WEF at Davos 2020: Jan. 21-24
Upon entering the WEF site yesterday, this fascinating video from last year was featured:
A preview of the lofty conference from wsws: ‘Climate change “spin” as Davos gathering confronts mounting environmental and economic crisis’, Nick Beams, 20 January 2020
“The World Economic Forum (WEF), which holds its annual meeting this week in Davos, Switzerland, has tried in recent years to feign concern about the welfare of society as it brings together the ultra-wealthy, government and media representatives and the heads of major corporations to defend the profit system. This year’s gathering is no exception.
………………………………..
In an endeavour to promote the organisation’s “progressive” credentials, WEF founder and executive chairman Klaus Schwab has called on corporate chiefs to “show leadership” and commit to achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner. The WEF has lined up a group of climate change activists, including the Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, to address the participants on the need for urgent action.
As a pointed comment by a Financial Times columnist put it: “The hills are alive with the sound of environmental spin.”
The WEF’s own assessments make clear, however, that nothing can or will be done to halt the mounting climate disaster within the framework of the capitalist, nation-state system that the forum defends in the face of rising global social opposition.
In a briefing paper on the zero emissions challenge, the WEF cited a November 2019 report from the United Nations which showed that four years since the Paris Agreement, global emissions had risen by 1.5 percent per year over the past decade, with no signs of peaking. This occurred under conditions where a reduction of 5 percent per year is needed just to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. If the present trajectory continues, it noted, the world is projected to warm by 3–5 degrees C by the end of the century “with catastrophic effects on human civilization.”
But as the WEF report acknowledged, the deadline is much closer. It stated: “The coming decade will decide whether humanity can achieve the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C. Without a meaningful reduction in emissions in the next five years, the ability to act will increasingly be lost, resulting in damage that could become irreversible.”
The world, it said, needed “cohesive and swift international action.” But this remained “wishful thinking” and so individual governments and corporations “can and should move ahead with unilateral initiatives.” Such a prospect remains as far-fetched as international collaboration.
As the report noted, so far only 67 countries, none of them among the top five emitters, have committed to the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions. It acknowledged that “most countries with this commitment have not enacted sufficiently robust policies to attain the emissions reductions required.”
…………………………………………….
The WEF’s call for “stakeholder capitalism” in which corporations, according to Schwab, should act not just as profit-seeking entities but as “trustees of society,” is a pipe dream.
…………………………………..
The mounting social and protest movements over global warming are not the only concern of the WEF. Its Global Risks Report points to the downward pressure on the global economy from “macroeconomic fragilities and financial inequality” that continued to intensify throughout 2019, increasing the risk of economic stagnation as “rising trade barriers, lower investment and high debt are straining economies around the world.”
It noted in its assessment of global risks that compounding the economic factors is “widespread discontent with current economic systems, perceived to be rigged and unfair.”
The WEF commented that “Profound citizen discontent—born of disapproval of the way governments are addressing economic and social challenges—has sparked protests throughout the world, potentially weakening the ability of governments to take decisive action should a downturn occur.”
The conclusions are not specifically drawn. But what is being pointed to here is that the kind of “decisive action” taken in 2008–2009, when governments and central banks handed out trillions of dollars to finance capital and imposed austerity conditions on the mass of the population, may provoke mass social opposition and social revolution if repeated in response to another economic and financial collapse. And the signs of such a collapse are becoming ever more apparent.
………………………………………….
The picture presented by the WEF’s own analysis is of a socio-economic system heading for catastrophe on every front for which the ruling elites gathered at Davos have no answer and which their policies will exacerbate. It will not be prevented by the fiction of “stakeholder capitalism” but through the enactment of the only realistic agenda: the conscious political struggle of the working class for a higher social order, that is, international socialism.”
From the comments underneath: ‘I co-founded Occupy Wall Street. Now I’m headed to Davos. Why? Rejecting Davos is easy when one hasn’t been invited. Now that I have a chance to go, I want to discover its revolutionary potential, Micah White, theguardian.com, Jan. 18, 2019
This is the main portal to the current meeting of the Masters of the Universe and their token aspirants; WEF: ‘Committed to Improving the State of the World since 1971’) Their Platforms tab is long and full, as is their Agenda tab.
Apparently this year’s theme is: Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world. Their Live Blog is here; ya won’t want to miss a minute, so scroll on down!
This purports to be ‘Leaked information; ‘The confidential list of everyone attending the 2020 World Economic Forum in D’, qz.com, Jan. 20, 2020, although you need to sign in via email address to unlock it, seemingly for One Peek only. I did spy one Quatari and one Saudi on the list. Otherwise, cnbc.com has this short list, Jan. 14, 2020
Fascinating, if enigmatic:
“Ahead of 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that he will not attend the event, according to Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Tuesday.
