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= World Economic Forum =
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Introduction
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The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international advocacy
non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton
of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German
engineer Klaus Schwab.
The foundation's stated mission is "improving the state of the world
by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of
society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas".
The foundation is mostly funded by its 1,000 member multi-national
companies.
The WEF is mostly known for its annual meeting at the end of January
in Davos, a mountain resort in the canton of GraubA 1/4nden, in the
eastern Alps region of Switzerland. The meeting brings together some
3,000 paying members and selected participants - among whom are
investors, business leaders, political leaders, economists,
celebrities and journalists - for up to five days to discuss global
issues across 500 sessions.
Aside from Davos, the organization convenes regional conferences, it
produces a series of reports, engages its members in sector-specific
initiatives and provides a platform for leaders from selected
stakeholder groups to collaborate on projects and initiatives.
The World Economic Forum and its annual meeting in Davos have received
criticism over the years, including allegations of the organization's
corporate capture of global and democratic institutions, institutional
whitewashing initiatives, the public cost of security, the
organization's tax-exempt status, unclear decision processes and
membership criteria, a lack of financial transparency, and the
environmental footprint of its annual meetings.
History
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The WEF was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, a business professor at
the University of Geneva. First named the European Management Forum,
it changed its name to the World Economic Forum in 1987 and sought to
broaden its vision to include providing a platform for resolving
international conflicts.
In February 1971, Schwab invited 450 executives from Western European
firms to the first European Management Symposium held in the Davos
Congress Centre under the patronage of the European Commission and
European industrial associations, where Schwab sought to introduce
European firms to American management practices. He then founded the
WEF as a nonprofit organization based in Geneva and drew European
business leaders to Davos for the annual meetings each January.
The second European Management Forum in 1972 was the first meeting
where a head of government featured as a speaker, Prime Minister
Pierre Werner of Luxembourg.
Events in 1973, including the collapse of the Bretton Woods
fixed-exchange rate mechanism and the Yom Kippur War, saw the annual
meeting expand its focus from management to economic and social
issues, and, for the first time, political leaders were invited to the
annual meeting in January 1974.
Through the forum's first decade, it maintained a playful atmosphere,
with many members skiing and participating in evening events.
Appraising the 1981 event, one attendee noted that "the forum offers a
delightful vacation on the expense account."
Political leaders soon began to use the annual meeting as venue for
promoting their interests. The 'Davos Declaration' was signed in 1988
by Greece and Turkey, helping them turn back from the brink of war. In
1992, South African president F. W. de Klerk met with Nelson Mandela
and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the annual meeting, their first
joint appearance outside South Africa. At the 1994 annual meeting,
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat
reached a draft agreement on Gaza and Jericho.
After 9/11, the WEF was held in the U.S., in New York City, for the
first time. And in January 2003, U.S. secretary of state Powell went
to the forum to drum up sympathy for the global war on terrorism and
the U.S.'s impending invasion of Iraq.
In October 2004, the World Economic Forum gained attention through the
resignation of its CEO and executive director JosA(c) MarAa Figueres over
the undeclared receipt of more than US$900,000 in consultancy fees
from the French telecommunications firm Alcatel. Transparency
International highlighted this incident in their Global Corruption
Report two years later in 2006.
In January 2006, the WEF published an article in its 'Global Agenda'
magazine titled "Boycott Israel", which was distributed to all 2,340
participants of the annual meeting. Following the publication, Klaus
Schwab described the publication as "an unacceptable failure in the
editorial process".
In late 2015, the invitation was extended to include a North Korean
delegation for the 2016 WEF, "in view of positive signs coming out of
the country", the WEF organizers noted. North Korea has not been
attending the WEF since 1998. The invitation was accepted. However,
WEF revoked the invitation on 13 January 2016, after the 6 January
2016 North Korean nuclear test, and the country's attendance was made
subject to "existing and possible forthcoming sanctions". Despite
protests by North Korea calling the decision by the WEF managing board
a "sudden and irresponsible" move, the WEF committee maintained the
exclusion because "under these circumstances there would be no
opportunity for international dialogue".
In 2017, the WEF in Davos attracted considerable attention when, for
the first time, a head of state from the People's Republic of China
was present at the alpine resort. With the backdrop of Brexit, an
incoming protectionist US administration and significant pressures on
free trade zones and trade agreements, Paramount leader Xi Jinping
defended the global economic scheme, and portrayed China as a
responsible nation and a leader for environmental causes. He sharply
rebuked the current populist movements that would introduce tariffs
and hinder global commerce, warning that such protectionism could
foster isolation and reduced economic opportunity.
In 2018, Indian prime minister Narendra Modi gave the keynote speech,
becoming the first head of government from India to deliver the
inaugural keynote for the annual plenary at Davos. Modi highlighted
global warming (climate change), terrorism and protectionism as the
three major global challenges, and expressed confidence that they can
be tackled with collective effort.
In 2019, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro gave the keynote address
at the plenary session of the conference. On his first international
trip to Davos, he emphasized liberal economic policies despite his
populist agenda, and attempted to reassure the world that Brazil is a
protector of the rain forest while utilizing its resources for food
production and export. He stated that "his government will seek to
better integrate Brazil into the world by mainstreaming international
best practices, such as those adopted and promoted by the OECD".
Environmental concerns like extreme weather events, and the failure of
climate change mitigation and adaptation were among the top-ranking
global risks expressed by WEF attendees. On June 13, 2019, the WEF and
the United Nations signed a "Strategic Partnership Framework" in order
to "jointly accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development."
The 2021 World Economic Forum was due to be held from 17 to 20 August
in Singapore. However, on 17 May, the forum was cancelled; with a new
meeting to take place in the first half of 2022 instead with a final
location and date to be determined later in 2021.
