During the week that participants were meant to come together in Davos – 17-21 January 2022 – the Forum will instead host a series of virtual plenaries aligned with the Annual Meeting objective of orienting global leaders on the imperatives of the year ahead. Here are updates from the Forum's business partners.
Getting to Zero Coalition: A new call to action for shipping decarbonization
The World Economic Forum Supply Chain & Transport Industries sustainability initiatives centre on accelerating freight decarbonization across the transport ecosystem.
The Getting to Zero Coalition for shipping decarbonization is a collaborative effort including around 200 stakeholders from across the maritime value chain working to scale and commercialize Zero Emissions vessels and fuels by 2030.
The Coalition has launched an industry-led Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonization. With over 160 Signatories at time of launch, since amassing more than 200 signatories committed to decarbonizing the international shipping industry by 2050, and seeking support from governments to accelerate a just and equitable transition.
"I welcome the Call to Action for Shipping Decarbonisation and its clear message that leaders from across the maritime industry are ready to work with governments to fully decarbonise international shipping by 2050."
—Alok Sharma, COP26 President
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The Coalition also published A Strategy for the Transition to Zero-Emission Shipping prepared by UMAS and with support from the Mission Possible Partnership. The report highlights the importance of public-private alignment being a necessary aspect of an equitable transition towards zero-emission shipping. The Coalition, in collaboration with the Energy Transition Commission also launched a Next Wave report to highlight how green shipping corridors are central to 2050 zero-emission industry targets.
Enel X launches 15 Minute City and Circular City indices
Open Data is a huge resource for urban planning, but this resource is under-exploited due to data fragmentation, lack of standardization and data quality.
Enel X has launched a new set of products fully based on Open Data collected from institutional portals, satellite imagery and open source communities, with the goal to transform data into information and actionable insights enabling sustainable urban development.
The first two products designed and validated by Enel X and released free of charge for Public Administrations on YoUrban Portal are:
Circular City Index
The index was developed in collaboration with Università di Siena and launched in September 2021. It evaluates the sustainability of urban development in Italian cities based on four criteria: digitization, environment & energy, mobility and waste management.
15 Minute City Index
Launched in December 2021, it assesses cities’ readiness with regards to the 15 min city concept – in which relevant public services / infrastructures should be reachable by citizens in 15 minutes by foot or bike from their home to reduce commuting and consequently emissions and to improve city resiliency as well as citizens quality of life. The solution aims to help municipalities identify key area of improvement to address effective urban planning by proximity policies.
With the growing challenge to counter health misinformation, violent extremist and terrorist content, and the exploitation of children online, there is an urgent need for more deliberate global coordination to improve digital safety.
"Technology offers tools to learn, play, connect, and contribute to solving some of the world’s greatest challenges. But digital safety harms remain a threat to these possibilities."
—Courtney Gregoire, Chief Digital Safety Officer, Microsoft
The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with governments and businesses launched the Global Coalition for Digital Safety to accelerate public-private cooperation to tackle harmful content online.
The coalition will serve to exchange best practices for new online safety regulation, take coordinated action to reduce the risk of online harms, and drive forward collaboration on programs to enhance digital media literacy.
The Coalition is building on the insights shared in the report on Advancing Digital Safety: A Framework to Align Global Actionwhich presents a user-centric framework for advancing digital safety. The Coalition is currently focused on advancing three areas:
Developing a Global Charter of Principles of Digital Safety, co-chaired by Courtney Gregoire, Chief Digital Safety Officer, Microsoft, and Iain Drennan, Executive Director, WeProtect Global Alliance
Developing a Toolkit for Digital Safety Design and Interventions. co-chaired by Julie Inman Grant, eSafety Commissioner, Australia, and Derek Slater, Global Director Information Policy, Govt Affairs, Public Policy, Google
Developing New Measures and Standards to Protect Vulnerable Groups Online. Chaired by Sachin Jogia, Chief Technology Officer, Ofcom
Predictions 2022: Thought leadership from the Forum's business community
As we start the new year, we have been busy asking the Forum's business partners for their insights into a range of issues - from getting to net zero to supply-chain disruption and the future of healthcare to the power of data.
