The Progress Report
Since October 2021, seven sub-Saharan African countries have implemented legal changes that have had a profound impact on women's economic participation. Côte d’Ivoire and Gabon have led the way, with the elimination of all restrictions on women's employment, legislation on gender-based discrimination in financial services and domestic violence, and mandates for equal remuneration. World Bank
In the past three years, 30 countries—including some of the world's biggest like Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Nigeria—have introduced the HPV vaccine, and global coverage for all girls has increased to 21%, exceeding pre-pandemic levels for the first time. At this rate, we are on track to have HPV vaccines available for girls in all areas of the world by the end of this decade. WHO
Australia is making progress on domestic violence. Intimate partner homicide has declined 38% since 2016, the rate of partner violence has decreased by over 50%, the rate of cohabiting partner violence over the past two years has either decreased or not changed in all states, and rates of sexual harassment have reached their lowest levels ever in every state and territory. The Conversation
Rwanda is on track to become the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate malaria. In 2016, the country saw 17,941 cases of severe malaria, but in 2022-23, that number had fallen to 1,316, a decline of 85%, and only 51 deaths have been recorded this year. 'According to our latest data, we are on the right path towards eradicating malaria.' All Africa
Rajasthan, India, home to 80 million people, just kicked off what might be the largest basic income scheme in the world, providing 125 days guaranteed work for all and a minimum social security pension of ₹1,000 per month. This comes off the back of five years of incredible social progress. Between 2016 and 2021:
- Neonatal mortality rate decreased from 29.8 to 20.2 per 1,000 births
- Infant mortality rate declined from 41.3 to 30.3 per 1,000 births
- Supervised births in a medical facility increased from 84% to 94.9%
- Immunisation for children 12-23 months up from 54.8% to 80.4%
- Maternal mortality rate down from 141 to 113 per 100,000 live births
- Primary school enrolment up from 4.17 million to 4.65 million
Malaysia has made significant progress on poverty reduction this year. There are 102,888 people living in 'hardcore poverty,' down from 126,556 a year ago, and the government is working on further reducing these figures through targeted aid, including cash transfers, distribution of basic goods, subsidies for farmers and smallholders, and repairs to rural infrastructure. Free Malaysia
After extreme floods put a third of Pakistan under water in 2022, architect Yasmeen Lari vowed to build one million flood-resilient homes. Her foundation just revealed it is a third of the way towards that target and on track to build all one million by 2024 (thanks to subscriber Matthew Miller for this one). Dezeen
Happy World Toilet Day! (It was on Monday.) Did you know that in the 21st century, the number of people who practice open defecation has declined by more than two thirds, from 1.3 billion people in 2000 to 420 million in 2022? Only 5% of the global population are still defecating in fields, forests, bodies of water, or other open spaces. World Bank
As families in the United States prepare to gather for Thanksgiving next week, food prices have flatlined for months, gasoline prices are about 10% lower than they were a year ago, and wholesale prices in October fell by 0.5%, their biggest monthly drop since April 2020. Reuters
Economist Justin Wolfers says this should be called the Mary Poppins economy: inflation is receding, unemployment remains near fifty-year lows, real wages are now above pre-pandemic levels, growth remains robust, and 38% of the rise in inequality between 1979 and 2019 has now been reversed.
A new study in The Lancet has shown that between 2005 and 2020, annual global deaths attributable to air particulate matter from fossil fuels fell from 1,437,000 to 1,212,000, a 15.7% reduction. 'By reducing emissions linked to coal, we also saved more than 200,000 lives each year, because we have reduced air pollution.' El País
Yes, actions speak louder than words, and foreign policy isn't just about speeches—but this is a significant detente between the world's two most powerful countries, and a welcome break from the sabre-rattling of the last few years. Instead of reading a journalist's take on this, how about actually listening to what gets said?
If it bleeds it leads
Too good not to share. Thanks to The New York Times for what might be our favourite headline of 2023. 'Then, in a move he described as “half-accidental,” his teeth caught on the animal's leathery eyelid. “I managed to have a bite,” he said, adding: “I jerked back on his eyelid and he let go.”'
What if we save the world?
