Impact Almanac 2022: A year in Review
The 2020s are still a very turbulent decade. While most news organizations publish annual reports, the most impactful news on purpose and sustainability is difficult to find in one place. I’ve spent the last 15 days curating the most important news on sustainability in 2022. I am aware that this is not an exhaustive list. So, rather than a static article, I hope the list will be an accumulative and collaborative piece of work.
For any news that I’ve might have missed, please share them with me on twitter. Scroll down for an initial list of 11 most impactful event of 2022.
1. 2020–present global chip shortage
2020s has started with a perfect mix of a disaster. Together with the COVID-induced global recession, logistic distribution, an increased demand for electronics during the first year of pandemic and local lock downs triggered a global chip shortages. While this is a multi-year problem that has been also triggered due to the increased use of cryptocurrencies has led to a large amount of mining before the pandemic and will last mid-20s, in the year 2022 we have witnessed the realities of geopolitical risk since over 90% of chip production is happening in Taiwan. That is why companies like Sony, TSMC and Apple are making significant investments to diversify the global chip production.
2. COVID19 induced inflation and looming recession
According to the NBER’s definition of recession — a significant decline in economic activity that is spread across the economy and that lasts more than a few months. With the increased food prices, rapid rise of energy costs and already weakened supply chains, the cost of living has increased a lot, hence the inflation but a global recession while looming, has not showed it’s full force yet. What striking was in 2022 is the reaction of central banks, as majority of them have aggressively raised interest rates in 2022 to tackle inflation, which could lead to a global recession.
3. The Inflation Reduction Act
One of the major wins from the Northern Hempishere was the US government’s The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which was signed into law in August 2022, will cut Americans’ energy costs, create purposeful work and transform U.S. efforts to address the climate crisis. This act includes $369 billion in funding to tackle climate crisis.
4. Russian-Ukraine War and Three Headed Hydra
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24th February marked a dramatic escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and a profound shock to the world. True impact of the Russian war is immense. Over 17,000 casualties since 24th February, including over 6,500 killed with 6.5 million people have been internally displaced. As of December 2022, there are over 7 million refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe. In addition to human cost, the Russian aggression has unleashed a “three-headed hydra” of food, energy and finance shortages in Africa and other regions while forcing countries to revert back to fossil fuels while making the net-zero transition quite harder.
5. 1 terawatt of installed solar energy capacity: Year of Solar Energy
According to the most recent estimates, there are currently enough solar panels installed worldwide to produce 1 terawatt (TW) of power from the sun, which represents a significant advancement for the adoption of renewable energy.
Even though this solar capacity is sufficient to cover all of Europe’s electricity needs combined, it still represents a very small portion of the world’s energy supply due to distribution and storage issues.
6. Wild Polio Confirmed For The First Time Since 30 Years In Mozambique
The genetic sequencing of a similar strain of the childhood disease in Malawi earlier this year led to the discovery of the first case of wild polio in Mozambique in three decades.
Polio is a seriously contagious illness that is primarily transmitted by feces in the mouth. The infection may result in paralysis, which can occasionally be fatal. Although there is no treatment, immunization has almost completely eradicated the disease’s wild form worldwide.
7. Pandemic into tridemic
After three years of global measures, flu activity was unusually low over the whole 2020–2021 flu season. The decrease in flu prevalence, hospitalizations, and fatalities in 2020–2021 was probably caused by COVID-19 mitigation strategies like face mask use, remaining at home, hand washing, school closings, reduced travel, enhanced interior ventilation, and physical separation.
However, in 2022–2023 season, the population is being affected by three extremely contagious respiratory infections, which some are referring to as a “tri-demic” or “triple-demic.” Hospitals globally are under stress due to an increase in the number of COVID, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases. In addition to tridemic, Africa is also far from reaching the year-end global target of protecting 70% of the population. As a result, these communities may be disproportionately affected by vaccine-preventable diseases and may experience higher rates of morbidity and mortality. It is important to address vaccine inequality in order to ensure that all individuals have equal access to life-saving preventive measures and to promote health equity.
8. Global Rise of Protests
Anti-government protests reached a record high in 2022 as a result of rising public resentment over economic issues, particularly rising inflation. Protests broke out in almost every part of the world, while many of the biggest economic demonstrations took place in Europe, especially in Belgium, France, Germany, and Spain. While the Iranian rallies received a lot of attention, there was also deadly violence against protestors this year in Tajikistan, Myanmar, and Sierra Leone.
9. Day of Billion: World Population hit a new milestone
According to the United Nations, the world’s population reached 8 billion in 15 November 2022. Previous milestone was reached 31 October 2011. Numerous social, economic, and environmental problems have been significantly impacted by the rise of the human population.
As the population increases, pressure is placed on resources like food, water, and land, which can lead to issues like pollution, climate change, and resource depletion. It is crucial that both individuals and governments take the effects of population expansion into account and work toward just and sustainable solutions.
10. African COP and the increased importance of adaptation
Often touted as African COP, 27th edition of COP was vastly different than the previous summits as this one had a major focus on biodiversity and adaptation as Africa is the least climate-resilient region of the world. Climate shocks are contributing to direct loss of economic assets and livelihoods. This increases the risk of famine, providing impetus for destabilising migration and threatening economic growth. While it is naive to expect a huge success from such summits accepting the lack of concrete goals for adaptation, akin to the 1.5 degree limit, hopes are high with the increased momentum when the promised ‘global goal on adaptation’ (GGA) is finally defined, to help mobilize finance and spur implementation.
11. 1.5C
IPCC scientists agree that temperatures have now risen at least 1.2C above pre-industrial times — but warming is not spread evenly around the globe.
On land, temperatures have already risen about 1.5C — more than over the bigger, cooler oceans — and the northern hemisphere is particularly warm, with Europe having seen about 2C of warming and the Arctic 3C.
With this news, I wish you an impactful and purposeful year. End of years are special times to evaluate our impact. To do so I have a tool for you to retrospectively observe this year and carry those learnings into 2023.
I hope you will accelerate your journey while building for a more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive planet. It is time to build for planet!
