Global leaders and thinkers convened in late January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2025 to discuss challenges and opportunities under the theme “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
Roughly 3,000 investors, executives, political leaders, economists, celebrities and journalists gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to investigate ways to “shape a more sustainable, inclusive future in an era of rapidly advancing technology.”
The five key tracks were: “Industries in the Intelligent Age,” “Safeguarding the Planet,” “Reimagining Growth,” “Investing in People” and “Rebuilding Trust.” Read on for our selection of the meeting’s insights, with a focus on sustainability and digital technology.
Driving change and disruption: AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) in particular is the primary driver of change and disruption for businesses across sectors. In “Industries in the Intelligent Age,” discussion centered around the technology’s potential.
Yet electricity consumption by data centers, cryptocurrency and AI could reach 1,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2026, a substantial increase from 460 TWh in 2022. The challenge is how to enable a clean or “green” energy transition to power this digital transformation.
Collaborating with suppliers for sustainability
The session “Industrial Decarbonization as a Growth Strategy” centered on the premise that decarbonization is not a trade-off between sustainability and profit. Increasingly, organizations value the financial benefits of lowering their negative environmental impacts.
“Saving energy is about saving money,” said Oliver Blum, CEO of Schneider Electric. “There is a strong business case for decarbonization.” He emphasized that enterprises need to support decarbonization efforts throughout their supply network. “You cannot operate sustainably without your suppliers,” he said.
Blum noted that less than 1% of the organization’s CO2 comes from Scopes 1 and 2. “Scope 3 is what you buy, what you produce, what you sell to your customers,” he said. “It is your business.”
Mitigating the effects of climate change
In the track “Safeguarding the Planet,” sessions centered on programs and technologies to mitigate the impact of a changing climate, preserve the world’s resources and protect the food supply.
At the same time, speakers stressed that adopting clean technologies will be critical for ensuring a secure and sustainable energy supply across the globe.
Managing the risk of wild weather
Celeste Saulo, secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization, spoke about extreme weather events and early warning systems (EWS). These could help “connect the dots” between climate information, decision-making and concrete actions.
In ‘“What’s Going on with the Weather?”, Saulo outlined how EWS can help save lives, reduce damage to infrastructure, improve supply chain resilience and mitigate losses from natural hazards — including extreme heat. In terms of productivity loss, heat is the costliest climate impact, she added.
According to panelist Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, businesses have a “very high degree of responsibility to map risks of extreme events across their entire value chains.” Given the threat and expense of such events, Rockström believes that companies should even make this information public.
Making energy stable and reliable
In the panel discussion ‘“State of Climate and Nature”, Katherine Gao Haichun of Shanghai-based Trina Solar pointed out how renewable energy fills electricity gaps. For example, solar power provides electricity in war zones and refugee camps; in regions where transmission is disrupted; or in remote areas where there simply is no grid.
In fact, according to Haichun, the energy transition is not about energy. “A green transition is not only a technology story or an economic story. It always comes down to people,” Haichun said. “It’s also human dignity. It’s also security. It’s also opportunities.”
Creating value for stakeholders
Back in 1971, the inaugural, invitation-only European Management Symposium was held in Davos, Switzerland, as a working retreat for top corporate managers and their stakeholders. No heads of state or government attended.
The symposium brought executives and academics together to exchange ideas on management techniques. The delegates also explored the concept of creating value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders, which was fairly new at the time. Business leaders were looking for strategies to address pressing social, economic and technological challenges.
To put things in perspective, the early 1970s were a time of turmoil. The Vietnam War, worsening relations with OPEC and civil rights protests and environmental activism shook societies and economies. Emerging technologies such as office automation and personal computers were radically changing the way people worked and communicated.
Shifting landscapes
Some 50 years later, social, economic and technological upheaval is happening again. As Børge Brende, WEF CEO and president, noted in his closing remarks, “Political, geopolitical and macroeconomic landscapes — all are shifting under our feet.” Yet the meeting’s achievements will put leaders on a strong course, Brende said. “The progress we make over the coming months will not only deliver results in the near term, but will shape our course for years to come.”