Swiss Re receives Digital Trust Label – world’s first label for digital responsibility
Swiss Re is one of two pioneers to have a digital product tested and successfully certified by the Digital Trust Label, the first-ever label for digital responsibility launched by the Swiss Digital Initiative. With the Swiss Digital Trust Label, users can easily identify trustworthy digital services, and providers of digital services can now declare their digital responsibility in a credible manner.
The financial services industry needs to further implement and promote rigorous standards of digital governance. We consider data protection, privacy and security to be key to ensure the trustworthiness of digital services for our clients.
—Moses Ojeisekhoba, Chief Executive Officer Reinsurance and Member of Group Executive Committee at Swiss Re
Given the complexity of digital technologies, transparency alone is not enough to build trust. Recognized standards will also play an important role to help boost trust among users of digital technologies. Created in Switzerland in a collaborative and inclusive way, the Digital Trust Label was designed from a user perspective and offers organizations a unique opportunity to convey their commitment to digital responsibility.
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Mike Moore, Senior Principal at Accenture Research asks, "Why do the smartest of us get the future wrong so consistently?" He continues, "Hidden biases are everywhere. But they need not cloud our foresight. Taking these steps have helped us peer into the future, defining a set of Signals of change — and associated wildcards — that will shape the business landscape in the years to come. Take a look at our Business Futures 2021 report to help you prepare for what might materialize, no matter how uncomfortable it might be."
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Mobilizing investment for clean energy in emerging and developing economies
By 2030, annual clean energy investments in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) need to be multiplied by more than seven times – from less than USD 150 billion in 2021 to over $1 trillion – to put the world on track to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and meet these countries’ energy needs.
On top of the country deep-dives performed in Brazil and India that aim to develop viable investment opportunities to accelerate the countries’ clean energy priorities, the taskforce has developed a set of solutions that could help unlock more finance in emerging markets. Such proposals include the Net Zero Equity concept or suggested policies to accelerate corporate power purchase agreements in developing countries.
In 2022, the taskforce will advance two new solutions to solve the clean energy investment puzzle in EMDEs::
1. Cost of Capital Observatory
The World Economic Forum, the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Imperial College London and ETH Zurich are collaborating to establish a Cost of Capital Observatory– hosted by the IEA – to increase transparency on the cost of capital and inspire investor confidence to price and invest capital in clean energy projects in emerging markets. The Observatory will guide project developers, financial institutions, and policymakers, and help encourage clean energy investment in emerging and developing economies.
2. Coal to Renewables
The World Economic Forum’s Platform on Energy, Materials and Infrastructure, together with the Sustainable Development Investment Partnership (SDIP) are launching a new stream of work on the transition from coal to renewables. Building on the Principles for Financing a Just and Urgent Energy Transition, this work aims to identify compelling options to enable the transition from coal to renewable energy, in a manner that replaces coal-based capacity, leverages existing land, infrastructure and grid connections, and helps create a just transition for impacted workers and communities. Countries, energy companies and financial institutions will be able to leverage a toolkit referencing transition best practices across policy, planning and finance mechanisms.
The Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime enters its fifth year
The Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime was launched at the Annual Meeting 2018 by Europol, Refinitiv and the World Economic Forum with the purpose of improving societies’ abilities to identify disrupt organized crime by improving the effectiveness of anti-financial crime efforts in the financial services sector.
The coalition identifies key weaknesses in the current system and advocates for tangible reforms at political and policy level to make global anti-money laundering efforts more effective.
The coalition’s 20 members lead the field of prevention and response to financial crime. Members are drawn from law enforcement, banking, payments, fintech, civil society and research institutions. By 2020 the Coalition began to operate independently of its three founding members. It now has a formalised secretariat chaired by John Cusack, former co-chair of the Wolfsberg Group.
In 2021, the Coalition became an International Champion of the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime.
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Key achievements of the coalition’s expert committees include constructive engagement with the European Commission on the AML legislative reform, culminating in a coordinated response from a several members to the public consultation on EU guidance for public private partnerships.
Coalition members also produced a report on beneficial ownership transparency in light of ongoing work by international governments on FATF Recommendation 24.
The next step for the Coalition is to develop its APAC regional chapter, harnessing the expertise of members and others in the region.
