2022 - A Watershed Year That Few Will Shed A Tear For

30 years ago Queen Elizabeth described 1992 as an annus horribilis, a phrase repeated 18 years ago by then UN Secretary General Kofi Anan, referring to the problems at the United Nations, and in #iraq , #sudan , #palestine and #drc . Were they still alive, both would probably have used the phrase to describe #2022, though current UN S-G Guterres put it more graphically, saying we’re on a “highway to climate hell” as we face “climate catastrophe”.

For me, 2022 was a year to see those that I hadn't seen for too long because of covid restrictions, to make new friends and contacts, and to prepare for 2023, a year that will bring recession, poverty, war and misery to many, increasing #climate and #food crises, #economic , social and #geopolitical issues.

2023 is the year when great changes and disruption will take place, which will create opportunities for #investors , #entrepreneurs and #businesses .

Our thoughts are with those in Ukraine, who spent much of 2022 being bombed, murdered, raped and persecuted defending their country and freedoms, many of whom are now struggling to survive the winter without electricity, water, and heating, or fighting in World War I style trenches, or forced to become refugees, adding to the already record number of refugees worldwide escaping persecution, war, poverty, or climate disaster. And our thoughts are with the hundreds of millions around the world spending the New Year dealing with the after-effects of a record year for floods, droughts, and storms. And going hungry, as the food crisis worsens.

Historians will look back at 2022 as the turning point, when we woke up and started to make the changes we need to save ourselves and our home, and fight the rising tide of tyranny against our individual freedom and rights.

•  With increasing storms, droughts, floods, heat waves, deep freezes, shortages & rising prices affecting voters, some in the US government finally got the message that maybe it’s time for the most powerful nation and the second largest polluter on the planet to do something. The IRA, the SEC’s impending carbon disclosure, new funding, incentives and restrictions, have created an environment for the most effective way to solve the climate, food and other crises – make it more profitable to solve the problems than worsen them. Every week I have the opportunity to fund and be involved in amazing technology and solutions, entrepreneurs building businesses to meet the market need for better, cleaner, more sustainable ways of doing things, being financed by investors who recognize the profits and opportunities being created by the shift in regulations, consumer and investor preferences. The US has a vast pool of technology, research, businesses, entrepreneurs and finance – change happens quickly when it becomes profitable to change, as we have seen in many other sectors. 
•  Europe has historically led the world with its regulations and moves towards sustainability – the types of waste, recycling, clean energy, smart city and other deals I have seen this year emerging in the US are similar to those I was involved in funding in Europe back in the ‘90s. The failures of their policies, their naivety, combined with putting politics over common sense, have been painfully apparent in 2022 – the hypocrisy of a Green party coalition German Government reopening coal mines and asking countries to pump more oil & gas is not lost on the world they have been lecturing to for decades. But 2022 has also brought out some of the best in Europeans – making sacrifices to stand with Ukraine; standing together against oppressive regimes; and they continue to move ahead with bringing in regulations to reduce carbon emissions not only within Europe but globally.
•  Africa should be central to most discussions about the future. It has the youngest and fastest growing population of any Continent; two thirds of the worlds remaining arable land, with the potential to solve the world food crisis; much of the minerals and resources needed to power the world, in a clean or dirty way, are in abundant supply there; and it is the Continent that is most at risk of climate change, and already suffering from climate injustice, with half the people without electricity, and home to a ridiculously high % of the worlds hungry. The US-Africa Summit a few weeks ago committed the US to start providing Africa with the funding and technology it needs to develop sustainably and be part of the solution. Africa is rising – investors and businesses are taking note.
• Delegates to COP27 were presented with a choice: “cooperate or perish. It is either a climate solidarity pact or a collective suicide pact.” The end result was less melodramatic, but could have significant impact, particularly for the funding of sustainable projects in Developing Economies, and technology transfer. The year ended with COP15, Chaired by China but hosted by Canada (yes, seems like the whole naming and hosting designed to confuse) – agreement was reached to measures to halt and reverse nature loss, including putting 30% of the planet and 30% of degraded ecosystems under protection by 2030, and proposals to increase finance to developing countries.
•  As the largest polluter, manufacturer, and consumer, the 1st/2nd largest economy on the planet, as well as the biggest investor in and producer of renewable energy technologies, a major food producer and consumer, owner of a large % of the worlds natural resources and largest investor in and trading partner for most of the world’s countries, China is integral to any solution and future for humanity. Chinese people have been subject to various covid related travel restrictions since early 2020, which are only now being lifted – in 2023, we will see how much the world, and Chinese people, have changed in the nearly 3 years that Chinese have been largely absent from the world, and how China intends to use its position and strength to move the direction of the world. The competition, especially in technology, between China and the US, has the potential to take us all forward.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones for 2023 and our shared future. Let’s make 2023 an annus mirabilis