During his weekly press conference while talking to reporters, Mousavi said Zarif was scheduled to attend the Davos meeting, but “they abruptly changed the schedule despite the primary planning and the official invitation”.
Therefore, Zarif will not participate in the forum in Davos.”
This year’s session on Twitter.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….
For a further wsws perspective: ‘The oligarchs assemble at Davos’, 21 January 2020, wsws.org, Niels Neimuth, (a squib or three):
“WEF founder Klaus Schwab warned in a statement ahead of the meeting that the world is at a “critical crossroads,” noting that, “People are revolting against the economic ‘elites’ they believe have betrayed them.”
Indeed, the meeting is being held amid a global upsurge of social protest over the past year from Chile and Puerto Rico to Sudan and Algeria, Iraq and Lebanon, Hong Kong and India and the United States and Mexico.
Across the world, protests fueled by growing social and economic inequality are continuing and are expected to grow in 2020, including in France, where the year began with mass strikes against President Emmanuel Macron’s proposed pension cuts.
Ahead of its meeting, the WEF published a global risks report noting that members ranked “domestic political polarization” in a virtual tie as their number one concern, up from ninth last year.
The annual Edleman Trust Barometer survey found that a majority of people around the world think that capitalism is doing more harm than good. The survey noted a global discrediting of all institutions, with governments, the media, business and NGOs seen by masses of people as unethical and incompetent.
Ahead of the event, the British charity Oxfam released its annual report on social inequality, which it declared to be “out of control.”
According to Oxfam, the world’s billionaire population alone, just 2,153 people—the number of people who would fit comfortably on a modern cruise ship—control more wealth than the 4.6 billion poorest people in the world.
Meanwhile, the top 1 percent collectively has twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people, nearly the entire world’s population.
……………………………………..
“Ahead of the event, the British charity Oxfam released its annual report on social inequality, which it declared to be “out of control.”
According to Oxfam, the world’s billionaire population alone, just 2,153 people—the number of people who would fit comfortably on a modern cruise ship—control more wealth than the 4.6 billion poorest people in the world.
Meanwhile, the top 1 percent collectively has twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people, nearly the entire world’s population.
The theme for this year’s meeting is “Stakeholders for a cohesive and sustainable world,” with a focus on the issue of climate change. Events headlined by teenage activist Greta Thunberg are being given top billing and Britain’s Prince Charles is expected to deliver a talk on “how to save the planet.”
The billionaires and millionaires in attendance will be able to show their commitment to combatting global warming by refueling their private jets with “greener” sustainable aviation fuel available at Zurich Airport’s private terminal. Attendees are being encouraged to walk on foot from venue to venue in order to reduce their personal carbon footprint.”
(the rest is here)
(cross-posted from Café Babylon)
![Share](/sites/all/modules/addtoany/images/share_save_171_16.png)
Comments
Out of genuine concern about climate change --
the WEF has decided to abolish itself!!
Oh well -- it was a dream.
Of course it's a pipe dream. Did they say anything at all about the purpose of a corporation? They're there to provide profit to the shareholders, otherwise the shareholders can sue. Right?
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
this is fine;
'Out of genuine concern about climate change --the WEF has decided to abolish itself!!', lol.
last year when i'd been in davos (virtually for a few days), klaus had responded to the complaints that a zillion two-way flights in an out were craaaazy that he'd said he'd buy some carbon trades. so 'greener jet fuel' and get carried by litter from even to even rang even funnier.
but as to corporate charters and fiduciary responsibilities, i did begin to grab part of the live blog before my eyes and brain melted, and i may have mooked up text and video, but i'll give two a try in one comment, then see what happens. alert: word salad ahead!
now the 'new davos manifesto' links keep circling back on themselves, i'll see if it's worth sorting out.
cross posted
Greta threw down the gauntlet
this is important to our future
Practically all businesses I know --
Can you imagine any of the people who ran the corporations which went belly-up in '08-'09 "thinking long term"?
These people must think we're stupid or something.
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
lol:
and most are far too easily sandbagged.
and what will happen when quantitative easing/extend and pretend has reached its cheap money, negative interest rates 'beyond extreme limits'? another not-so-black swan breakdown of the global banking system?
Nick Beams:
Every day their client politicians
Meanwhile, Forbes:
Yeah they can't be bothered to discuss this. What they love to discuss in secret, however, is moving to New Zealand. As for their claims of "green capitalism," from the Business Ethics Quarterly:
This was the "stakeholder capitalism" claim, debunked seventeen years ago. It's time they either responded or got out of the way.