Read more about this initiative and how to get involved here
Edelman Trust Barometer 2022
This year's Edelman Trust Barometer finds almost two-thirds of people are inclined to distrust organizations, which could impact attempts to tackle COVID-19 and climate change. Scientists are the most trusted in society – and government leaders the least trusted.
The Barometer shows four forces at work, including a failure of leadership that could destabilize society, according to Richard Edelman. But he says it’s possible to break the cycle of distrust and rebuild public trust through factual information and demonstrable progress.
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As environmental, financial and societal pressures converge, what keeps CEOs up at night? The 4,446 CEOs from 89 countries and territories who responded to PwC's 25th Annual Global CEO Survey fear cyber and health risks the most.
PwC’s 25th Annual Global CEO Survey
Image: PwC
They display optimism about continued economic resilience but are fearful of macroeconomic shocks. When it comes to climate - those taking action see rapid progress, but the "question of how to bring others along looms large".
Deloitte's 2022 Global Health Care Outlook reveals how the global health care sector continues to rise up to the new challenges presented by the ongoing pandemic, which continues to dominate health care systems’ attention and resources.
The paper reviews the current state of the global health care sector, explore the six pressing sector issues, outline the actions to help build resiliency, and achieve improved health care outcomes in the new normal.
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BlackRock's Larry Fink on the launch of a Center for Stakeholder Capitalism
Blackrock Chairman and CEO, Larry Fink, calls on CEOs to be "deliberate about their role in society and act in the interests of their employees, customers, communities, and their shareholders" in his annual investor letter, announcing the launch of a new Center for Stakeholder Capitalism.
The Center will "help us to further explore the relationships between companies and their stakeholders and between stakeholder engagement and shareholder value", and "will bring together leading CEOs, investors, policy experts, and academics to share their experience and deliver their insights."
Fink says, "Our conviction at BlackRock is that companies perform better when they are deliberate about their role in society and act in the interests of their employees, customers, communities, and their shareholders."
When we harness the power of both the public and private sectors, we can achieve truly incredible things. This is what we must do to get to net zero.
—Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO, BlackRock
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Coca-Cola HBC launches new sustainability challenge
Waste is harming our planet, people and economies. Currently, half of global plastic production is for single-use applications and only 14% of plastic packaging is collected for recycling. Organizations have the responsibility to take action to solve the packaging problem the world currently faces.
To identify innovative solutions to help accelerate packaging collection rates, while driving consumer engagement. These solutions should be economically efficient, scalable across multiple geographies and complement existing public infrastructure.
2. Primary and secondary packaging
To find new solutions for primary and secondary packaging that could be appealing to consumers, have a more efficient environmental footprint vs existing “conventional” packaging types, be economically viable and have potential for scale.
“We are looking to partner with startups to find the next viable, scaleable packaging and packaging collection technologies”
In a fast-changing world with ongoing supply-chain disruptions, manufacturing companies are now forced to design and roll out new strategies, and to develop the right set of capabilities, to build resilience across their entire value chains.
Charting the Course for Global Value Chain Resilience
Image: World Economic Forum-Kearney
This paper builds on the previously introduced Resiliency Compass and presents five distinct profiles of resilience leadership to help companies confidently chart a course forward towards resilience with focus and action. A series of playbooks outline actionable strategies employed by leaders within each resilience profile to fortify their value chain.
Here's what contributing members are saying about their journey towards long-term resilience applying the resilience profile strategies:
Our collaborative supplier model enables us to form strategic alliances with large producers as well as niche artisanal suppliers.
—Halide Alagöz, Chief Product and Sustainability Officer, Ralph Lauren
Centralized control towers for demand and supply were put in place, building on harmonization of local sales and operations planning processes of the global network of operating companies.
The closed-loop operating system improved synergy and collaboration across planning, engineering, manufacturing execution and change management teams with established and sustainable operating rhythm.
The “power of two” programme has been very successful because of the buy-in and collaboration between the lines of business and operations, as well as the strong involvement of research and development for alternative source qualification and design adaptation.”
—Mourad Tamoud, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Schneider Electric
For this ambitious adaptation programme to be successful and scale, a strong collaboration between sales, account management, supply chain and tech teams was required.”
