1. There were some notable breakthroughs in the treatment of cancer in 2023. A new cervical cancer treatment using cheap, existing drugs was described as “the biggest improvement in outcome in this disease in over 20 years”. Scientists also made a “tremendously exciting” breakthrough in treating prostate cancer. England, meanwhile, approved a drug shown to prevent breast cancer.
2. There was reason for optimism, after two drugs were found to slow Alzheimer’s disease. Drugs – set for UK approval in 2024 – mark a turning point in treating a disease that is expected to affect 1.7m Britons by 2040.
3. In a historic referendum that pitted people against big oil, Ecuadorians voted to halt drilling in a protected region of the Amazon in August. Some 60% of voters said ‘no’ to oil exploration in Yasuní national park, which is home to uncontacted Indigenous communities. The territory spans 1m hectares (2.5m acres) and contains Ecuador’s biggest reserves of crude.
4. In the EU, burning coal and gas for generating electricity fell to record lows this year, according to a report by the energy thinktank Ember, published in August.
5. China’s emissions are forecast to start falling in 2024, thanks to the country’s rapid rollout of renewables.
The world’s biggest polluter saw a spike in emissions in the first few months of 2023 as it bounced back from Covid. But it also installed a record amount of green energy infrastructure, which experts predict will tip fossil fuel use for electricity generation into an era of structural decline in China.
so we may be gaining more trees, but less open land..