People Change:
According to Our World in Data, in 2021 malaria was the leading cause of death among children under five in more than 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria where more than 125,000 young children died from it.
Globally more than than 500,000 children die from preventable diarrheal diseases each year, with just 10 pathogens responsible for 75% of the deaths.
Globally, more than 700,000 people die in suicides every year.
Food and Water:
The FAO has recorded that since 2003 a highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected in more than 135 countries, spreading to at least 60 mammal and 20 marine species.
British biotech company Genus used CRISPR gene editing to create pigs free of the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.
Climate Change and the Environment:
New data shows the EU is on target to meet its 2030 environmental goals.
China’s overall greenhouse gas emissions have fallen for the first time. Solcast reports that a significant reduction in airborne pollutants as major Chinese cities recorded their cleanest air in two decades has resulted in irradiance in some parts of China being up to 30% higher than the long-term average while South Korea recorded a 10% increase in irradiance.
There have been major floods in China and Nigeria as well as Australia, where nearby regions are at the same time experiencing drought.
On the same day that a German court ruled against a Peruvian farmer who sued German energy utility RWE, arguing that the company’s emissions have contributed to the melting of Andean glaciers so threatening the town where he lives, a Swiss village was wiped out in an avalanche caused by the disintegration of a melting Alpine glacier.
More than 130 early season wildfires are burning across Canada.
First Street forecasts that 19,000 American homes will be repossessed due to climate risk in 2025 rising to 84,000 repossessions in 2035. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in 2024 the USA suffered nearly US$ 183 billion in damage due to extreme weather and climate change.
Research by Maryland’s Glad Lab showed more tropical forest was lost in 2024 than ever before, largely as a result of fires.
Low Cost Renewable Energy:
The share of Chinese renewable energy exports to emerging market countries increased from 23% in 2022 to 43% in 2024.
China installed 36 GW of rooftop PV in 1Q25.
A report by the European solar association SolarPower Europe highlights the cybersecurity challenges of PV installations in the European Union, particularly the vulnerabilities of connecting inverters and data management via cloud services outside of Europe.
DARPA announced that its scientists used new optical wireless receiving technology to transfer 800 W of power to a receiver 8.6 km away in a 30 second transmission.
According to a study by Boston University’s Institute for Global Sustainability, nuclear power plants exceed construction budgets by an average of 102.5%, costing US$ 1.56 billion more than planned on average.
Autonomous Electric Vehicles:
Baidu is planning to launch its robotaxis in Europe.
CATL forecasts that 50% of truck sales in China will be electric by 2028.
A fleet of 100 Huaneng Ruichi autonomous electric mining trucks has officially entered operation at the Yimin open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia, China.
Nigeria is currently commissioning two Chinese funded lithium plants.
Mass Data Mining and Storage:
Amazon launched its first batch of communications satellites which will compete with Starlink and Chinese satellite networks.
Baker Botts estimates that the data centre industry will triple in size globally by 2034, from US$ 256 billion in asset value to about US$ 776 billion.
So far this century cell-phone subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa have grown from just 2 per 100 people to 89, while in South Asia they went from less than 1 to 84.
American scientists have unveiled a framework that could connect classical mechanics and thermodynamics under a single mathematical umbrella and so solve Hilbert’s sixth problem.
