Angus Hervey

Syria rid itself of a 50-year-old autocratic regime.

Bangladesh's students sparked democratic change through massive protests.

Voters in India, the world's largest democracy,

firmly rejected authoritarianism.

England, Ireland and Canada extended free contraception to more women.

Indonesia launched a program to feed all 70 million of its school students.

And did you know that Cambodia, once the world's most mined country, is on its track to be landmine-free within the next few years?

In 2024,

Fewer people died from natural disasters than almost any year in history.

The murder rate in the United States saw its biggest-ever 12-month decline, beating the previous record, which was set in 2023, and deforestation in the Amazon declined to its fourth-lowest level on record, an achievement that gives me more hope for life on Earth than all the rockets that we send to Mars.

Last year, we installed enough solar panels and wind turbines to replace six percent of the world's fossil fuel electricity.

This year, we will install even more.

We are bending the curve.

Emissions are declining in Europe and America and have finally leveled off

in China.

Electric vehicles are biting into oil demand now.

Wind, water and sunshine will overtake coal this year as the world's leading power source, regardless of what anyone says in the White House.

And thanks to artificial intelligence, we are now starting to see breakthroughs we once thought impossible, the biggest boost to human knowledge since the scientific revolution.

We are determining the structure and interaction of every single one of life's molecules, inventing extraordinary new enzymes, new drugs, new materials, controlling plasma and nuclear fusion experiments.

Last year, we got a new miracle drug for HIV prevention, mRNA vaccines for cancer.