Lawyer Monthly Magazine - February 2020 Edition

For years now, Davos and the WEF, along other foundations, have been criticised for not solving any of the world’s issues; some opposers go as far to state that globalisation along with the WEF and other organisations like G7 and the WTO do nothing but increase global issues such as poverty and climate change. Davos has achieved some impressive feats over the years, which I’ll touch on below, but as we know, many ground- breaking changes have been stamped by legislation; from abolishing slavery to legalising abortions, progressive movements in society are never truly accepted as an achievement until the law speaks out to support it. Such a spoken event like Davos has the potential to do much more other than excite or reassure eager-eyed investors, but is the event in a position to make such changes when it does not go hand-in-hand with legislative change? The Impact Davos Has Had It is with no doubt that the WEF has and is trying to make a mark on society. Their projects and collaborations started or supported by the Forum has impacted millions of people, from saving lives through childhood vaccination to improving the productivity of small-scale farms; they devise policy frameworks and agendas to influence governmental priorities, trying to build a more co- operative business community. In fact, in 1988, the Davos Declaration saw Greece and Turkey avoid opting for war and in 1994 Shimon Peres, the Israeli foreign minister, and Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, reached a tentative agreement on settlements in the Gaza Strip and Jericho. With climate change being topical, more recently, there has been movement, to an extent, on the environmental aspect regarding reducing carbon emissions. The WEF announced they are working with the Energy Transitions Commission and industry partners through its ‘Mission Possible’ platform to ensure heavy industry and heavy-duty transport sectors reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in developed countries, proving that the WEF is trying to have an impact. But is Davos itself actually doing enough or is it simply “glamour with a mission” and how much influence do they have, if nothing legally changes? Does Davos Really Have Much of an Impact? After their 2019 meeting, the WEF released a message stating that ‘complying with the law’ is no longer enough for large corporations . It stated: “In a globalised world with an economic model that leads to a growing consolidation in the most diverse industries and greater capacity of influence on the part of large companies, the responsibility of business leaders in constructing a sustainable and inclusive society is unavoidable. “No longer acceptable is the attitude of ‘no matter how we make a profit as long as it is within the law; what matters is how we invest this profit, and for that we have the department of corporate social responsibility and philanthropic activities’. Society today cares about how companies conduct their business and what is their impact on the world.” It goes hand-in-hand with the idea that law is needed for effective change to actually occur as the current specification isn’t necessarily enough. So, is Davos all talk with no proceeding action? Let’s take the most anticipated topic this year: climate change, as an example to whether Davos truly solves the world’s problems. Following from Greta Thunberg’s debut at the 2019 event, ‘What can businesses do to ensure their global footprint doesn’t drag our planet further down into the pits of global warming?’, is the ever pressing question and a big concern which has been heavily vocalised over - 12 - WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM