Why is the World Economic Forum important?
The 2016 World Economic Forum annual meeting took place in Davos, Switzerland, from the 20th to the 23rd of January and gathered decision-makers from all over the world. It enables to raise awareness among the most influential people of the world: indeed, it provides an opportunity to gain momentum and concretize current projects like the Paris Agreement from COP21 or the Sustainable Development Goals.
A new era: the fourth revolution
One of the key focus was the Fourth Industrial Revolution, a concept developed by Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, stating that this revolution is characterized by new technologies fusing the physical, digital and biological world. Technology can thus be a way to address current challenges.
Current challenges are deeply intertwined with sustainability agendas
- Food security. By 2050, the world must feed 9 billion people.
- Inclusive growth. Our current social, political and economic systems are exacerbating inequalities, rather than reducing them, which can lead to anger and xenophobic attitude
- International Labor Organization estimates that more than 61 million jobs have been lost since the start of the global economic crisis in 2008.
- Climate change. 2015 was the Earth’s warmest year in recorded history.
- Gender equality. The gender gap has reduced, however some efforts still need to be done, including in remuneration.
- The number of inhabits is rise to 9.7 billion in 2050 with 2 billion aged over 60.
- 200 million SMEs don’t have access to formal financial services.
- Focus in long-term projects will be beneficial.
How can your company contribute?
Any organization can contribute to address these global challenges, especially
- Climate change. Organizations can assess their carbon footprint to identify the sources of emissions, set reduction targets accordingly, and implement actions to reduce them like switching to energy-efficient equipment, fostering car-sharing and public transportation among employees, among others
- Gender equality. To tackle gender equality, companies can issue non-discrimination rules, raise awareness among the decision-makers, and provide the same compensation and benefits on the basis of past experiences and skills, or implement a whistle-blowing system to report such cases and deal with them
- Inclusive growth/employment. Companies play a key role in employing people. A solution for inclusive growth can be to implement shared value initiatives by launching a new product meeting social needs, or redefining productivity the value chain while focusing on the social and environmental constrains in the supply chain, or create a local competitive cluster
- Healthcare. Companies can help foster employees’ health and well-being by focusing on ergonomics in the workplace, preventing stress, preventing occupational diseases.
If you are an organization aiming at improving sustainability and planning to participate in sustainability reporting, or looking for support when calculating your carbon footprint – contact us to learn more about our services via
For more information about the forum: http://www.weforum.org/about/world-economic-forum and the world challenges: http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/what-are-the-10-biggest-global-challenges
The DFGE– Institute for Energy, Ecology and Economy provides consulting and auditing services to realize a Green Vision integrated in corporate business processes. Strategic advice on topics like technology, energy and emissions is expanded to business related and socio-economic aspects. Services range from consultancy in developing and managing customized analysis for testified Carbon footprint to validation of analysis methods and results for sustainable accuracy. As independent Institute DFGE’s work is based on advanced scientific and research methods and institutionalized standards. More at https://dfge.de
Image credit: World Economic Forum, under the Creative Commons licence (BY-SA 3.0)
