Davos 2024: What the theme “rebuilding trust” is all about

The 54th World Economic Forum (WEF) is being held in Davos, Switzerland next week from 15-19 January. The summit will host governments from over 1,000 countries, as well as all major international organisations. It will also have a varied mix of industry exports, news outlets, youth representatives, social entrepreneurs and civil society leaders.

This year’s theme is Rebuilding Trust, which seems to be a continuation of 2022’s “Working Together, Restoring Trust” theme, back when most of the world was still plagued by Omicron.

So what exactly does rebuilding trust entail?

According to the President of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende: “The Forum provides the structure for developing research, alliances and frameworks that promote mission-driven cooperation throughout the year.”

This year, the theme is divided essentially into four categories:

• Achieving security and cooperation in a fractured world
• Creating growth and jobs for a new era
• Artificial intelligence as a driving force for the economy and society
• A long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy

Apart from that, the summit will seek to re-establish the foundational principles of consistency, transparency and accountability among global leaders, as well as reinstating collective agency. This is in a “back to basics” drive, hopefully to improve conversations between global business, government and civil society leaders to allow them to work together to make the most of technical advancements in industry, science and society.

Achieving security and cooperation in a fractured world

This is potentially one of the most important points on the agenda this year, especially in the face of continuing conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas crisis. This means that global cooperation in order to identify, prevent and manage these conflict risks has become all the more important in recent months.

This also includes identifying and effectively dealing with the disruptive sources of fragmentation, in a way that is advantageous for all relevant stakeholders. In some cases, this will also mean that temporary solutions such as the US deploying forces elsewhere in the world to maintain security, will have to be re-examined in favour of more long-term and permanent solutions.

More transparent data sharing between countries to identify and contain risks, especially at international borders could also be discussed. A number of new alliances and agreements may be established, especially when it comes to countering the growing influences of nations such as China in regions such as South East Asia.

Creating growth and jobs for a new era

Although some countries, for example the US and the UK, have relatively low unemployment at the moment, several others, including Greece, Columbia, Spain, Chile, Greece and Turkey, are still struggling with high levels of unemployment.  

Much of the world is also facing slowing economic growth, as continuing effects from the pandemic have led to several businesses cutting capacity and governments having to divert funds into stimulus and support measures.

As such, the WEF 2024 summit will focus on how governments and businesses can come together to create a more people-centric strategy when it comes to making space for new jobs and growth in the next few years.

This is also likely to prevent unnecessary “brain drain” from countries such as Turkey and parts of Asia, where a lack of opportunities is increasing competition for fewer jobs. This is also very relevant for China, which has seen a high level of youth unemployment over the past few months.

Artificial intelligence as a driving force for the economy and society

According to McKinsey: “Industry 4.0 – also called the Fourth Industrial Revolution or 4IR – is the next phase in the digitisation of the manufacturing sector, driven by disruptive trends, including the rise of data and connectivity, analytics, human-machine interaction, and improvements in robotics.”

The summit is expected to focus on how companies and governments can use AI-driven technology and tools to improve efficiency, reduce costs, improve supply chains, better predict natural disasters and increase transparency and cooperation between countries.

Although artificial intelligence, or AI, has been hailed as one of the most transformative technological trends in the last few years, several tech leaders, including Elon Musk and Bill Gates**,** have also warned about its risks.

This year, the WEF will not only focus on items such as the regulatory landscape for AI and how it can collaborate with other emerging technologies, it will also consider how to make AI safe and efficient for businesses and individuals to use.

This includes cracking down harder on the use of AI-generated deepfake imagery used within sites targetting pornography and global conflicts, as well as economic and social manipulation. This will be a key strategy for rebuilding trust in an increasingly fractured world, where political and media mistrust is growing.

This means countries, corporations and individuals alike need to commit to truth and transparency, and to be aware of the importance of reporting accurate economic and social figures, as well as conflict progression.

However, this also needs to include using AI and other technology in a manner that is safe and productive for all, thus hopefully reducing cybersecurity threats, as well as adverse effects of frontier and AI technologies. The summit will also introduce the AI Governance Alliance, a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on promoting responsible, transparent and inclusive AI usage.

A long-term strategy for climate, nature and energy

Currently, according to Climate Action Tracker (CAT), a number of countries are still worryingly behind on their efforts to meet the Paris Agreement goal which strives “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celcius above pre-industrial levels.”

CAT outlines five categories relating to this goal: Critically insufficient, highly insufficient, insufficient, almost sufficient, and 1.5 degrees Celcius Paris Agreement compatible.

The majority of countries at present fit into the critically insufficient, highly insufficient or insufficient categories but, currently, no country has managed to achieve the accolade of meeting the 1.5 degrees Celsius Paris Agreement compatible target.

This year’s summit will look at creating and improving long-term, sustainable methods to get one step closer to carbon neutrality by 2050 while still having access to affordable, inclusive and safe resources such as water, energy and food.

It will also look at reducing the rift and resentment between the Global North, made up of mostly developed countries and the Global South, comprising of developing countries. This is due to the latter often suffering greater consequences of climate change because of the energy choices and consumption of the Global North in several circumstances.