In late December 2021, the World Economic Forum said in a release that
pandemic conditions had made it extremely difficult to stage a global
in-person meeting the following month; transmissibility of the
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and its impact on travel and mobility had
made deferral necessary, with the meeting in Davos eventually
rescheduled for 22 to 26 May 2022.
Topics in the 2022 annual meeting included the Russian invasion of
Ukraine, climate change, energy insecurity and inflation. Ukraine's
president Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a special address at the meeting,
thanking the global community for its efforts but also calling for
more support. The 2022 forum was marked by the absence of a Russian
delegation for the first time since 1991, which 'The Wall Street
Journal' described as signalling the "unraveling of globalization."
The former Russia House was used to present Russia's war crimes.
The 2023 annual meeting of the World Economic Forum took place in
Davos, Switzerland, from 16-20 January under the theme "Cooperation in
a fragmented world".
Organization
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Headquartered in Cologny, the WEF also has offices in New York,
Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul. In January 2015, it was designated an NGO
with "other international body" status by the Swiss Federal Government
under the Swiss Host-State Act.
On 10 October 2016, the WEF announced the opening of its new Center
for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in San Francisco. According to
the WEF, the center will "serve as a platform for interaction, insight
and impact on the scientific and technological changes that are
changing the way we live, work and relate to one another".
The World Economic Forum declares that it is impartial and that it is
not tied to any political, partisan, or national interests. Until
2012, it had observer status with the United Nations Economic and
Social Council; it is under the supervision of the Swiss Federal
Council. The foundation's highest governance body is the foundation
board.
The managing board is chaired by the WEF's president, BA,rge Brende,
and acts as the executive body of the World Economic Forum. Managing
board members are BA,rge Brende, Julien Gattoni, Jeremy Jurgens, Adrian
Monck, Sarita Nayyar, Olivier M. Schwab, Saadia Zahidi, and Alois
Zwinggi.
Board of trustees
===================
The WEF is chaired by founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab and
is guided by a board of trustees that is made up of leaders from
business, politics, academia and civil society.
As of 2024, the board of trustees is composed of: Queen Rania of
Jordan, Mukesh D. Ambani, Ajay S. Banga, Marc Benioff, Peter
Brabeck-Letmathe, Thomas Buberl, Laurence D. Fink, Chrystia Freeland,
Orit Gadiesh, Kristalina Georgieva, Fabiola Gianotti, Al Gore, Andre
Hoffmann, Paula Ingabire, Joe Kaeser, Christine Lagarde, Yo-Yo Ma,
Patrice Motsepe, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Lubna S. Olayan, David M.
Rubenstein, Ulf Mark Schneider, Klaus Schwab, Tharman Shanmugaratnam,
Jim Hagemann Snabe, Julie Sweet, Feike Sijbesma, HeizAA Takenaka, and
Zhu Min.
Members of the board of trustees (past or present) include: Al Gore,
Herman Gref, AndrA(c) Hoffmann, Carlos Ghosn, Christine Lagarde, Chrystia
Freeland, David Rubenstein, Ernesto Zedillo, Fabiola Gianotti, Feike
Sijbesma, HeizAA Takenaka, Indra Nooyi, Jack Ma, Jim Hagemann Snabe,
JosA(c) Angel GurrAa, Josef Ackermann, Klaus Schwab, Kofi Annan, Laurence
Fink, Leo Rafael Reif, Luis Alberto Moreno, Marc Benioff, Mark Carney,
Maurice LA(c)vy, Michael Dell, Mukesh Ambani, Muriel PA(c)nicaud, Niall
FitzGerald, Orit Gadiesh, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Peter Maurer, Queen
Rania of Jordan, Rajat Gupta, Susan Hockfield, Tharman Shanmugaratnam,
Tony Blair, Mark Schneider, Ursula von der Leyen, Yo-Yo Ma, Zhu Min,
Ivan Pictet, Joseph P. Schoendorf, Peter D. Sutherland, and Victor L.
L. Chu..
Membership
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The foundation is funded by its 1,000 member companies, typically
global enterprises with more than five billion dollars in turnover
(varying by industry and region). These enterprises rank among the top
companies within their industry and/or country and play a leading role
in shaping the future of their industry and/or region. Membership is
stratified by the level of engagement with forum activities, with the
level of membership fees increasing as participation in meetings,
projects, and initiatives rises. In 2011, an annual membership cost
$52,000 for an individual member, $263,000 for "Industry Partner" and
$527,000 for "Strategic Partner". An admission fee costs $19,000 per
person. In 2014, WEF raised annual fees by 20 percent, bringing the
cost for "Strategic Partner" from CHF 500,000 ($523,000) to CHF
600,000 ($628,000).
Annual meeting in Davos
=========================
The flagship event of the World Economic Forum is the invitation-only
annual meeting held at the end of January in Davos, Switzerland,
bringing together chief executive officers from its 1,000 member
companies, as well as selected politicians, representatives from
academia, NGOs, religious leaders, and the media in an alpine
environment. The winter discussions ostensibly focus around key issues
of global concern (such as the globalization, capital markets, wealth
management, international conflicts, environmental problems and their
possible solutions). The participants also take part in role playing
events, such as the Investment Heat Map. Informal winter meetings may
have led to as many ideas and solutions as the official sessions.
At the 2018 annual meeting, more than 3,000 participants from nearly
110 countries participated in over 400 sessions. Participation
included more than 340 public figures, including more than 70 heads of
state and government and 45 heads of international organizations; 230
media representatives and almost 40 cultural leaders were represented.
