It’s the best of times and the worst of times for the global elite flocking to Davos.
The wealth of the billionaire class grew by $2 trillion last year, with four billionaires created each week, according to Oxfam. Yet “the Davos consensus” is being tested by shifting geopolitics and the re-election of bomb-thrower-in-chief Donald Trump.
The World Economic Forum’s theme of “Collaboration in the Intelligent Age,” seems, well, wishful. Among Trump’s first executive orders upon being sworn in were to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization. Sensing the vibe shift, corporations have been ditching social and climate pledges.
Trump — who juiced his own net worth by tens of billions of dollars with a memecoin strategically released just before his inauguration — is likely to dominate discussions in the Swiss Alps. No. 47 will address the Davos crowd via video on Thursday at 5pm local time after his corporate cash-fueled inauguration festivities wind down.
Still, issues from climate change to human capital and balancing AI and energy demand are on the agenda. Here are some of the events on our radar:
Mental health solutions
A shortage of mental health care providers and funding is exacerbating growing mental health is a growing crisis around the globe. Addressing those obstacles will be the focus of a “Mental Health Day” hosted by The Real Mental Health Foundation and Convergence Partners, tomorrow at the Social Innovation House outside the main WEF proceedings. Shawn Lesser, a cofounder and former managing partner at Big Path Capital, founded The Real in 2023 to raise awareness for men’s mental health after battling depression.
Lesser is looking to raise a $200 million fund of funds and mobilize family offices, institutional investors, foundations and others to invest $10 billion in mental health solutions by 2030. “We’re looking to put mental health on the global stage,” he told ImpactAlpha. “It’s such an important topic that affects everyone.”
A session focused on fresh solutions for youth mental health will feature Second Muse’s Todd Khozein, Sabrina Gracias of Ortus Foundation, Katherine Hay of Kids Help Phone and Vooha Vellanki of Mantra Health.
Latin America rising
2025 will be a big year for Latin America, and the region is well represented at Davos this year. Heads of state from Argentina, Peru and Panama are attending, as well as Chilean environment minister Maisa Rojas Corradi, Mexico’s environment and natural resources secretary Alicia Bárcena, Ilan Goldfajn of the Inter-American Development Bank, Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes and other officials shaping sustainable growth in the region.
Brazil’s Lula da Silva may not be going, but his country’s hosting of the COP30 climate summit later this year is in the spotlight. Elsewhere, Pro Mujer’s Carmen Correa will join Claudia Romo Edelman of We Are All Human, Asha Makana of Nairobi Hub, Amitabh Behar of Oxfam International, and Kate Fitz-Gibbon, a professor at Monash University to discuss progress on gender equality.
Safeguarding the planet
Trump’s pullout from the Paris accord comes after yet another record-hot year, where average global temperature breached the critical threshold of 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The warming is impacting everything from crop yields to biodiversity to human health. “Withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement is a shortsighted abdication of leadership that will only serve to put our nation at a disadvantage,” said former vice president and Generation Investment Management cofounder Al Gore.
At Davos, Gore will join Muhammad Yunus, the microfinance pioneer who now heads Bangladesh’s interim government, Andrew Forrest of Fortescue, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and others will chew over the state of climate and nature investment on the 10th anniversary of the Paris agreement.
Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio and Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara of Temsaek will discuss new finance models and partnerships to fund climate and nature investment. Managing a looming water tipping point is the topic of a session featuring Christophe Beck of Ecolab and Sherry Madera of CDP.
Katherine Brennan of Marsh McLennan and Veronica Scotti of reinsurer SwissRe are among the panelists tackling the growing threat of insurance deserts.
On Monday, ClimateGPT’s Daniel Erasmus hosted “How AI Can Help Us Prosper in a World Beyond 1.5°C,” with NatureFinance’s Simon Zadek and others.
