What is the 2024 Davos World Economic Forum? Who attends and when and where is it?
The annual World Economic Forum has kicked off in Davos, Switzerland, bringing together world leaders and business chiefs to discuss global problems.
Representatives from more than 100 countries are meeting in the Swiss Alps for the annual World Economic Forum meeting. The five-decade-old event is held in the Alpine town of Davos in Switzerland and brings together business and government leaders to discuss some of the biggest issues facing the world.
The meeting returns in 2024 with its usual format of a week-long winter summit. This year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting started on Monday, Jan. 15 and will run through Friday, Jan. 19.
The organization’s website states that the themes of this year’s gathering are the following:
- Achieving Security and Cooperation in a Fractured World
- Creating Growth and Jobs for a New Era
- Artificial Intelligence as a Driving Force for the Economy and Society
- A Long-Term Strategy for Climate, Nature and Energy
What is the World Economic Forum?
Founded in 1971 by Swiss-German economist Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum (WEF) was an attempt to build global cooperation to deal with the biggest issues of the day.
The WEF is a rare example of both public and private sectors being brought together in a bid to find a common solution, and attendees come from all around the world. Issues in question can be related to political, social, and economic concerns and the purpose, expressed in the organization’s mission statement, is: “Committed to improving the state of the world”.
Who will be at Davos this year?
Some of the most recognizable figures on the planet, from politicians to musicians, have attended the meeting in recent years. The likes of Donald Trump, Greta Thunberg, and Elton John have all made the trip to Davos for the occasion.
Participating in this year’s forum are Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Israeli President Isaac Herzog, French President Emmanuel Macron, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Argentina’s new President Javier Milei, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The prime ministers of South Korea, Qatar, Jordan and Lebanon, among others, are also taking part.
As Artificial Intelligence is one of the hot topics that will be discussed, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will also be in attendance.
Why is it held in Davos?
Davos is a small Alpine town and ski resort, home to a permanent population of little more than 10,000 people. It was the location of very first WEF meeting back in 1971 and the word ‘Davos’ has become synonymous with the event.
It is one of the most exclusive skiing areas in the world and its status as a high-end resort has raised some questions about its appropriateness as a venue for important change. Once a year Davos successfully brings together the influential elites that have the power to make a positive change in the world, but it has been criticized as a glitzy getaway masquerading as a meeting.
A giant carbon footprint for talks on the climate crisis
In 2022, for example, more than a thousand planes flew in and out of airports near Davos in during the days of the meeting. It is estimated that private jet emissions quadrupled during the period as a result of Davos travel. This, at a summit where attendees discussed the dangers of climate change.
Speaking to The Guardian, Klara Maria Schenk, a member of the Greenpeace European mobility campaign, said: “The rich and powerful are swarming to Davos to discuss climate and inequality behind closed doors, using the most unequal and polluting form of transport: private jets.
Last year, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said it was “absurd” that “the people who are mostly fueling the destruction of the planet” continue to get an audience at Davos, instead of people who are fighting the environmental crisis on the ground.