With just over a week left until COP28, we're about to enter the season of superlatives. Get ready to hear a lot of variations on 'we have crossed a threshold/warmest ever/wettest ever/the stakes have never been higher.' As the coverage intensifies, here's a one-sentence summary of the state of play: we are not screwed (because of great, pioneering, and relentless work by millions of people), but we aren’t unscrewed either (we need more great, pioneering, and relentless work by millions more). If you need more than that, can we suggest this fabulous essay by Kate Marvel, which strikes the perfect balance of fear and hope that so many of us are feeling right now.
Something else worth remembering is that while climate change is a global problem, the reality is that solving it is a China, United States, Europe, and India problem, and on this front the news is much better than what we're likely to see come out of COP28.
For example: China and the US just joined the EU in backing global efforts to triple renewable energy by 2030 and limit emissions of nitrous oxide and methane. This is a big deal. Tripling would require growing global solar and wind capacity from 2,000 GW to about 6,000 GW by 2030. That's a stunning goal, but achievable. NYT
No, really, it is achievable.
This week a Chinese utility announced it will build an 11 GW renewable energy project in the desert, with more generating capacity than New Zealand; and last week the government designated 15 cities, including Beijing and Shenzhen, to be pilot zones for clean public transport, with plans to add 600,000 new electric vehicles in the next three years.
As for the US, here's everything announced in the last week:
- $6 billion for climate resilience, including $3.9 billion for the grid.
- $3.5 billion to strengthen domestic battery manufacturing.
- $444 million to strengthen infrastructure for CO2 storage.
- $169 million of investments in heat pump manufacturing.
- $44 million for geothermal energy innovation.
- $40 million for clean-energy workforce training.
- $30 million in grants for energy efficiency and building retrofits.
The IEA's World Energy Employment Report is out. The clean energy sector added 4.7 million jobs globally between 2019 and 2022, a jump of 15%, while fossil fuel jobs fell by 4%. Clean energy jobs now total 35 million, more than half of all the world's energy jobs. This uptick has occurred in every region of the world.
The European Union reached a deal last week on a law to place methane emissions limits on oil and gas imports starting in 2030, pressuring international suppliers to clamp down on leaks of the potent greenhouse gas. Methane is the second-biggest cause of climate change after carbon dioxide. Reuters
From UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Conservative MP, Claire Coutinho. 'Never let anyone tell you the UK isn’t a world leader in renewable energy. In Q1 of this year 48% of our power came from renewables, up from just 7% in 2010, with the five largest offshore wind farms in the world on our doorstep.'
It's starting to happen, folks. Fossil gas demand is disappearing. In the first half of the year, 68 gas power plant projects were put on hold or cancelled globally. The reason? Batteries. 'This could mean natural gas has a smaller role in the energy transition than posited by the biggest, listed energy majors.' Yep. Reuters
A new analysis by Bloomberg shows that South Africa’s coal-heavy power system is on the cusp of a major transformation. Coal usage will likely peak in 2024, thanks to retirements and a booming small-scale solar industry, and emissions are likely to fall by a third by 2030 under an economics-led transition scenario. BNEF
Solar is booming in India. A new record of 16-17 GW may be added this fiscal year, breaking last year's record of 12.78 GW. India’s solar power has seen a more-than-threefold jump from March 2018 to October 2023, with capacity growing from 22 GW to 72 GW. Economic Times
Goldman Sachs says it expects battery costs to fall 40% by 2025 (from 2022 levels), helping slash the costs of electric vehicles. Specifically: dropping the cost of battery packs from $165/kWh in 2022 to $99/kWh in 2025 cuts the cost to produce an electric vehicle by between $3,300 and $6,600 per vehicle.
There were over 280 million electric mopeds, scooters, motorcycles, and three-wheelers on the road last year, and they are already cutting demand for oil by a million barrels of oil a day, about 1% of the world’s total oil demand. A reminder that the electric transport revolution is a great chance to rethink how we move through our cities, and whether we even need a car at all. Ars Technica
Volkswagen: 'We are convinced we can produce a $20,000 electric vehicle by the second half of the decade.'
Renault: 'Our new, battery-powered Twingo, launched on Wednesday, will cost less than $21,700.'
Kia: 'Our new EV5 electric SUV, launched in China on Friday, has a starting price of around $20,000.'