As many as 500 journalists from online, print, radio, and television
take part, with access to all sessions in the official program, some
of which are also webcast. Not all the journalists are given access to
all areas, however. This is reserved for white badge holders. "Davos
runs an almost caste-like system of badges", according to BBC
journalist Anthony Reuben. "A white badge means you're one of the
delegates - you might be the chief executive of a company or the
leader of a country (although that would also get you a little
holographic sticker to add to your badge), or a senior journalist. An
orange badge means you're just a run-of-the-mill working journalist."
All plenary debates from the annual meeting also are available on
YouTube while photographs are available on Flickr.
World Economic Forum 2025 (Davos)
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The World Economic Forum 2025 took place in Davos, Switzerland, from
January 15 to 19, under the theme Rebuilding Trust. The event brought
together approximately 3,000 global leaders from over 125 countries,
including 350 Heads of state and government, business executives,
policymakers, and representatives from international organizations.
Discussions focused on geopolitical stability, economic resilience,
climate change, artificial intelligence governance, and inclusive
economic growth. Sessions covered topics such as the future of global
trade, energy transition, and the impact of artificial intelligence
and automation on the labor market. Several initiatives were
introduced, including policy frameworks for AI regulation, climate
financing mechanisms, and economic strategies for sustainable
development.
Among the initiatives discussed was the Global India Dialogues,
launched by the Motwani Jadeja Foundation, which focused on Indiaas
role in global geopolitics, technology, and innovation. Discussions on
gender equity and economic inclusion were also highlighted through
initiatives such as the Global Good Alliance for Gender Equity and
Equality, which explored the economic impact of investments in women's
health. The event featured key figures such as Ursula von der Leyen,
Antony Blinken, Christian Lindner, and Sam Altman, alongside
representatives from the United Nations, International Monetary Fund,
and World Bank. The forum underscored the importance of international
cooperation in addressing global economic and technological
challenges.
Overview of past annual meetings
Year Dates Theme
1988 |The new state of the world economy
1989 |Key developments in the 90s: implications for global business
1990 |Competitive cooperation in a decade of turbulence
1991 |The new direction for global leadership
1992 |Global cooperation and megacompetition
1993 |Rallying all the forces for global recovery
1994 |Redefining the basic assumptions of the world economy
1995 |26-30 January |Leadership for challenges beyond growth
1996 |1-6 February |Sustaining globalization
1997 |30 January - 4 February |Building the network society
1998 |29 January - 3 February |Managing volatility and priorities for
the 21st century
1999 |28 January - 2 February |Responsible globality: managing the
impact of globalization
2000 |26 January - 2 February |New beginnings: making a difference
2001 |25-30 January |Sustaining growth and bridging the divides: a
framework for our global future
2002 |31 January - 4 February |Leadership in fragile times (held in
New York instead of Davos)
2003 |21-25 January |Building trust
2004 |21-25 January |Partnering for security and prosperity
2005 |26-30 January |Taking responsibility for tough choices
2006 |25-29 January |The creative imperative
2007 |24-28 January |Shaping the global agenda, the shifting power
equation
2008 |23-27 January |The power of collaborative innovation
2009 |28 January - 1 February |Shaping the post-crisis world
2010 |27-30 January |Improve the state of the world: rethink,
redesign, rebuild
2011 |26-30 January |Shared norms for the new reality
2012 25-29 January The great transformation: shaping new models
2013 23-27 January Resilient dynamism
2014 22-25 January The reshaping of the world: consequences for
society, politics and business
2015 21-24 January New global context
2016 20-23 January Mastering the fourth industrial revolution
2017 17-20 January Responsive and responsible leadership
2018 23-26 January Creating a shared future in a fractured world
2019 22-25 January Globalization 4.0: shaping a global architecture
in the age of the fourth industrial revolution
2020 20-24 January Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world
2021 17-20 August 'Crucial Year to Rebuild Trust,' 'canceled as a
result of COVID-19 pandemic'
2022 22-26 May History at a Turning Point: Government Policies and
Business Strategies
2023 16-20 January Cooperation in a Fragmented World
Scope="row" | 2024 15-19 January Rebuilding Trust
Individual participants
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Some 3,000 individual participants joined the 2020 annual meeting in
Davos. Countries with the most attendees include the United States
(674 participants), the United Kingdom (270), Switzerland (159),
Germany (137) and India (133). Among the attendees were heads of state
or government, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and heads or senior
officials of international organizations, including: Sanna Marin
(prime minister of Finland), Ursula von der Leyen (president of the
European Commission), Christine Lagarde (ECB president), Greta
Thunberg (climate activist), Ren Zhengfei (Huawei Technologies
founder), Kristalina Georgieva (managing director of the IMF), Deepika
Padukone (Bollywood actress), George Soros (investor), and Donald
Trump (president of the United States).
An analysis by 'The Economist' from 2014 found that the vast majority
of participants are male and more than 50 years old. Careers in
business account for most of the participants' backgrounds (1,595
conference attendees), with the remaining seats shared between
government (364), NGOs (246) and press (234). Academia, which had been
the basis of the first annual conference in 1971, had been
marginalised to the smallest participant group (183 attendees).
Corporate participants
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Next to individual participants, the World Economic Forum maintains a
dense network of corporate partners that can apply for different
partnership ranks within the forum. For 2019, Bloomberg has identified
a total of 436 listed corporates that participated in the annual
meeting while measuring a stock underperformance by the Davos
participants of around a10% versus the S&P 500 during the same
year. Drivers are among others an overrepresentation of financial
companies and an underrepresentation of fast-growing health care and
information technology businesses at the conference. 'The Economist'
had found similar results in an earlier study, showing an
underperformance of Davos participants against both the MSCI World
Index and the S&P 500 between 2009 and 2014.
