World Economic Forum 2023 Begins in Davos
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Business elites and government officials met in Davos, Switzerland for the 2023 World Economic Forum on Monday. The gathering is scheduled to last until Friday.
Key Context: The event comes as economists warn of an economic downturn in the coming year. A World Economic Forum survey of 22 economists found most expecting a global recession in 2023. As the conference began, anti-poverty group Oxfam released a report saying, “the richest 1 percent have captured nearly twice as much new wealth as the rest of the world combined since 2020.” Oxfam also called for taxing “the super-rich” to fight inequality.
Who’s Going? U.S. government officials attending the conference include U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.). Attending international figures include E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, and presidents of several smaller nations.
How the Media Covered It: Coverage was common across the spectrum, often focusing on attendees or related economic issues. Fox News (Right bias) highlighted a Greenpeace study framing “global elites” as hypocritical for using private jets to attend the conference and discuss climate policy.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Chief Executives, Economists Brace for Recession as Davos Begins
The World Economic Forum’s annual meeting began in Davos with corporate executives and economists warning a global recession is likely this year.
Of 4,410 business leaders surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in October and November last year, 73% predicted global growth to decline over the coming 12 months. The reading was the worst since the consulting firm began polling in 2011. Two out of five even expressed concern their companies may not last a decade.
From the Center
The Davos party returns, with the shakes
There’s a hangover happening in Davos even though the party hasn’t yet started. The World Economic Forum’s annual winter shindig in the Swiss mountain resort, which kicks off on Monday, marks a return for glitzy parties and high-minded debates following a three-year hiatus. A record number of business leaders are set to make the trip, and the passage of commercial, private and government aircraft through Zurich’s airport suggests overall attendees are at pre-Covid-19 levels. Yet the direction for the future – and those who will lead it – is more...
From the Right
Eco group slams Davos summit as global elites arrive in private jets to talk climate policy
Greenpeace International, a global climate group that opposes fossil fuels, released a study showing that elites largely travel to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual conference via private jets.
The analysis – published late last week by Greenpeace and the environmental research firm CE Delft – showed that there was a significant uptick in private jet flights, many of which were short-distance, to airports near WEF's headquarters in Davos, Switzerland, during the 2022 summit. The group released the study ahead of WEF's 2023 summit, which is slated to kick off this week.
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