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
excellent comment, amigo,
as well as link to business ethics quafterly, unfamiliar to me, but 'triple bottom line' is great.
i'll add a few squibs from 'Davos Manifesto 2020: The Universal Purpose of a Company in the Fourth Industrial Revolution' , even more illuminating than the current iteration.
Have you read? Why we need the 'Davos Manifesto' for a better kind of capitalism?
iv. v, then B and C? oh, well, klaus; no one ever said you were a mentat, just a capitalist defender.
I heartily agree.
In fact, a company is an economic unit which appropriates wealth and gives it to rich people, who then pay some poor fools a few dollars to write this nonsense.
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
rotflmao and ding ding ding!
comment of the day, cass! juliania at the café said she was takin' a page out of putin's SOTU about flexibility, etc. and that the WEF should relocate to ayer's rock in australia. yep, as long as they were on top o' the rock, and could look down us wage slaves from on high, said I.
more virtue signalizing pipe dreams:
macroeconomic fragilities
what are these bozos smoking anyway
(beside the earth that is)
or was before they took over
is now a rising worry of the elites
guess they can't iron out the wrinkles
in this lopsided economic train wreck
they can't iron out the
train wreck that capitalist consumerism created, no. they smoke Whatever They Need™, don't they? and even here in davos as they pretend to create a Better Capitalism, their minds rustle with million dollar bills.
i suppose we serfs should instead be glad that they realize people are beginning to want to Eat the Rich, spit out the bones.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX_AhL2SsUs]
Greta gave a great performance there
at least someone has been given a platform
pleading for sanity beyond wealth extraction
for the sake of earth / youth future
may not go far with this bunch
made the trumpet look rather flaccid
in comparison
it was a fine speech,
indeed; and only part of it? i'd need to listen again to see what sort of demands/manifesto she'd made at davos 2020, but she threw down the gauntlet at davos 2019, as well, although i don't recall what was in it by now.
she'd also thrown down the gauntlet (the students' gauntlet?) at the past two COP conferences.
how many millions of students globally marched with greta's 'strike school fridays'? many millions, anyway.
and what did thee WEF point out?
"In a briefing paper on the zero emissions challenge, the WEF cited a November 2019 report from the United Nations which showed that four years since the Paris Agreement, global emissions had risen by 1.5 percent per year over the past decade, with no signs of peaking. This occurred under conditions where a reduction of 5 percent per year is needed just to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C. If the present trajectory continues, it noted, the world is projected to warm by 3–5 degrees C by the end of the century “with catastrophic effects on human civilization.”
But as the WEF report acknowledged, the deadline is much closer. It stated: “The coming decade will decide whether humanity can achieve the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees C. Without a meaningful reduction in emissions in the next five years, the ability to act will increasingly be lost, resulting in damage that could become irreversible.”
The world, it said, needed “cohesive and swift international action.” But this remained “wishful thinking” and so individual governments and corporations “can and should move ahead with unilateral initiatives.” Such a prospect remains as far-fetched as international collaboration.
As the report noted, so far only 67 countries, none of them among the top five emitters, have committed to the goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions. It acknowledged that “most countries with this commitment have not enacted sufficiently robust policies to attain the emissions reductions required.”
(whatever 'net zero carbon emissions', an over-used term with not much meaning, imo).
but yes, she'd said close to 'not later, but today!' which of course won't happen, can't happen actually, for any number of reasons. yes, she made trump seem 'flacid', but did obomba achieve anything in terms of carbon reduction? would any of it matter at this point with so many feedback loops at play? hotter oceans, no carbon sinks, methane boiling out of the sea beds in the artic, and now (iirc) the south pole glaciers melting at an unbleievable rate?
sigh. if only folks had listened to the indigenous in 2010, then again at the Rio earth sustainability conferencee at side meetings, as they hadn't been allowed into the Hallowed Halls: the cochabama accords, earlier known as The Peoples Agreement.
it opens (see evo morales in the photo):
tragically, greta and friends had blamed evo and his policies on burning down the amazo rain forest, which was the begining of the R2P sort of putsch against him, although not selling bolivian lithium to europe, etc. was another.
on next day edit: i should have noted 'or whoever runs greta's twitter account', as i had seen earlier that there are many folks who add to her facebook account.
If only people had paid attention in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s
1980s, 1990s, 2000s....
There was always someone pointing out that we could not continue to abuse the Earth indefinitely without disastrous payback. But the Corporations smothered the truth-tellers with tons of sweet-sounding lies, and the only "achievement" of those warnings was a ban on CFCs to close the "ozone hole". Guess warnings about increased skin cancer are more effective than "this planet may become uninhabitable".