Summer annual meeting
=======================
In 2007, the foundation established the Annual Meeting of the New
Champions (also called Summer Davos), held annually in China,
alternating between Dalian and Tianjin, bringing together 1,500
participants from what the foundation calls Global Growth Companies,
primarily from rapidly growing emerging countries such as China,
Russia, Mexico, and Brazil, but also including quickly growing
companies from developed countries. The meeting also engages with the
next generation of global leaders from fast-growing regions and
competitive cities, as well as technology pioneers from around the
globe. The premier of China has delivered a plenary address at each
annual meeting.
Regional meetings
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Every year regional meetings take place, enabling close contact among
corporate business leaders, local government leaders, and NGOs.
Meetings are held in Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and the Middle
East. The mix of hosting countries varies from year to year, but
consistently China and India have hosted throughout the decade since
2000.
Young Global Leaders
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The group of Young Global Leaders consists of 800 people chosen by the
WEF organizers as being representative of contemporary leadership.
After five years of participation they are considered alumni. The
program has received controversy when Schwab, the founder, admitted to
"penetrat[ing]" governments with Young Global Leaders. He added that
as of 2017 "more than half" of Justin Trudeau's Cabinet had been
members of the program.
Social entrepreneurs
======================
Since 2000, the WEF has been promoting models developed by those in
close collaboration with the Schwab Foundation for Social
Entrepreneurship, highlighting social entrepreneurship as a key
element to advance societies and address social problems. Selected
social entrepreneurs are invited to participate in the foundation's
regional meetings and the annual meetings where they may meet chief
executives and senior government officials. At the annual meeting
2003, for example, Jeroo Billimoria met with Roberto Blois, deputy
secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, an
encounter that produced a key partnership for her organization Child
helpline international.
Research reports
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The foundation also acts as a think tank, publishing a wide range of
reports. In particular, "Strategic Insight Teams" focus on producing
reports of relevance in the fields of competitiveness, global risks,
and scenario thinking.
The "Competitiveness Team" produces a range of annual economic reports
(first published in brackets): the Global Competitiveness Report
(1979) measured competitiveness of countries and economies; The Global
Information Technology Report (2001) assessed their competitiveness
based on their IT readiness; the Global Gender Gap Report examined
critical areas of inequality between men and women; the Global Risks
Report (2006) assessed key global risks; the Global Travel and Tourism
Report (2007) measured travel and tourism competitiveness; the
Financial Development Report (2008) aimed to provide a comprehensive
means for countries to establish benchmarks for various aspects of
their financial systems and establish priorities for improvement; and
the Global Enabling Trade Report (2008) presented a cross-country
analysis of the large number of measures facilitating trade among
nations.
The "Risk Response Network" produces a yearly report assessing risks
which are deemed to be within the scope of these teams, have
cross-industry relevance, are uncertain, have the potential to cause
upwards of US$10 billion in economic damage, have the potential to
cause major human suffering, and which require a multi-stakeholder
approach for mitigation.
In 2020, the forum published a report entitled 'Nature Risk Rising:
Why the Crisis Engulfing Nature Matters for Business and the Economy'.
In this report the forum estimated that approximately half of global
GDP is highly or moderately dependent on nature (the same as IPBES's
2019 assessment report). The report also found that 1 dollar spent on
nature restoration yields 9 dollars in economic benefits.
Health
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On 19 January 2017 the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations
(CEPI), a global initiative to fight epidemics, was launched at WEF in
Davos. The internationally funded initiative aims at securing vaccine
supplies for global emergencies and pandemics, and to research new
vaccines for tropical diseases, that are now more menacing. The
project is funded by private and governmental donors, with an initial
investment of US$460m from the governments of Germany, Japan and
Norway, plus the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome
Trust.
Between 21 and 24 January 2020, at the early stages of the COVID-19
outbreak, CEPI met with leaders from Moderna to establish plans for a
COVID-19 vaccine at the Davos gathering, with a total global case
number of 274 and total loss of life the virus at 16. The WHO declared
a global health emergency 6 days later.
Society
=========
The Global Water Initiative brings together diverse stakeholders such
as Alcan Inc., the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, USAID
India, UNDP India, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Government
of Rajasthan, and the NEPAD Business Foundation to develop
public-private partnerships on water management in South Africa and
India.
In an effort to combat corruption, the Partnering Against Corruption
Initiative (PACI) was launched by CEOs from the engineering and
construction, energy and metals, and mining industries at the annual
meeting in Davos during January 2004. PACI is a platform for peer
exchange on practical experience and dilemma situations. Approximately
140 companies have joined the initiative.
Environment
=============
In the beginning of the 21st century, the forum began to increasingly
deal with environmental issues. In the Davos Manifesto 2020 it is said
that a company among other:
* "acts as a steward of the environmental and material universe for
future generations. It consciously protects our biosphere and
champions a circular, shared and regenerative economy."
* "responsibly manages near-term, medium-term and long-term value
creation in pursuit of sustainable shareholder returns that do not
sacrifice the future for the present."
* "is more than an economic unit generating wealth. It fulfils human
and societal aspirations as part of the broader social system.
Performance must be measured not only on the return to shareholders,
but also on how it achieves its environmental, social and good
governance objectives."
The Environmental Initiative covers climate change and water issues.
Under the Gleneagles Dialogue on Climate Change, the U.K. government
asked the World Economic Forum at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles in 2005
to facilitate a dialogue with the business community to develop
recommendations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This set of
recommendations, endorsed by a global group of CEOs, was presented to
leaders ahead of the G8 Summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, Japan held in July
2008.