—Kathy Wengel, Executive Vice-President and Chief Global Supply Chain Officer, Johnson & Johnson
Team motivation, empowerment and close collaboration with government bodies, supplier partners and port authorities were key success factors in creating entirely new supply chain routes and increasing the production capacity to continue delivering despite challenges.
—Nikunj Desai, Head Global Supply Chain, ACG Group
A new report produced by the World Economic Forum and Accenture reveals a wide perception gap between business executives, who think their companies are cyber resilient, and security leaders, half of whom disagree.
Cybersecurity impacts every organization at all levels
—Accenture's Chair and CEO, Julie Sweet
The accelerating pace of digitalization, fuelled by COVID-19, has led to a record-breaking year for cybercrime. Ransomware attacks were up some 150% in 2021 and more than 80% of experts say it is becoming a threat to public safety.
The report’s key insight is that cybersecurity is no longer a sufficient tactic – building resilience needs to be integrated into an organization’s strategy, especially since it can take 10 months to detect a security breach.
Accenture's Chair and CEO, Julie Sweet, says, “Organizations need to work more closely with ecosystem partners and other third parties to make cybersecurity part of an organization’s ecosystem DNA, so they can be resilient and promote customer trust. This report underscores key challenges leaders face – collaborating with ecosystem partners and retaining and recruiting talent. We are proud to work with the World Economic Forum on this important topic because cybersecurity impacts every organization at all levels.”
New report: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role that manufacturing and supply chain systems play in powering the global economy.
To navigate current and future market and climate change disruptions and stay competitive, the leaders must go beyond the transformation of manufacturing operations and leverage investments in technology to reinvent their business models.
Aggregating the views of over 50 leading manufacturing companies, services providers and academics, this White Paper outlines successful case studies from those who have already started to unlock business model innovation through the adoption of advanced manufacturing. It highlights five strategies and one challenge leaders need to go through to unlock transformational growth.
With contributions from members of the Global Future Council on Advanced Manufacturing and Value Chains.
World Economic Forum and BCG: Winning the race to net zero
After years of inadequate action in combating the threat of climate change, players in all sectors are waking up to the challenge. Commitments from companies are growing exponentially, with more than 2,000 companies worldwide setting targets validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), up from only 116 in 2015—a growth of 65% per year.
"Change is happening much faster than most people. Companies that underestimate the pace and magnitude of these changes are at risk of grossly misjudging the impact that climate transformation can have on business models, products, and company value."
—Patrick Herhold, Managing Director and Partner, BCG’s Center for Climate and Sustainability
The transition may come with risks, but it's an unprecedented opportunity. The report details the key benefits in stepping up to the challenge, and the ways climate leaders can gain competitive advantage, including through:
Attracting more talent
Playing in higher growth segments
Saving cash and carbon
Reducing risk exposure
Accessing cheaper financing
Achieving higher shareholder value
The report also found that the greatest progress in recent years has often come not from collective action, but from competitive action triggered by a single company boldly moving ahead of its sector.
"Leadership by the private sector is critical to accelerate climate action in tandem with bold steps taken by government leaders."
—Antonia Gawel, Head of the Climate Action Platform, World Economic Forum
"We have a fantastic opportunity to abate 'use and throw' cycle and recover 'valuable' materials from end-of-life products. I firmly believe that collaboration amongst global corporates, who share a common vision through the Circular Cars Initiative can create a multiplier effect for material circularity."
—Anish Shah, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Group
The initiative is rapidly accelerating the transformation of circular manufacturing and business models within the automotive and mobility industry – with its impact mainly focused on two fronts:
1. Informing the automotive circularity Policy Agenda.
The policy recommendations were endorsed by the European Commission in 2021 and CCI is also invited to support China’s policy roadmap.
"The Circular Cars Initiative EU policy action roadmap provides a timely and compelling synthesis of the policy ideas that will inform and inspire EU-level policy-making."
—Adina Valean, EU Commissioner for Transport
CCI also presented key policy action recommendations with the group of Ministers in Zero Emission Vehicle Transition Council (ZEVTC) event at COP26. ZEVTC members states cover 80% of the automotive market.