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
yes, but what i'd meant
by promoting the cochambama accords from 2010 was the theme that it was Capitalism (and capitalism's false solutions) at the root of the ruination. as in: even had the world paid attention to eco-socialism ten years ago, Davos 2020 would see climate chaos as less of a chance to further monetize nature in yanno, a more civil way.
but yes to hidden or obscuring agendas.
i'll add one speech at the bottom that demonstrates it quite baldly. spoiler alert: the price of wales! who else would we turn to than an HRH, eh?
okay; this is wild and wooly:
Why we need the 'Davos Manifesto' for a better kind of capitalism
that's the thing; capital can profit by climate chaos with purported Green bonds, investments in 'renewables' (not necessary sustainable energy) and oy, veh: one collective is 'we mean business', actually profiting from pretend 'solutions', last i'd looked in: over 1700+ companies strong.
so, Davos Man, Davos Woman: your fix for the climate is better societal rule by Corporation?
Are you there this year?
Are you at Davos?
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
only virtually,
the same as every year i've reported on the conference for a decade or so, marilyn. are you by chance? i know you travel extensively. i was also at the Rio 2012 earth sustainability indigenous side conference back in the day w/ two reports at my.firedoglake. they were glorious, as ever!
LOL . . . I guess I give a wrong impression
These days I don't travel at all. Not even home to the midwest. $$$$ and family commitments keep me home. I always thought I would travel the world, but at 62 that seems doubtful.
I am very thankful for your reports here!! Thank you!!!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
i hear that;
still, i remain envious of your wide travels. i'd always pined to see both florence and hong kong, obviously for very different reasons. by now, i can't even travel by car except as luggage in the back of our old jeep with the back seat folded down. talk about a 'rough ride'!
welcome, and the above reason is why i'm a keyboard warrior
blogger.i'd been eager to hear what Prince Charles
would have to say about climate change at Davos, and just happened to click in early this a.m. while they were live-blogging it. this is so bleeping great and example of what it's all about:
ah, well, they've added more since, including more videos, but this is the crux of HRH's speech:
'The greatest threat'
It is the Forum's mission to improve the state of the world - and shape the next 50 years - that has inspired H.R.H. Prince Charles to return to Davos today - after nearly 30 years.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and global warming are the greatest threat humanity has ever faced, he explains.
It's not a lack of capital that's holding us back from tackling these threats, but rather the way we deploy it.
Sustainable markets
Prince Charles announces the launch of a Sustainable Markets initiative. This will put people and planet at the heart of global value creation.
10 practical actions
(the SM link)
There are 10 practical actions that will drive the sustainable markets approach forward:
- Shifting our default setting to sustainable
- Outlining responsible transition pathways to decarbonize and move to net-zero
- Re-imagining industries through the lens of sustainable markets
- Identifying gamechanges and barriers to transition
- Reversing perverse subsidies and improving incentives for sustainable alternatives
- Investing in STEM, innovation and R&D
- Investing in nature as the true engine of our economy
- Adopting common metrics and standards
- Making sustainable options the trusted and attainable option for consumers
- Connecting investments to investibles to platforms that can rapidly scale solutions.
How quickly and who will drive us forward?
Prince Charles believes that we're further ahead than you might think.
From sustainable investment, to aviation, shipping and renewables, progress is being made in almost every industry, that we can build on.
One critical lesson that we have to learn is that nature is not a separate asset class, nature is the lifeblood of our financial markets. We must rapidly realign our own economy to mimic nature's economy and work with it.
Prince Charles announces a series of roundtables - beginning here at Davos and taking place throughout the year - to identify game-changers, investments and barriers to transition.
Do we want to go down in history as the people who did nothing to bring the world back from from the brink, he asked the audience.
What good is all that extra wealth in the world gained from business-as-usual except watch it burn in catastrophic conditions?
Children and grandchildren
Everything he's done over the last 50 years has been done with our children and grandchildren in mind, explained Prince Charles.
He didn't want to be accused of doing nothing but prevaricate or deny the problem. But that's exactly what has happened.
The time for action is now, he concludes.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqJllAWeG4c&feature=emb_logo]
Two gems:
"Nature" did just fine for 3.77 billion years without investors. What makes you all think it needs you now?
and:
Right now, guys, everyone works for you and you sit back and "realize" profits. You're going to work?