In 2016 WEF published an article in which it is said, that in some
cases reducing consumption can increase well-being. In the article is
mentioned that in Costa Rica the GDP is 4 times smaller than in many
countries in Western Europe and North America, but people live longer
and better. An American study shows that those whose income is higher
than $75,000, do not necessarily have an increase in well-being. To
better measure well-being, the New Economics Foundation's launched the
Happy Planet Index.
In January 2017, WEF launched the Platform for Accelerating the
Circular Economy (PACE), which is a global public private partnership
seeking to scale circular economy innovations. PACE is co-chaired by
Frans van Houten (CEO of Philips), Naoko Ishii (CEO of the Global
Environment Facility, and the head of United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP). The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the International
Resource Panel, Circle Economy, Chatham House, the Dutch National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment, the United Nations
Environment Programme and Accenture serve as knowledge partners, and
the program is supported by the UK Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs, DSM, FrieslandCampina, Global Affairs Canada, the
Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rabobank,
Shell, SITRA, and Unilever.
The Forum emphasized its 'Environment and Natural Resource Security
Initiative' for the 2017 meeting to achieve inclusive economic growth
and sustainable practices for global industries. With increasing
limitations on world trade through national interests and trade
barriers, the WEF has moved towards a more sensitive and
socially-minded approach for global businesses with a focus on the
reduction of carbon emissions in China and other large industrial
nations.
Also in 2017, WEF launched the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) for
the Earth Initiative, a collaboration among WEF, Stanford University
and PwC, and funded through the Mava Foundation. In 2018, WEF
announced that one project within this initiative was to be the Earth
BioGenome Project, the aim of which is to sequence the genomes of
every organism on Earth.
The World Economic Forum is working to eliminate plastic pollution,
stating that by 2050 it will consume 15% of the global carbon budget
and will pass by its weight fishes in the world's oceans. One of the
methods is to achieve circular economy.
The theme of the 2020 World Economic Forum annual meeting was
'Stakeholders for a Cohesive and Sustainable World'. Climate change
and sustainability were central themes of discussion. Many argued that
GDP is failed to represent correctly the wellbeing and that fossil
fuel subsidies should be stopped. Many of the participants said that a
better capitalism is needed. Al Gore summarized the ideas in the
conference as: "The version of capitalism we have today in our world
must be reformed".
In this meeting the World Economic Forum:
* Launched the Trillion Tree Campaign an initiative aiming to "grow,
restore and conserve 1 trillion trees over the next 10 years around
the world - in a bid to restore biodiversity and help fight climate
change". Donald Trump joined the initiative. The forum stated that:
"Nature-based solutions - locking-up carbon in the world's forests,
grasslands and wetlands - can provide up to one-third of the emissions
reductions required by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement targets,"
adding that the rest should come from the heavy industry, finance and
transportation sectors. One of the targets is to unify existing
reforestation projects
* Discussed the issue of climate change and called to expanding
renewable energy, energy efficiency change the patterns of consumption
and remove carbon from the atmosphere. The forum concluded that the
climate crisis will become a climate apocalypse should the temperature
rise by 2ADEGC above pre-industrial levels. The forum called on
governments to fulfil the commitments in Paris Agreement. Jennifer
Morgan, special representative for international climate policy of the
Federal Foreign Office in Germany, said that as to the beginning of
the forum, fossil fuels still get three times more money than climate
solutions.
At the 2021 annual meeting UNFCCC launched the 'UN Race-to-Zero
Emissions Breakthroughs'. The aim of the campaign is to transform 20
sectors of the economy in order to achieve zero greenhouse gas
emissions. At least 20% of each sector should take specific measures,
and 10 sectors should be transformed before COP 26 in Glasgow.
According to the organizers, 20% is a tipping point, after which the
whole sector begins to irreversibly change.
Coronavirus and green recovery
================================
In April 2020, the forum published an article that postulates that the
COVID-19 pandemic is linked to the destruction of nature. The number
of emerging diseases is rising and this rise is linked to
deforestation and species loss. In the article, there are multiple
examples of the degradation of ecological systems caused by humans. It
is also says that half of the global GDP is moderately or largely
dependent on nature. The article concludes that the recovery from the
pandemic should be linked to nature recovery.
The forum proposed a plan for a green recovery. The plan includes
advancing circular economy. Among the mentioned methods, there is
green building, sustainable transport, organic farming, urban open
space, renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Global Shapers Community
==========================
The Global Shapers Community (GSC), an initiative of World Economic
Forum, selects young leaders below 30 years old to be change agents in
the world. Global Shapers develop and lead their city-based hubs to
implement social justice projects that advance the mission of World
Economic Forum. The GSC has over 10,000 members in 500+ hubs in 154
countries. Some critics see the WEF's increasing focus on activist
areas such as environmental protection and social entrepreneurship as
a strategy to disguise the true plutocratic goals of the organisation.
The Great Reset
=================
In May 2020, the WEF and the Prince of Wales's Sustainable Markets
Initiative launched "The Great Reset" project, a five-point plan to
enhance sustainable economic growth following the global recession
caused by the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. "The Great Reset" was to be
the theme of WEF's annual meeting in August 2021.
According to forum founder Schwab, the intention of the project is to
reconsider the meaning of capitalism and capital. While not abandoning
capitalism, he proposes to change and possibly move on from some
aspects of it, including neoliberalism and free-market fundamentalism.
The role of corporations, taxation and more should be reconsidered.
International cooperation and trade should be defended and the Fourth
Industrial Revolution also.
The forum defines the system that it wants to create as "Stakeholder
Capitalism". The forum supports trade unions.
The 'Great Reset' has also been the target of several debunked
conspiracy theories, which heavily overlap with related conspiracy
theories concerning the 'New World Order', Qanon, and COVID-19.