More reasons to stop doom-scrolling
The world's largest solar farm just got switched on in the desert outside Abu Dhabi. Last year 89% of Finland’s electricity came from fossil-fuel-free sources. Earlier this month, Portugal ran for 149 consecutive hours on 100% wind, water, and sunshine. Porsche is working on a major renovation of its Zuffenhausen factory in Germany to accommodate EVs. Battery storage in the United States skyrocketed 53.3% in Q3 2023 compared to Q3 2022, thanks to huge price drops in lithium carbonate and hydroxide. Sustainable car tires are becoming a reality. In the United States, 60% of medium-duty trucks and 43% of heavy-duty trucks are electrifiable today. From Bill Gates: 'don’t let grim headlines obscure the progress on climate change.' A woman's retirement home refused to install solar panels, she got it to buy 1,344 of them, and now Susan Auslander (89) is our new favourite person.
The Great Turning
Dominica will create the world’s first sperm whale reserve, spanning almost 800 km2 off the island’s west coast. Commercial fishing and large ships will be banned from the area, which is a key nursing and feeding ground for around 200 of the endangered mammals. BBC
Their ancestors likely inhabited Dominica before humans arrived. We want to ensure these majestic and highly intelligent animals are safe from harm and continue keeping our waters and our climate healthy.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit
American voters supported five significant conservation measures in four states in the November elections, resulting in $1.2 billion in conservation and park funding. The victory represents 'a collective effort to safeguard natural areas, protect wildlife habitat, mitigate wildfire risks, enhance park access, and invest in climate resilience.' TPL
This includes Texas, where 76% of voters supported a $1 billion fund for state parks, the largest investment in nature in the state’s history. Dozens of new parks will be created, protecting critical water resources and wildlife habitat. Also, a legal victory for wildlife corridors in California will uphold a program to protect connectivity between key habitat areas from development.
Over 80 million people across India cleaned up 900,000 sites on the 1st of October. Rubbish was cleaned from streets, highways, railway tracks and stations, health institutions, beaches, tourist locations, bodies of water, places of worship, slums, market areas, airports, and zoos and wildlife areas. Indian Express
A large-scale project to clean up waste from Russia’s Arctic territory has collected almost 6,000 tonnes of scrap metal since 2021, and Seven Clean Seas, a UK-based environmental organisation, has removed a staggering 2,206,079 kilograms of plastic waste from the world's oceans—the equivalent of 184 double-decker buses.
City parks departments and nonprofits across the U.S. are providing training for volunteers to plant, prune, and care for street trees. Thousands of volunteers are working to make a significant contribution to urban tree maintenance, calling it a ‘labour of love.’ Washington Post
It’s hard to save the rainforest, but you can save your community, which is part of your city and part of your world.
Mindy Maslin, Germantown Interfaith Power and Light Tree Tenders
The EU's recent microplastics ban gives manufacturers a grace period to develop new designs, but many companies have been working on natural alternatives for years: cosmetic giants like LUSH and The Body Shop have long used ground nuts, bamboo, and sea salt in their products, and in Germany, hundreds of artificial turf pitches have already been filled in with cork and sand. RTBC
Inspired by initiatives in Barcelona and London, the 'Bike Bus' movement has gone global with new cities like Cape Town, New York, and Florida joining the trend. In August, Oregon legislated the Bike Bus Bill to help schools employ crossing guards or adults to lead walking school buses or bike buses. Distilled
The EU has become the first international body to criminalise wide-scale environmental damage cases that are 'comparable to ecocide.' The revised law targets the most serious cases of ecosystem destruction, including habitat loss, illegal logging, water abstraction, and pollution. Perpetrators will face tougher penalties, ranging from prison sentences to company exclusions from public funds. Guardian
After a 53-year pause, a green megaproject in Algeria has been relaunched to reforest one million hectares of steppe between the wilayas of El Naâma and Tébessa. The project is intended to help combat desertification and improve the living conditions of over 7 million people. Afrik21
A program in California has begun restoring redwood forests, only 5% of which have never been logged. Old-growth redwoods store more aboveground carbon than any other forest on earth and take hundreds of years to grow. 'In an era when short-term thinking threatens the very liveability of our planet, it's extraordinary that people are investing careers and great sums of money in these projects.' BBC
The Tanka Fund, a Native-led nonprofit in South Dakota, has joined forces with the Nature Conservancy to restore more than 700 bison to Indigenous lands across America, and a vaccination program is helping protect California condors from bird flu during fall migration season. Six vaccinated birds have already been released.
