Seven key climate outcomes from this year’s Davos

After a two-year hiatus, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting returned to Davos in May, with more than 2,500 global leaders and experts coming together to take stock of the world and shape partnerships for the future. This year’s theme was ‘working together, restoring trust’.

Environmental campaigners had high hopes for the agenda-setting meeting. Despite promising talks at COP26 in November 2021, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, and climate change continues to represent a major threat to people and planet.

Speaking ahead of the event, Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International, called for leaders to urgently increase the ambition of their climate targets, transition to sustainable food systems and step-up efforts to conserve ecosystems and biodiversity. “This year, world leaders have an unmissable chance to embrace a ‘Paris-style’ agreement to tackle our escalating nature crisis and make a fairer, nature-positive, and food-secure world a reality,” he said.

In the event, however, while the growing food scarcity issue was very much a key talking point at Davos, it was largely discussed within the context of international conflict and, most notably, the ongoing war in Ukraine. Similarly, energy was debated at length, but mainly within the parameters of the global energy price crisis sparked by Russia’s activities.

However, the environment didn’t drop off the agenda entirely, and while some campaigners may regard Davos 2022 as a missed opportunity to galvanise global climate action, some notable developments were made.

1. First Movers Coalition grows

The First Movers Coalition was launched during COP26 with the aim of scaling the development of low-carbon technologies for heavy industry and long-distance transport sectors, which are responsible for 30% of global emissions. Davos saw a number of new signatories from government and the private sector. The UK, Denmark, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Singapore and Sweden all signed up, as did companies including BHP, FedEx, Ford, National Grid, PwC and Swiss Re, taking the total number of parties involved to more than 50.

2. Indian CEOs form net-zero alliance

This year’s Davos saw WEF launch the India chapter of the Alliance of CEO Climate Action Leaders. The Alliance was first founded in 2014, with the ambition of supporting businesses of all sectors to align their actions with the Paris Agreement. The WEF said in a statement that the India chapter will “bring together the government, businesses and other key stakeholders” to deliver India’s 2070 net-zero target, set last autumn.

3. TNFD takes a step forward

The Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), the framework that helps companies measure and reduce their risks related to nature and the environment, announced three expansion activities. It also confirmed the formation of ‘consultation groups’ of national and regional organisations to help drive engagement with the framework, and announced partnerships with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

4. China promises tree conservation measures

China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Xie Zhenhua, announced his country’s intention to plant and conserve 70 billion trees by 2030. In his speech he noted that “China’s forest cover and forest stock volume have been growing in the last 30 years, and China accounts for more than 25% of the world’s new green areas,” adding that over the past decade the country has regrown more than 70 million hectares of forest cover.

5. Water under the spotlight

The meeting saw the formal launch of a new Global Commission on the Economics of Water which, like the natural capital movement, will seek to redefine how water is valued, and ensure this value is taken into account in decisions made by private and public sectors.

Separately, the WEF announced a new $15 million fund that will invest in those developing innovative solutions in the field of freshwater resource management.

6. Businesses pledge to collaborate on urban mobility

More than 30 companies including Uber, Visa and Hyundai have agreed to work together and with policymakers to create “shared, connected and decarbonised mobility ecosystems”. The Urban Mobility Scorecards initiative will assess the sustainability and resilience of mobility networks within cities across the world. These assessments, due to be completed this year, will serve as baselines against which cities can collaborate with key stakeholder groups to design and deliver targeted changes.

7. Transitioning Industrial Clusters Towards Net-Zero initiative grows

Finally, industrial hubs in Belgium, Netherlands, Texas and Ohio joined the WEF’s Transitioning Industrial Clusters Towards Net-Zero initiative, designed to foster cross-industry collaboration in the transition to net zero. The new joiners doubled the number of clusters taking part in the initiative from four to eight, although WEF says more than a dozen further industrial clusters are in the process of joining the initiative.