Physical protests
===================
During the late 1990s, the WEF, as well as the G7, World Bank, World
Trade Organization, and International Monetary Fund, came under heavy
criticism by anti-globalization activists who asserted that capitalism
and globalization were increasing poverty and destroying the
environment. In 2000, about 10,000 demonstrators disrupted a regional
WEF meeting in Melbourne, by obstructing the path of 200 delegates.
Small demonstrations are held in Davos on most but not all years,
organised by the local Green Party (see Anti-WEF protests in
Switzerland, January 2003) to protest against what have been called
the meetings of "fat cats in the snow", a tongue-in-cheek term used by
rock singer Bono.
After 2014, the physical protest movement against the World Economic
Forum largely died down, and Swiss police noted a significant decline
in attending protesters, 20 at most during the meeting in 2016. While
protesters are still more numerous in large Swiss cities, the protest
movement itself has undergone significant change. Around 150 Tibetans
and Uighurs protested in Geneva and 400 Tibetans in Bern against the
visit of China's paramount leader Xi Jinping for the 2017 meeting,
with subsequent confrontations and arrests.
Growing gaps in wealth
========================
A number of NGOs have used the World Economic Forum to highlight
growing inequalities and wealth gaps, which they consider to have been
neglected, or even to be exacerbated, through institutions like the
WEF. Winnie Byanyima, the former executive director of the
anti-poverty confederation Oxfam International co-chaired the 2015
meeting, where she presented a critical report of global wealth
distribution based on statistical research by the Credit Suisse
Research Institute. In this study, the richest 1% of people in the
world own 48% of the world's wealth. At the 2019 meeting, she
presented another report in which she stated that the gap between
rich and poor has widened. The report "Public Good or Private Wealth"
stated that 2,200 billionaires worldwide saw their wealth grow by 12%
while the poorest half saw its wealth fall by 11%. Oxfam calls for a
global tax overhaul to increase and harmonise global tax rates for
corporations and wealthy individuals.
"You'll own nothing and be happy" is a phrase adapted from an essay
written by Ida Auken in 2016 for the WEF, pondering a future in which
urban residents would rely on shared services for many expensive items
such as appliances and vehicles. Shortly after its publication, a
commentator for European Digital Rights criticized Auken's vision of
centralized property ownership as a "benevolent dictatorship". During
the COVID-19 pandemic, the phrase went viral, eliciting strongly
negative reactions from mostly conservative but also some left-wing
and unaffiliated commentators. Responding to viral social media posts
based on the phrase, the WEF denied that it had a goal related to
limiting ownership of private property.
Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian invited to a 2018 WEF panel on
inequality, went viral when he suggested that the best way for the
attendees to attack inequality was to stop avoiding taxes. Bregman
described his motivation, saying "it feels like Iam at a firefightersa
conference and no oneas allowed to speak about water".
Formation of a detached elite
===============================
The formation of a detached elite, sometimes labeled with the
neologism "Davos Man", refers to a global group whose members view
themselves as completely "international". The term refers to people
who "have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries
as obstacles, and see national governments as residues from the past
whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite's global
operations" according to political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, who
is credited with inventing the neologism. In his 2004 article "Dead
Souls: The Denationalization of the American Elite", Huntington argues
that this international perspective is a minority elitist position not
shared by the nationalist majority of the people.
The Transnational Institute describes the World Economic Forum's main
purpose as being "to function as a socializing institution for the
emerging global elite, globalization's "Mafiocracy" of bankers,
industrialists, oligarchs, technocrats and politicians. They promote
common ideas, and serve common interests: their own."
In 2019, the 'Manager Magazin' journalist Henrik MA 1/4ller argued that
the "Davos Man" had already decayed into different groups and camps.
He sees three central drivers for this development:
* Ideologically: the liberal western model is no longer considered a
universal role model that other countries strive for (with China's
digital totalitarianism or the traditional absolutism in the Persian
Gulf as counter-proposals, all of which are represented by government
members in Davos).
* Socially: societies increasingly disintegrate into different groups,
each of which evokes its own identity (e.g. embodied through the
Brexit vote or congressional blockades in the USA).
* Economically: the measured economic reality largely contradicts the
established ideas of how the economy should actually work (despite
economic upswings, wages and prices e.g. barely rise).
Public cost of security
=========================
Critics argue that the WEF, despite having reserves of several hundred
million Swiss francs and paying its executives salaries of around 1
million Swiss francs per year, would not pay any federal tax and
moreover allocate a part of its costs to the public. Following massive
criticism from politicians and Swiss civil society, the Swiss federal
government decided in February 2021 to reduce its annual contributions
to the WEF.
As of 2018, the police and military expenditures carried by the
federal government stood at 39 million Swiss francs. The 'Aargauer
Zeitung' argued in January 2020 that the additional cost borne by the
Kanton GraubA 1/4nden stands at CHF 9 million per year.
The Swiss Green Party summarised their criticism within the Swiss
National Council that the holding of the World Economic Forum has cost
Swiss taxpayers hundreds of millions of Swiss francs over the past
decades. In their view, it was however questionable to what extent the
Swiss population or global community benefit from these expenditures.
Gender debate
===============
Women have been broadly underrepresented at the WEF, according to some
critics. The female participation rate at the WEF increased from 9% to
15% between 2001 and 2005. In 2016, 18% of the WEF attendees were
female; this number increased to 21% in 2017, and 24% in 2020.
Several women have since shared their personal impressions of the
Davos meetings in media articles, highlighting that issues were more
profound than "a quota at Davos for female leaders or a session on
diversity and inclusion". The World Economic Forum has in this context
filed legal complaints against at least three investigative articles
by reporters Katie Gibbons and Billy Kenber that were published by the
British newspaper 'The Times' in March 2020, with the articles still
online as of January 2024.
