When you think of the World Economic Forum,
chances are your mind takes you... here, to Davos. But WEF isn’t just
a yearly summit in the Alps. So, what is the difference between WEF and Davos? The World Economic Forum is famous for its
annual week-long meeting in Davos, Switzerland – so much so, that ‘WEF’ and ‘Davos’
have pretty much become synonymous. The Alpine resort town normally plays host
to skiing and hiking enthusiasts, but for one week a year, WEF invites business leaders, billionaires,
heads of state, royalty, academics, journalists, and celebrities to gather 5,000 feet above sea level
to address the world’s most pressing challenges. But once the meetings are over, WEF packs up and returns to its headquarters 267 miles away in the suburbs of Geneva. Based there,
around 600 of the international non-profit organization’s more than 800 employees.
They say their mission is “improving the state of the world.” But with such a lofty
goal, how do they attempt to achieve it? Let’s start with the people behind WEF.
The head of the organization is and has always been Klaus Schwab. Back in 1971, the then lesser-known engineer
and economist brought his first meeting to Davos. Called the ‘European Management Forum’,
his objective was to encourage business leaders to be accountable to everyone –
not just shareholders. Since then, the list of attendees has expanded
globally to include politicians, NGOs, scientists, and even religious and cultural leaders. It
was renamed the World Economic Forum in 1987, and the history-making moments quickly followed. Among its biggest successes, the speech from
West Germany’s Foreign Minister in 1987 calling on the West to reach out to the Soviets,
signalling the end of the Cold War. The first meeting between North Korea and South Korea
in 1989. The handshake between Nelson Mandela and former South African president de Klerk
in 1992, symbolizing the end of apartheid. In 2003, Schwab left his post as a professor
at the University of Geneva to focus full-time on building the Forum into a recognized international
organization. It worked. The Forum grew from 450 participants in 1971,
to more than 2,700 guests in 2023. And for a non-profit, WEF is extremely successful
at generating revenue. In its 2022/2023 financial year, it earned nearly 500 million dollars,
with media company Semafor reporting that if it were for profit, it would likely be
valued at over a billion dollars. Today, Schwab and the Forum are guided by a
Board of Trustees, which is made up of influential leaders. Some trustees you've probably heard of,
like Al Gore, Yo-Yo Ma and Christine Lagarde, while others might
be less familiar. The day-to-day running of the non-profit,
on the other hand, is led by WEF’s President, Managing Directors and Executive Committee. With offices in major cities around the world,
WEF coordinates several regional meetings and summits, focusing on everything from jobs
and AI to the climate crisis. The Forum also operates 10 sector-specific
centers, such as the Centre for Cybersecurity or the Centre for Nature and Climate. Each
center invites corporations, start-ups and governments to get involved through related
initiatives. For example, the Centre for Health and Healthcare has initiatives around protecting
women and girls’ health, healthy workforces, and the future of personalized well-being. WEF also has sister organizations, many of
which focus on young people and how they can foster social change in their communities.
The Global Shaper Community for example, has 15,000 young members in 150 countries. And every year, the WEF also publishes several
key reports, like the Global Gender Gap Report or the Global Risks Report, which serve as
references in the academic sector, for businesses and in the media. WEF has grown beyond the confines of its week
in Davos, with full-time employees and initiatives that continue year-round. But ultimately,
its meeting on this snowy mountain still sits at the center of it all. For example, the rapid development of Covid-19
vaccine prototypes during the pandemic was made possible after a global initiative to
fight epidemics was launched at Davos in 2016. The 1t.org platform—an initiative to plant,
restore or conserve 1 trillion trees by the end of the decade, – was launched at Davos by Salesforce CEO
Marc Benioff and his wife Lynne in 2020. The launch of EDISON Alliance, a branch of
WEF which has helped more than 450 million people access affordable digital services,
followed in 2021. And while launching a worthy cause in Davos
is great for exposure, it isn’t always good for optics. The image of CEOs and business leaders
sipping champagne in the mountains, and the billions of dollars in business deals that
have come out of the event, have made some critics sceptical, to say the least. Davos is not some secret underground cult. Next! In an array of protests, tribunes and speeches,
WEF and Davos are often dubbed as an echo chamber for the elite. They say it lacks financial
transparency and holds too much influence for an unelected body. And despite promoting
a better world, it is still… fairly unequal. Amongst the issues, the disproportionate number
of Americans attending the event, usually making up a quarter of attendees. And despite
some progress, men still outnumber women at the event by at least three to one. Plus,
it’s just plain expensive to attend. A member of the private sector must shell out tens
of thousands of dollars for membership and a ticket to the exclusive event. In 2023, participation fees contributed nearly
to the organization’s revenues. Money which WEF says funds the foundation. But climate activists argue that the cost to attend
Davos is nothing compared to the event’s cost to the environment. Of course, guests
have to travel to get here, and many are still opting for private jets as their transport
of choice. In the week of the annual meeting in 2022,
more than 1,000 private jets flew into airports that serve Davos. Compare that with the two
weeks before and after the meeting and around half that number was recorded. WEF, for its part, encourages participants
to travel by train - and has offset 100% of the event’s emissions since 2017. On the
ground, it has increased the availability of electric vehicles, uses seasonal food,
as well as other sustainable measures. But it’s important to note that not everyone
who descends on Davos during the annual meeting has a ticket to the official event. There
is far less visibility around the sustainability of the many private events surrounding it. In a world that has become accustomed to virtual
gatherings, some have questioned the necessity of such large in-person events. But WEF argues that the best progress happens when
you bring people together. After all, that's what makes Davos... Davos.
