestation in the country but was suspended during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.
Despite climate change, much progress has been made in coral reef conservation and restoration. In November, the coral reefs grown in an offshore “coral nursery” in the Great Barrier Reef have spawned for the first time, four years after being planted.
Progress has been made in childbirth and neonatal mortality: in the 2015-2021 period, 84% of births were assisted by skilled health professionals, up from 77% in the 2008-2014 period. Neonatal mortality decreased from 19 deaths for every 1000 live births in 2015 to 17. Famine and poverty are at all-time lows, and life expectancy is at an all-time high.
Sometimes we focus too much on the negative news we receive daily and lose track of the progress we are steadily making.
We thank you for your continued support.