Workplace discrimination
==========================
According to 'The Wall Street Journal', the WEF has had numerous
accusations of workplace discrimination against women and Black
people.
Undemocratic decision making
==============================
According to the European Parliament's think tank, critics see the WEF
as an instrument for political and business leaders to "take decisions
without having to account to their electorate or shareholders".
Since 2009, the WEF has been working on a project called the Global
Redesign Initiative (GRI), which proposes a transition away from
intergovernmental decision-making towards a system of
multi-stakeholder governance. According to the Transnational Institute
(TNI), the Forum is hence planning to replace a recognised democratic
model with a model where a self-selected group of "stakeholders" make
decisions on behalf of the people.
Some critics have seen the WEF's attention to goals like environmental
protection and social entrepreneurship as mere window dressing to
disguise its true plutocratic nature and goals. In a 'Guardian'
opinion piece, Cas Mudde said that such plutocrats should not be the
group to have control over the political agendas and decide which
issues to focus on and how to support them. A writer in the German
magazine 'Cicero' saw the situation as academic, cultural, media and
economic elites grasping for social power while disregarding political
decision processes. A materially well-endowed milieu would in this
context try to "cement its dominance of opinion and sedate ordinary
people with maternalistic-paternalistic social benefits, so that they
are not disturbed by the common people when they steer". The French
'Les Echos' furthermore concludes that Davos "represents the exact
values people rejected at the ballot box".
Lack of financial transparency
================================
In 2017, the former 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung' journalist JA 1/4rgen
Dunsch criticized that financial reports of the WEF were not very
transparent since neither income nor expenditures were broken down. In
addition, he outlined that the foundation capital was not quantified
while the apparently not insignificant profits would be reinvested.
Recent annual reports published by the WEF include a more detailed
breakdown of its financials and indicate revenues of CHF 349 million
for the year 2019 with reserves of CHF 310 million and a foundation
capital of CHF 34 million. There are no further details provided to
what asset classes or individual names the WEF allocates its financial
assets of CHF 261 million. From July 2019 to June 2020, the World
Economic Forum has spent aNOT250,000 on lobbying the European Union.
The German newspaper 'SA 1/4ddeutsche Zeitung' criticised in this context
that the WEF had turned into a "money printing machine", which is run
like a family business and forms a comfortable way to make a living
for its key personnel. The foundation's founder Klaus Schwab draws a
salary of around one million Swiss francs per year.
Unclear selection criteria
============================
In a request to the Swiss National Council, the Swiss Green Party
criticised that invitations to the annual meeting and programmes of
the World Economic Forum are issued according to unclear criteria.
They highlight that "despots" such as the son of the former Libyan
dictator Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi had been invited to the WEF and even
awarded membership in the club of "Young Global Leaders". Even after
the beginning of the Arab spring in December 2010 and related violent
uprisings against despot regimes, the WEF continued to invite Gaddafi
to its annual meeting.
Environmental footprint of annual meetings
============================================
Critics emphasise that the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum
is counterproductive when combating pressing problems of humanity such
as the climate crisis. Even in 2020, participants travelled to the WEF
annual meeting in Davos on around 1,300 private jets while the total
emissions burden from transport and accommodation were enormous in
their view.
Corporate capture of global and democratic institutions
=========================================================
The World Economic Forum's "Global Redesign" report suggests to create
"public-private" United Nations (UN) in which selected agencies
operate and steer global agendas under shared governance systems.
In September 2019, more than 400 civil society organizations and 40
international networks heavily criticised a partnership agreement
between WEF and the United Nations and called on the UN
secretary-general to end it. They see such an agreement as a
"disturbing corporate capture of the UN, which moved the world
dangerously towards a privatised global governance". The Dutch
Transnational Institute think tank summarises that we are increasingly
entering a world where gatherings such as Davos are "a silent global
coup d'A(c)tat" to capture governance.
Non-accreditation of critical media outlets
=============================================
In 2019, the Swiss newspaper 'WOZ' received a refusal of its
accreditation request for the annual meeting with the editors and
subsequently accused the World Economic Forum of favoring specific
media outlets. The newspaper highlighted that the WEF stated in its
refusal message that it [the forum] prefers media outlets it works
with throughout the year. 'WOZ' deputy head Yves Wegelin called this a
strange idea of journalism because in "journalism you don't
necessarily have to work with large corporations, but rather critique
them".
Institutional initiatives
===========================
In addition to economic policy, the WEF's agenda is in recent years
increasingly focusing on positively connoted activist topics such as
environmental protection and social entrepreneurship, which critics
see as a strategy to disguise the organisation's true plutocratic
goals.
In a December 2020 article by 'The Intercept', author Naomi Klein
described that the WEF's initiatives like the "Great Reset" were
simply a "coronavirus-themed rebranding" of things that the WEF was
already doing and that it was an attempt by the rich to make
themselves look good. In her opinion, "the Great Reset is merely the
latest edition of this gilded tradition, barely distinguishable from
earlier Davos Big Ideas.
Similarly, in his review of 'COVID-19: The Great Reset', ethicist
Steven Umbrello makes parallel critiques of the agenda. He says that
the WEF "whitewash[es] a seemingly optimistic future post-Great Reset
with buzz words like equity and sustainability" while it functionally
jeopardizes those goals.
A study published in the Journal of Consumer Research investigated the
sociological impact of the WEF. It concluded that the WEF do not solve
issues such as poverty, global warming, chronic illness, or debt. The
Forum has, according to the study, simply shifted the burden for the
solution of these problems from governments and business to
"responsible consumers subjects: the green consumer, the
health-conscious consumer, and the financially literate consumer."
