Sustainability at Davos News Release, Day 2

Inside the Congress Centre (Annual Meeting)

• (Feature quote) A systems-level approach was taken to identify ecological risks and resilience at the Earth’s Tipping Points session.
• Again, resilience, especially for and about people, was the key theme for the Designing Smart Cities session.
• Panelists at the Scaling Social Innovation session focused on the importance of effective financing models and cross-sectoral partnerships for scaling up.
  • Similarly, the session Catalysing Markets through Philanthropy highlighted this need for impact growth, and provided a more technical discussion on the how, with a broader application of beyond social entrepreneurs.
• The Global Development Outlook with high-profile Davos regulars reviewed the progress of MDGs and outlook on a post-2015 world. Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, highlighted the need for “equitable growth within planetary boundaries”.
• The price of inequality was discussed in An Insight, An Idea with Joseph E. Stiglitz.

Elsewhere in Davos (Open Forum, other)

• In the session, Mega Sporting Events: In Whose Interest?, panelists including the Swiss president Uerli Maurer answered concerns about the environmental impact of these events, and discussed the opportunities in community and social development.
• Trombonist and Columbia University professor Chris Washburne demonstrated improvisation with a special jazz performance, and talked about the importance of leadership in organisations (especially in business organisations).

Forum Releases

• A report in partnership with Accenture was released: Engaging Tomorrow’s Consumer.
• “Splitting the bill on climate change” by Thomas Kerr, Director, World Economic Forum.
• “Is it time to turn out the street lights?” by Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips Electronics.
• “Let’s talk beyond Davos” by Niall Dunne, Chief Sustainability Officer of BT and WEF Young Global Leader.
• “Planting the seeds of a bio economy” by Feike Sijbesma, Executive Officer and Chairman of the Managing Board, Royal DSM, and Steen Riisgaard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novozymes.

In the Media

• Davos call for $14trn ‘greening’ of global economy, The Independent
• Davos 2013: Building blocks for a sustainable future?, GreenBiz (by Aron Cramer, CEO of Business for Social Responsibility)
• On climate change:
  • Leaders join to discuss climate change at Davos 2013, Guardian Sustainable Business
  • Joseph Stiglitz and the World Economic Forum: Making the Connection Between Climate Change and Economics, The Huffington Post
  • Make climate change a priority, Washington Post (by Jim Yong Kim, President of World Bank)
  • World leaders emitted 2.5 million kilograms of CO2 getting to Davos, Grist.org