Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2023 day 2: Here's everything you need to know

And that's a wrap on day 2 of the World Economic Forum's 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions (AMNC).

Highlights from today have included sessions on managing global debt, sustainability reporting and enterprising women.

More than 1,500 global leaders from business, government and civil society are gathered in Tianjin, China, at a crucial time for the global economic recovery. The meeting — often referred to as "Summer Davos" — officially opened on 27 June with an address by Li Qiang, the Premier of the People's Republic of China.

Over the course of three days, participants are discussing how to navigate global challenges and accelerate progress on common goals. Issue areas range from the energy transition to safeguarding nature and climate.

Catch up on the highlights from day 1 here, and join the conversation online with #AMNC23 and #2023夏季达沃斯#.

Today's discussions ranged from global debt to AI readiness, enterprising women and sustainability reporting. Here are some key takeaways from the must-see sessions:

Global Debt Explosion - 9:00 CST

Debt has reached unprecedented levels since the COVID-19 pandemic, hitting around $300 trillion in 2022. With low interest rates, developing countries have also accumulated a large volume of local currency debt.

As central banks raise interest rates in response to a sticky inflationary outlook, debt risks are becoming increasingly alarming particularly in developing countries.

Robert H. McCooey Jr, Vice-Chairman, Nasdaq Inc., joined M.U.M. Ali Sabry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, and Keyu Jin, Professor of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science to discuss how policy-makers come together to deliver on the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatment.

The session underscored the urgent need to address the impact of debt on developing countries, and the importance of international coordination and cooperation in finding viable solutions. Topics ranged from the need for transparency, inflation as a debt management tool and the impact of corruption on sustainable debt.

New Skills for Fast-Moving Industries - 9:00 CST

Skills gaps and an inability to attract talent are seen as key barriers to industry transformation, according to the Forum's Future of Jobs Report, with 60% of surveyed companies highlighting the difficulty in bridging skills gaps locally.

Panelists including Peter Brown, PwC’s Global People and Organization Leader, George Xu, Chief Executive Officer, Airbus China Limited and Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Minister of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Digital Transformation of Slovenia discussed how to close talent gaps globally and the policies required to ensure a thriving future for new industries.

The wide-ranging discussion touched on everything from the importance of developing and nurturing digital skills and soft skills like resilience, to regulatory compliance and inclusive cultures.

Read our write-up of the session, with all the key quotes below...

Keeping Up: AI Readiness Amid an AI Revolution - 10:30 CST

As new artificial intelligence technologies such as generative AI change the industry and regulatory landscape, governments are under pressure to revisit their initial National AI Strategies.

The discussion between panelists including Paula Ingabire, Rwanda's Minister of Information Communication Technology and Innovation, looked at the frameworks and practices can help jump-start national AI capabilities.

Catch up with the full session below.

Sustainability Reporting: Best Practices from Asia's Champions - 14:30 CST

By transparently disclosing their environmental, social and governance impacts and actions in the past years, companies taking a leadership role in sustainability reporting have set a new standard for responsible business practices.

The panel, including Lubomir Varbanov, Regional Leader, Public Sector Solutions, Asia-Pacific; Managing Director, Swiss Re Asia Pte. Ltd, and Bonnie Y Chan, Co-Chief Operating Officer, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), discussed how regional successes can be emulated worldwide for companies to report and broaden positive impact for planet and society.

From the challenges in ESG reporting, such as data availability, to the importance of harmonizing international disclosure standards, the discussion also touched on the crucial role financial sector plays, and the need for companies to prepare for internalizing externalities and leverage the opportunities that arise from transparency and compliance with the standards.

Enterprising Women in Asia - 16:00 CST

Asia is well known for creating some of the world's most successful women entrepreneurs. Structural forces in technology have widened opportunities for women in business, yet much remains to be done to bridge the gender gap.

The all-woman panel, which included Säbeen Fatima Haque, Co-Founder and Executive Director, doctHERs and Ng Yeen Seen, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Research, Advisory and Technology (CREATE), discussed ways to advance meaningful and sustainable progress on gender equality.

Creating an empowering environment at every step from the early years of education up to the business world was seen as essential to unlock the full potential of women and integrate their perspectives into decision-making and technology development.

After a decade of progress, the global energy transition has plateaued amid the global energy crisis and geopolitical volatilities, according to the Forum's report. The Energy Transition Index benchmarks 120 countries on their current energy system performance and on the readiness of their enabling environment. It finds that while there has been broad progress on clean, sustainable energy, there are emerging challenges to the equity of the transition – just, affordable access to energy and sustained economic development – due to countries shifting their focus to energy security.

Hydrogen is a promising solution for decarbonizing hard-to-electrify sectors, and China has incorporated it in its latest national development strategy. Yet, although China is the world’s largest hydrogen producer and consumer, less than 0.1% of the hydrogen it produces is from renewable sources of energy.

This report maps out China’s pathway towards its 2030 objectives for green hydrogen and proposes six goals to overcome key barriers in market development, such as building a new energy system and a full supply chain of hydrogen through industrial, regional and global collaborations.