Political leaders and business chiefs have arrived in Switzerland for this year’s World Economic Forum summit.
The action kicks off in the ski town of Davos on Tuesday, with German chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and Bill Gates all set to attend. Also making an appearance will be Black-Eyed Pea Will.I.Am and magician David Blaine.
The WEF has followed a green theme for this year’s agenda, and on the eve of the summit, Sir David Attenborough told attendees in Davos that business and political leaders need to find practical solutions to prevent further environmental damage.
Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon and Centrica chief executive Iain Conn are scheduled to speak on day one of this year's forum.
For all the latest news from Davos, follow our liveblog
Davos is well-known for its high-powered guest list - this year, attendees will include German chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and New Zealand’s PM Jacinda Ardern.
Sir Martin Sorrell, former WPP boss, is at the summit, representing his new venture, S4Capital. He told CNBC that companies need to start simplifying and warned against “management by spreadsheet”.
“Management sitting behind a desk in one geographical location, making bureaucratic decisions, I think that’s dangerous,” he said.
“Companies are complex organisations, in the case of WPP, and indeed S4Capital, they’re based on organisations around clients, around country, and around function, and they depend on large numbers of people for their success, and it’s bringing those people together, in a unified way, that’s absolutely critical.”
Sir Martin left WPP after allegations of personal misconduct were made against him. The advertising tycoon denied all accusations.
Davos 2019 will follow a green agenda, similar to previous years, with panels examining global consumption, sustainability and pollution.
Campaign group Circle Economy published its latest report on how businesses can achieve climate change targets to coincide with the beginning of this year’s summit.
Just 9 per cent of the billions of tonnes of materials which enter the world economy are recycled, a figure that must drastically increase to avoid dangerous climate change, the group warned in its report.
It advocated for a ‘circular economy’ that maximises the use of existing assets, while reducing dependence on new raw materials and minimising waste.
Adopting this approach will help the world to stay within the 1.5C maximum rise in temperature agreed under the Paris Climate Agreement.
“A 1.5 degree world can only be a circular world,” said Circle Economy’s chief executive, Harald Friedl.
“[Governments] should re-engineer supply chains all the way back to the wells, fields, mines and quarries where our resources originate so that we consume fewer raw materials.
“This will not only reduce emissions but also boost growth by making economies more efficient.”
The summit is not without its detractors. Professor Philip Booth, senior academic fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said Davos is “the perfect environment for “crony capitalism” to flourish”.
He added: “Industry is shaped by the dispersed decisions of seven billion consumers and tens of millions of businesses. It is not - or should not - be shaped by politicians. Yet Davos remains a huge magnet for politicians to work alongside leaders of the largest businesses and other vested interests to devise yet more regulations, interventions and barriers to entry that will undermine competition, by making it even harder for small businesses to operate in their markets.
"The gathering perpetuates the myth that economic welfare is promoted by "experts". Next year, our government officials should sit the conference out, and leave Davos to the skiers."
The WEF has announced that US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will address the summit on Tuesday afternoon. His appearance, via videolink, comes after the White House cancelled plans for a US delegation to attend Davos this year.
Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, trade representative Robert Lighthizer and deputy chief of staff for policy coordination, Chris Liddell, were originally supposed to be travelling to Switzerland alongside Mr Pompeo.
The Independent’s chief business commentator James Moore has some thoughts on the IEA’s criticism of Davos.
“The 'right wing think tank' or 'educational charity' is furious about crony capitalists and the vested interests of the rich and powerful currently gathering for the World Economic Forum in Davos. So who would it be that funds this organisation?,” he writes.
You can read more here.
Prince William will take to the stage in Davos shortly to interview Sir David Attenborough. The royal will ask the celebrated broadcaster about his life’s work and inspiring generations of people to become champions for nature. Sir David is picking up the WEF’s Crystal Award this year, for his “leadership in environmental stewardship”.
Sir David Attenborough tells Prince William that people must be “really aware of the dangers of what we are doing” to the environment. Plastic is “wreaking appalling damage” on marine life, he says - the extent of which is still not clear.
Business leaders must take an interest because “almost everything we do has… implications across the natural world”, he adds. Sir David also warns that whole ecosystems could be exterminated without our knowledge, something that wasn’t possible 100 years ago.
We exist in a paradox, Sir David says. People have never been so out of touch with the natural world, but everything we do touches the natural world.
“The essential part of human life is a healthy planet,” he says. “We are in danger of wrecking that.”
In failing to take better care of the planet “we are destroying the natural world, and we are destroying ourselves”.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo is now speaking to the summit, via video link, and facing a lot of questions about America’s trade war with China.
Mr Pompeo says he is optimistic about future trade with China, and hopes the companies can work together to “thrive and prosper”.
Mr Pompeo says he is not getting any easy questions - after being asked whether the US is “doomed” to a Cold War with Russia. That’s not the case, the US politician says, but there have been challenges. The US is waiting for Russia to change its behaviour, he adds.
“We’re not desperate to be antagonists. We can do better than that,” he says.
The secretary of state also says he is hopeful that the US will make progress with North Korea when President Trump meets Kim Jong Un next month.
He cites the “beautiful coalitions” that have helped the US, and says they can help with the challenges Washington is facing. “We face many new threats, some not so new.”
These threats include North Korea’s nuclear programme, Iran’s “foreign adventurism” and Islamic terrorism.
The Independent’s economics editor Ben Chu says we shouldn’t “look to the World Economic Forum for a diagnosis of the dysfunction in our economies – and certainly don’t look to it for any substantive action to reduce inequality”.
While Davos might not be a cause of global inequality, it is a symptom, he writes.
A slew of research has been released to coincide with the beginning of the WEF summit in Davos, with a report from CDP showing that the companies that are leading the way and taking action on climate change are also benefiting financially and outperforming the stock market.
CDP, previously known as Carbon Disclosure Project,graded almost 7,000 firms according to their actions on climate change, water security and forests - only 120 achieved an A in any of the categories, while just two made the A list across all three.
The green theme is strongly in evidence at this year’s summit - David Attenborough is now speaking to former US vice president Al Gore and New Zealand’s leader, Jacinda Ardern, about safeguarding the planet.
Sir David says he can’t imagine “anything more serious” than climate change, which is “accelerating, things are getting worse faster”.
“The maddening thing is we know how to deal with it, we just need to do so,” he adds.
Mr Gore adds that climate change provides an opportunity for job creation - says “solar installer” is the fastest growing job in the US currently, followed by wind turbine technician.
Meanwhile, Ms Ardern says evidence of the growing climate change crisis is easy to find.
The WEF has announced a new partnership aimed at accelerating inclusion for LGBTI people in the workplace. The initiative is backed by the UN, as well as companies including Deutsche Bank, Mastercard and Microsoft.
Here’s the announcement at Davos:
That’s it from us today - we’ll be following the action live again tomorrow, when the
agenda includes appearances by Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe and UK trade secretary Liam Fox, and panel discussions on mental health and Russia.