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"The initiative aligns perfectly with our ambitions in cleaner mobility and is an an ideal platform to engage with partners to further drive sustainable innovation and circularity of production materials in this exciting field."
—Ilham Kadri, Chief Executive Officer, Solvay
2. Catalysing industry-level change
The CCI driven EV Battery End of Life Coalition action group is developing cross-value chain partnerships to align key stakeholders on strategies, practices, and policy and to contribute to the economic viability and circularity of batteries. Key companies such as AB Volvo, Audi, Mahindra, DHL, Umicore, BASF and Analog Devices have joined as leaders and participating in the coalition sprint.
"By a strong and active partnership specifically in the Circular Cars Initiative’ battery recycling workstream, we will help shape the future of sustainable mobility."
"We are proud to be a champion company for the Circular Cars Initiative as it seeks to bring industry leaders together to minimize total lifecycle emissions within the automotive value chain."
—Vincent Roche, Chief Executive Officer, Analog Devices
CCI is also aligning the automotive sector on shared ambitions and uniform standards for accelerating adoption of Low Carbon Steel and Circular Polymers. Key companies including AB Volvo, Mahindra, Arcellor Mittal, SSAB, JSW Steel, Tata Steel have endorsed and are actively participating.
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This initiative has created a global movement to accelerate the transformation of industrial clusters needed for net-zero emissions. It developed a structured approach to financing, policy, technology and partnerships, to enable companies around the world to accelerate their alignment on net zero targets.
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The benefits of transitioning clusters towards net zero go beyond emission reductions. The UK hopes to secure 1.5 million jobs through the development of four net-zero industrial clusters and will also see between £3-4 billion of potential savings per year by 2050 through avoided CO2 penalties.
Four clusters are already working to transition towards net zero:
Basque Super cluster
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This initiative will work to ensure that by 2024, 100 of the largest emitting clusters worldwide will have aligned on a net-zero ambition and strategy. Seven new clusters from Australia, the UK and the EU have already committed to join the initiative
Maersk has brought forward its net-zero targets by 10 years. The Financial Times reports, "with companies such as Amazon, Ikea, and Unilever demanding carbon-free transport by 2040 and Maersk already ordering its first ships capable of running on green methanol, the Danish group is able to speed up its push to eliminate emissions."
Mads Stensen, Senior Sustainability Advisor, Maersk says, "More than half of Maersk’s top 200 customers have ambitious science-based or zero carbon targets for their supply chain, and they are dependent on us helping them reaching these targets. With our new climate neutral commitments, we can help our customers on this journey as well as help drive the whole industry towards this goal."
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Concrete is the most used human-made material on the planet with 14 billion cubic meters produced every year for buildings and infrastructure - from roads to bridges, tunnels to homes, and hydropower installations to flood defenses. The production of cement, the key ingredient in concrete, accounts for around 7% of global CO2 emissions.
Acknowledging that no single organization can make it to net zero on its own, the World Economic Forum and the Global Cement & Concrete Association launched the Concrete Action for Climate initiative. This initiative is part of the Mission Possible Partnership and is uniting companies from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe, marking one of the most prominent global commitments to Net Zero.
Through this initiative, 40 of the world’s leading cement and concrete manufacturers, including CEMEX, HeidelbergCement, Holcim Group and China National Building Materials (CNBM), have joined forces to cut CO2 emissions by 25% by 2030 (from 2020), and achieve Net Zero concrete and cement by 2050.
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The pledge to decarbonization and Net Zero will prevent almost 5 billion tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere by 2030, equivalent to the CO2 emissions of almost 15 billion flights from Paris to New York.
The cement and concrete industry is calling on a wider group of stakeholders to support the transition to Net Zero. Discover more about this initiative here
Global Risks Report 2022
The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report, produced in collaboration with Marsh McLennan, SK Group, and Zurich Insurance Group, launches today. Environmental risks dominate for both the short and long term.
Climate change-related risks also account for three of the top risks by severity in the next 10 years. The global risks horizon changes over the next two to 10 years, as the cascading impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are felt.
And less than 16% of respondents to the Global Risks Perception Survey are ‘optimistic’ or ‘positive’ about the outlook for the world.