Appropriation of global crises
================================
In December 2021, the Catholic Cardinal and former Prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) Gerhard Ludwig MA 1/4ller
criticised in a controversial interview that people like WEF founder
Schwab were sitting "on the throne of their wealth" and were not
touched by the everyday difficulties and sufferings people face e.g.
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On the contrary, such elites would see
crises as an opportunity to push through their agendas. He
particularly criticised the control such people would exercise on
people and their embracement of areas such as transhumanism. The
German Central Council of Jews condemned this criticism, which is also
linked to Jewish financial investors, as antisemitic.
On the other hand, the WEF has been criticized as "hypocritical"
towards Palestinian human rights, when it rejected a petition from its
own constituents to condemn Israel's aggression against Palestinians.
WEF cited the need to remain "impartial" on the issue. However, Khaled
Al Sabawi, writing in MondoWeiss called it hypocritical after it
voluntarily condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine months
later.
Davos municipality
====================
In June 2021, WEF founder Klaus Schwab sharply criticised what he
characterized as the "profiteering", "complacency" and "lack of
commitment" by the municipality of Davos in relation to the annual
meeting. He mentioned that the preparation of the COVID-related
meeting in Singapore in 2021/2022 had created an alternative to its
Swiss host and sees the chance that the annual meeting will stay in
Davos between 40 and 70 per cent.
Usage of "Davos"
==================
As there are many other international conferences nicknamed with
"Davos" such as the "Davos of the Desert" event organised by Saudi
Arabia's Future Investment Initiative Institute, the World Economic
Forum objected to the use of "Davos" in such contexts for any event
not organised by them. This particular statement was issued on 22
October 2018, a day before the opening of 2018 Future Investment
Initiative (nicknamed "Davos in the desert") organised by the Public
Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Open Forum Davos
==================
Since the annual meeting in January 2003 in Davos, an 'Open Forum
Davos', which was co-organized by the Federation of Swiss Protestant
Churches, is held concurrently with the Davos forum, opening up the
debate about globalization to the general public. The Open Forum has
been held in the local high school every year, featuring top
politicians and business leaders. It is open to all members of the
public free of charge.
Public Eye Awards
===================
The Public Eye Awards have been held every year since 2000. It is a
counter-event to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF)
in Davos. Public Eye Awards is a "public competition of the worst
corporations in the world." In 2011, more than 50,000 people voted for
companies that acted irresponsibly. At a ceremony at a Davos hotel,
the "winners" in 2011 were named as Indonesian palm oil diesel maker,
Neste Oil in Finland, and mining company AngloGold Ashanti in South
Africa. According to Schweiz aktuell broadcast on 16 January 2015, a
public presence during the WEF 2015, may not be guaranteed because the
massively increased security in Davos. The Public Eye Award will be
awarded for the last time in Davos: "Public Eyes says Goodbye to
Davos", confirmed by Rolf Marugg (now Landrats politician), by not
directly engaged politicians, and by the police responsible.
See also
======================================================================
* 2009 Davos incident
* Antalya Diplomacy Forum
* Asian Leadership Conference
* Bilderberg Meeting
* Boao Forum for Asia
* Davos process
* Eurofi
* European Business Summit
* Event 201
* Group of 3
* Horasis
* International Transport Forum
* St. Petersburg International Economic Forum
* World Knowledge Forum
* World Social Forum
* World Youth Forum
* Alliance for Responsible Citizenship
* St. Gallen Symposium
General and cited references
======================================================================
* [
http://99faces.tv/matthiasluefkens/ "How to Open the World Economic
Forum"] - Matthias LA 1/4fkens in interview with 99FACES.tv
* Bornstein, David (2007). 'How to Change the World: Social
Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas'. New York: Oxford University
Press. . 358 pages.
*
[
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/02/12/60minutes/main6202302.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentUtilities
"Behind the Scenes at Davos"] broadcast 14 February 2010 on '60
Minutes', CBS News
* Kellerman, Barbara (1999). 'Reinventing Leadership: Making the
Connection Between Politics and Business'. Albany, New York: State
University of New York Press. . 268 pages.
* Moore, Mike (2003). 'A World Without Walls: Freedom, Development,
Free Trade and Global Governance'. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge
University Press. . 292 pages.
* Geoffrey Allen Pigman (2007). 'The World Economic Forum: A
Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Global Governance'. London; New York:
Routledge. . 175 pages.
* Rothkopf, David J. (2008). 'Superclass: The Global Power Elite and
the World They Are Making'. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. . 376
pages.
* Schwab, Klaus M.; Hein Kroos (1971). 'Moderne UnternehmensfA 1/4hrung im
Maschinenbau'. Frankfurt: Verein Dt. Maschinenbau-Anst. e.V.
Maschinenbau-Verl. .
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20130407100645/http://www.weforum.org/reports/everybody%E2%80%99s-business-strengthening-international-cooperation-more-interdependent-world
"Everybody's Business: Strengthening International Cooperation in a
More Interdependent World"]--World Economic Forum; launched May 2010,
Doha, Qatar
* Wolf, Michael (1999). 'The Entertainment Economy: How Mega-Media
Forces Are Transforming Our Lives'. New York: Random House. . 336
pages.
External links
======================================================================
*
*
* [
https://www.weforum.org/about/leadership-and-governance WEF Board
of Trustees]
*
[
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/the-great-reset-this-weeks-world-vs-virus-podcast/
"Klaus Schwab and Prince Charles on why we need a Great Reset"] at the
World Economic Forum
* Klaus Schwab in
[
https://www.weforum.org/events/world-economic-forum-annual-meeting-2017/sessions/86544
"A Conversation with Henry Kissinger on the World in 2017"] at the
World Economic Forum
License
=========
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Economic_Forum
