Davos 2019: The Conversation in Switzerland Ripples Out to The Rest of the World – News, Commentaries, Reports, Initiatives, For Your Consideration

The world leadership gathering in Switzerland in winter every year – we see this in the “Davos meetings” in the many news report datelines – are part of the World Economic Forum (WEF) broad activities -- this is the WEF’s annual meeting. Heads of state, CEOs, invited thought leaders, leading academics and journalists, politicians of all persuasions, NGOs, heads of multilateral heads (Christina Lagarde, International Monetary Fund)…they were all gathered there this year. 

WEF bills itself as “the international organization for public-private cooperation”; it was created in 1971 as a not-for-profit, to operate in a non-partisan, independent forum for leaders of society.  The annual meeting provides the opportunity for sharing ideas on a wide range of issues and topics. And then the broadcast of these out to the world.
This year, the broad themes of discussion included “4th Industrial Revolution”, “Geostrategy”, “Environment”, and “Economics”.

“Shaping” (through private-public partnerships) was the theme of numerous initiatives such as “Shaping The Future of Environment and Natural Resource Security”. A slew of reports are typically issued each year; in 2019 one was “Seeking a Return on ESG: Advancing the Reporting Ecosystem to Unlock Impact for Business and Society”. 

These reports and other information are available for you on-line at: https://www.weforum.org/agenda

Naturally, with the wise men and women of society gathered in the snowy reaches of Davos and presenting their views over several days, there was the usual flow of headlines and news stories out to the rest of the world.

Our editors led by Editor in Chief Ken Cynar closely monitors the Davos and other WEF meetings (annual and regionals) to bring you relevant highlights. This week after the conference wrapped up, Ken selected the some of the news and commentaries that we think will be of interest – they are presented here, along with our Top Story pick.

That selection is the comments of Hans Vestburg, CEO, Verizon Communications, on the theme of The Fourth Industrial Revolution and a Sustainable Earth.  CEO Vestburg (he’s originally from “high latitudes” Sweden) is strategically positioning his telecomm enterprise to balance market leadership, promising advances in technology (5G networks) and challenges presented by climate change, population growth and helping society achieve a sustainable and equitable future.  We think you’ll find his comments intriguing – and most welcome from the CEO of a prominent U.S. corporation.   Then, on to our Davos highlights…

This is just the introduction of G&A's Sustainability Highlights newsletter this week. Click here to view full issue.