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
awesome link,
great comment. hard work convincing folk to monetize and profit from the nature that is the engine of our economy, yeah? poor charles and camilla! did you check out the hilarious link?
i used this rubbish to ballast some of the points of a post by ilargi at the automatic earth a fellow at the café brought. 'Go home, Greta'. some of it's beside the point, some show his confusion, etc., but a few outtakes were spot on the Money!
cynical, if realistic, considering the theme of this year's WEF. "look how much we value greta's input! we know the house is on fire! we just mean to build more and more investment opportunities along the way to
the sixth extinctiona healthy ecosphere!Sure.
this paper (password: AddletonAP2009), I argued that the real question was one of what type of society could mitigate climate change, because it was plainly apparent to me that this society, with its hierarchies of wealth and power, could not mitigate climate change.
The thing about Ms. Thunberg is that she's good at telling the Powers That Be that their pseudo-solutions are crap, and not so good at pointing the way forward. Back when I wroteNow I'd like to add another angle: only a humanized society could mitigate climate change. Much of what counts as "climate change mitigation," which they'll no doubt promote in the wake of Ms. Thunberg, is crap because it's stuck in the fantasy of commodities and property, to be sure, but it's also crap because it's inhuman. They need all of this rhetoric about a kinder, gentler capitalism because they're sadistic. I half expect them to propose what the mad scientist in the Maddaddam trilogy did fictionally: create a pandemic to wipe out most of the human race. This will no doubt be prepped through a lot of rhetoric about the "population problem."
"The most revolutionary thing one can do is always to proclaim loudly what is happening." -- Rosa Luxemburg
this is a transcript of
her speech QSM had brought; her whole speech is linked at the bottom.
from the second part:
...which is a meaningless (imo) solution in these days of cheap money and corporate buy-backs. before that she'd alluded to 'no time for technological solutions as yet unavailable', and so on. and of course fossil fuels and carbon numbers are only one driving force of climate chaos...
but on twitter, she or those who handle her twitter account, she'd signed on to nuclear power w/ a sigh.
this entire 2020 forum was designed to pretend that the elites and their aspirants are listening to the key issues of global wealth inequality and fears about climate change...
wow; her book sounds aces! i chose the in these times review, and was not disappointed. she's always been prescient, but a biological organism to reduce the surplus population similarity already afoot by african eugenicists 'sir' richard attenborough and bill and melinda gates (& maybe jane goodall?). because those folks always have far too many chirren, yanno, and they must be checked! not that africans' carbon footprints are a patch on those in the developed world.
i'm likely taking your meaning on 'inhuman', but one of the reasons i've loved the bolivian peoples agreement is that it gives Mother Earth the status of 'person-hood', no small matter.
who could fail to love the
dickens out of this? Via RT.com:
who delivered the Novichok?
ya couldn't make this stuff up if ya tried! well, a sane unbiased w/ paranoia human being couldn't, anyway...
it may have been mr. wd who'd told me
that juan guaido will attend Davos 2020, so i'd hoped to click into the live blog to see if he's spoken yet. not yet, just (wtf?) rapper will.i.am.
so i bingled internally and kicked up: Juan Guaidó to Attend Annual Meeting 2020, weforum.com, jan. 20, 2020
and from Jan. 2019: What's happening in Venezuela? Davos experts explain Oh, yes they did.
zo...on the hunt, i'd bingled internally for Jeanine Añez, US/OAS puppet choice to replace evo morales...whew; nothing about her plans to attend. gawd's blood, what a squint-eyed nazi she is.
new elections are scheduled for may 3. think there might be any Russian interference?/s
g' night.
tonight's closing song's gotta be:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrxePKps87k]
for posterity:
(CIA constructed?) juan guido at Davos.
'Juan Guaidó says "stop this disaster" in Venezuela!
He defied a travel ban to leave Venezuela on Sunday and has since met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and addressed the European Parliament.
"This a real opportunity to talk to you, the world’s leaders, to bring the voice of Venezuelan people to say we stand steadfast," Guaidó said at Davos.
But he said his visit had already had consequences for his supporters at home:
"Whilst I’m here there are members of parliament who are being put in prison, who are being kidnapped because I am here."
He says he plans to return to Venezuela, but it will be risky. "We have more people who have left the country than have have left Syria, and we are not a country at war, there are no bombs, but we do feel the weeping of our people."
"On behalf of Venezuela, on behalf of those children … who perhaps have no hope today, we have to make sure we act."
Guaidó said his demand was simple: a free and fair election.
"What we want is a free Venezuela, a democratic Venezuela which respects human rights, where you can invest, where we can also make the most of our oil reserves, so that we can really unleash the potential that we have, if we can rebuild our region, consolidate a democratic system which would serve its people so that we can stop this disaster."
i'll bet the crowd went wild with applause! he's the Red Right Hand, all right.