A historic victory for animal rights in South Korea, with the government banning the dog meat industry by 2027. It follows public and political momentum to end the dog meat trade, which kills up to one million dogs per year for human consumption. World Animal News
Canada will ban its domestic trade of elephant ivory and rhino horn and the import of hunting trophies containing these parts. The landmark measures are thanks to a seven-year campaign by activists, who are working to help combat the $20 billion illegal wildlife trade. World Animal News
Indistinguishable from magic
We know everyone's got the attention span of a goldfish these days, but this only happened five days ago—that booster has 33 rocket engines burning 18,000 kg of fuel per second, and the spaceship riding on top of it weighs 5,000 tons, and the whole hot staging thing might just be one of the coolest engineering achievements of all time. Ars Technica
Big milestone. Deepmind has built an AI model called Graphcast that can predict weather conditions up to ten days in advance more accurately and much faster than the industry gold-standard from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Graphcast is already being used by weather agencies, including ECMWF, which is running a live experiment on its website.
A lot of research about AI in medicine has relied on experimental settings, but we're now starting to see it being used in actual clinical settings, and the results are very encouraging. In Hungary, radiologists used AI as an extra diagnostic tool on the mammograms of 25,065 women between April 2021 to January 2023, and it helped them detect up to 13% more breast cancers. Nature
Next in line might be pancreatic cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. A new study shows that AI outperforms the mean radiologist performance by 34.1% in sensitivity and 6.3% in specificity. This is why there are a lot of people saying we should be moving faster, not slower. Nature
Lily's personal AI tutor (take a bow, Neal Stephenson).
Swiss and American researchers have devised a new 3D-printing technique that can create complex moving devices from both rigid and elastic materials in a single print run, and they've used it to create a skeletal robotic hand with working ligaments and tendons. 'This technology, for the first time, allowed us to print complete functional systems that work right off the print bed.' Spectrum IEEE
The first medical treatment that uses CRISPR has been authorised in the United Kingdom, for patients with sickle cell disease and a related blood disorder called beta thalassemia, both of which are caused by defects in a single gene. We've been waiting for this moment since this newsletter started back in 2015. Amazing milestone. Wired
Japanese scientists ran MRIs on 1,162 people and used machine learning to find patterns linked to depression, suggesting a connection between the brain’s thalamus and its motor network is linked to depressive symptoms. Not to be outdone, Canadian researchers say they've shown that traces of tiny molecules in a teenager’s bloodstream can predict whether they will suffer depression too.
Two electric aircraft companies gave the public a vivid glimpse of what the future of aviation might look like earlier this month, performing brief demonstration flights over New York. The city says it will electrify two of the three heliports located in Manhattan, a big win for the nascent electric vertical take-off and landing industry. Tech Crunch
The information highway is still super
James Somers says that while ChatGPT has forever changed the role of programmers and the tasks they perform, it can’t alter the puzzle-solving spirit that inspires people to become coders in the first place. This one's been doing the rounds, and for good reason. New Yorker
So maybe the thing to teach isn’t a skill but a spirit. I sometimes think of what I might have been doing had I been born in a different time. The coders of the agrarian days probably futzed with waterwheels and crop varietals; in the Newtonian era, they might have been obsessed with glass, and dyes, and timekeeping. I was reading an oral history of neural networks recently, and it struck me how many of the people interviewed—people born in and around the nineteen-thirties—had played with radios when they were little. Maybe the next cohort will spend their late nights in the guts of the AIs their parents once regarded as black boxes. I shouldn’t worry that the era of coding is winding down. Hacking is forever.
Every day, we are granted the power to travel at high speeds, fly, see in the dark, summon water from distant mountains and electricity from the sun. These technological systems, the most complex and vast ever created by humans, have allowed us to work collectively for the public good, and now long-time FC brain crush Deb Chachra has written a book about them and you should go and read it straight away. Here's a review from another long-time FC brain crush, Annalee Newitz, who says that perhaps the most valuable insight is that good infrastructure is built for resilience, not optimisation. WaPo
We've been following Razib Khan for years—he's our go-to for all things genomics, and nobody does a better job at making such a complicated topic easy to understand. In this essay, he says that genomics is forcing us to look at human history in a whole new light. He also argues that the 21st century is going to see what might be the most important technological shift of all time: going from understanding life, to reengineering it at the genetic level. The ethical dilemma is whether humanity should, and we do, whether it will redesign ourselves according to our ideals, or adhere to natural laws. Palladium
That's a wrap, thanks for reading! We'll see you next week 😄
With love,
Gus and Amy
