Renewables booming
Global renewable power is forecast to break another record in 2022, despite all the issues and concerns around higher costs and supply chain problems, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Recovery funding
In the months since COP26 in November 2021, the continuing questions have been: What has happened since the discussions ended? Has any progress actually been made? Will there be a re-run of the same discussions in Egypt at the next COP?
Winners and losers
Despite the raft of new biotech company entries, the first quarter of 2022 has also seen massive job losses in the sector, particularly in the US. And the companies concerned are not just small startups, they include names in Big Pharma, like Pfizer, Lundbeck, Daiichi, Gilead and Biogen.
Critical impact
Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has shone a stark spotlight on the inter-related, and particularly interdependent, nature of the modern globalised world. And the impact of this heinous act will have repercussions long after any resolution of the situation.
Risk awareness
As a prelude to its rescheduled annual conference (22-26 May) in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, the World Economic Forum has published its own analysis of risks facing the global community in 2022 and beyond. Read the Leader article in C&I Magazine.
Things to come
At the beginning of any new year, the desire to look back at the events of the previous year and to make predictions about the coming year seems to be a universal human trait – and 2022 is no exception. Forecasting is as much a part of a new year as New Year resolutions, although it is to be hoped they are more enduring, and more closely related to reality.
1.5°C, 1.8°C or even 2.8°C
The ambition of the recent COP26 event in Glasgow was to set in place measures that the whole world could agree upon to restrict global warming to 1.5°C. One key to this aim was to halve carbon emissions by 2030. So has this been achieved and is the world going to survive?
Winter of discontent?
As world leaders gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, countries were already backtracking on their announced proposals, changing their proposals or making even more extravagant announcements to support their posturing. Meanwhile, gas prices continued to surge prompting, at least in the UK, dire warnings regarding industry shutdowns and widespread energy poverty.
Not so united front
While the UK’s COP26 President Alok Sharma was clocking up air miles jetting around the world attempting to stir up support for radical measures to combat climate change, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has been announcing more and more dramatic and urgent measures to achieve the so-called net-zero target of 2050, in an attempt to encourage other G20 nations to follow suit.
Plastics rethink
Much of the discussion on plastic waste has focused on recycling and reuse, as well as replacement by other materials or approaches, like refillable containers. While these discussions are entirely relevant and worthwhile, the whole issue ultimately comes down to the willingness of consumers to sort and collect plastic waste or take their own refillable containers to supermarkets or other retail outlets to restock their preferred products.