THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM 2023

I was delighted to attend this year’s meeting, which brought together political leaders, and key figures from business and civil society. The theme of this year’s event was “Cooperation in a fragmented world” – a topic that provided a rich area of discussion for everyone attending.

As ever, the event in Davos is not a place where decisions are made, but it is where opin-ions and insights are shared with decision-makers. One of the main focuses for this year was to inform the structure of the COP28 agenda – a pivotal point in discussions as poten-tially, it will involve redefining the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C target.

OCEAN HEALTH MATTERS

Sustainability was very high on the agenda throughout the week’s discussions, and ocean action was a major talking point for us all. There is clearly a growing awareness that mak-ing ocean health a priority will have a positive impact on the planet’s health as well as global sustainable development.

Alongside sustainability, there were key discussions on macro-economics and the issues that are shaping them – from the war in Ukraine to accelerating digital innovation.

DECARBONISING THE SUPPLY CHAIN

Stena AB was invited to the meeting in Davos for discussions on transportation and supply chain. I took part in a panel on ways to decarbonise the supply chain, where we looked at how emerging economies can harness technologies to ensure sustainable movement of goods.

Not only was this an opportunity to meet interesting people and hear different perspec-tives, it’s also an excellent way to place Stena AB in a bigger context. We were able to give our input into important discussions and help put our group on the map. Taking such an ac-tive part in the conversation helps more people understand what we do and the values that drive us.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEETING

I personally found it really valuable to attend the events at Davos. I was glad to be part of a group that gave input into the COP28 agenda, along with fascinating people including US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry; Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Climate Change, Sherry Rehman; and CEO of Nestlé, Ulf Mark Schneider. We also listened to Al Gore, former US Vice President, who is enormously passionate and frustrated by progress on reducing our environmental impact.

We were also able to listen to Olena Zelenska, First Lady of Ukraine, who delivered a special address calling for unity and a need for world leaders to understand that the war in Ukraine is deeply interlinked with other global issues.

To sum up, I would say that my overall impression from the meeting was that while the global community clearly has a lot of challenges ahead, we have lots of reasons to be optimistic. There is still a lot of hope, and there is definitely will to make a positive impact in every area.