The World Economic Forum is trying to fix an image problem.
Nearly 2,500 global business, political and civil society leaders are expected to attend a rare spring version of Davos this week.
At the annual meeting, doers and doers will meet in the Swiss luxury ski resort of Davos to spend five days talking about topics such as Covid-19, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the climate crisis.
Event organizers had postponed the meeting from its traditional January date due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic. As a welcome refreshment for local residents, the Forum’s first in-person event has now returned after a two-year hiatus.
The theme of this year’s event is ‘History at a Turning Point: Government Policy and Business Strategies’.
“It means a lot to us. It means a lot to the whole of Switzerland,” said Samuel Rosenast, spokesman for the local tourist board, in an interview with CNBC’s Tom Chitty.
Rosenast said the event was “incredibly important” for residents of Europe’s highest city, and estimated the resort could see a windfall of about 70 million Swiss francs ($72 million) this week alone.
“Every company is in contact with the World Economic Forum. People know how important it is,” Rosenast said. “Most people here look forward to the World Economic Forum. They are happy that it is taking place here again this year.”
“A symbol of a failed era”
That doesn’t mean that everyone is happy when the world’s business and political elite return to the Swiss Alps. The event has been harshly criticized in recent years for being aloof, ineffective and irrelevant.
Three years ago, Dutch historian Rutger Bregman went viral at a panel in Davos when he called out billionaires for tax evasion. In a clip that has since been viewed nearly 11 million times, Bregman said a global failure to effectively tackle tax avoidance is the root cause of inequality.
“It feels like I’m at a fire department conference and nobody’s allowed to talk about water,” Bregman said at the time. “It’s not rocket science… we need to talk about taxes. That’s it. Taxes, taxes, taxes.”
The Swiss ski resort of Davos hosts the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
Harold Cunningham | News from Getty Images | Getty Images
More recently, protesters, activists and those on the frontlines of inequality have tried to challenge the WEF for its “empty rhetoric” by accusing Davos of being “a symbol of a failed era” that should be left behind.
A report released Monday by global charity Oxfam found that 573 people became new billionaires during the coronavirus pandemic – at a rate of one every 30 hours. The report, titled “Profiting from Pain,” projects that 263 million additional people will fall into extreme poverty this year, at a rate of 1 million people every 33 hours.
“Billionaires come to Davos to celebrate an incredible increase in their wealth. The pandemic and now the soaring food and energy prices have just been a bonanza for them,” said Gabriela Bucher, chief executive of Oxfam International.
“Meanwhile, decades of progress in tackling extreme poverty have been reversed, and millions of people are facing an unimaginable increase in the cost of mere survival.”
In his youth, Philipp Wilhelm was one of the protesters against the annual meeting of billionaires and political leaders in his native city. But now Wilhelm is mayor of Davos and his goal is to hold a successful meeting.
“I protested during the annual meeting because it was important to me to say that it is really crucial that we solve this climate crisis. And we have to make the world fairer,” said Wilhelm.
Wilhelm said he took part in protests because he felt it was important that everyone who arrives in Davos “gets the message that it’s really important to solve these problems”.
“Davos Man” has itself become synonymous with a stereotypical figure of a typical forum participant – rich and powerful, perhaps out of touch, but most importantly representative of the global elite.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images
Wilhelm said he – and the WEF – had changed positions since his protest days, adding that he believed he could influence policy more effectively in his current role.
When asked if it was worrying that criticism of the WEF was too closely linked to Davos, given that the city itself had become largely interchangeable with the Forum, Wilhelm replied, “No, that doesn’t bother me at all.”
“I find it interesting that people know Davos as a place where people meet and discuss – and I think it should be controversial. There should be a discussion about what is the right way to improve the state of the world,” Wilhelm said.
Davos 2022 is “a time mark”
“The work of the forum continues. The meeting is a milestone in time,” said Saadia Zahidi, executive director of the World Economic Forum.
“What we’ve been doing over the last two and a half years – although it wasn’t visible through any specific meeting – is a series of works that seek to address inequality while also making changes to address one of the greatest existential risks we all face are, namely climate change.”
When asked if rising income inequality had become a particular concern for the forum, Zahidi replied: “Inequality is a problem for the world. I think we know that societies that don’t fight inequality will grow more slowly.”
“And so there must be efforts that address inequality. What does that mean? Better education, better skills, better jobs, tackling issues like taxes and changing the nature of our economies to actually work for the people and not just for the few,” Zahidi said. “That will be high on the agenda of the standing next week.”