By Alec Hogg
Davos 2019 – this coverage of the global conversation on change is brought to you by BrightRock, the first ever needs matched life insurance that changes as your life changes.
It’s Wednesday, 23rd January. From Davos, I’m Alec Hogg, and here is your BizNews Flash Briefing.
Sustainability was high on the agenda in Davos yesterday, the opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting with Britain’s Prince William’s professional interview with filmmaker, David Attenborough, stealing the show. Attenborough announced that our planet, his collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund and Netflix would expose his work on the natural world to more than 150-million people when it is launched. He became the recipient of the 2019 Crystal Award and said, he’s optimistic that mankind will overcome its self-inflicted problems with the environment because awareness has now surged to the top of the global agenda. WEF has a record of highlighting major global themes before they go mainstream.
This focus on ESG – Environmental Social and Governance issues was also the theme of the first foreign address by Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro. Having being painted as putting profit before the environment, Bolsonaro went to some lengths here in Davos yesterday to claim that the rest of the world can learn a lot from his country. He emphasised the point saying, 30% of Brazilian land is under forest and says that the country has the world’s largest biodiversity, something of which they are proud of. Brazil’s new president also said that his election was a reflection of the way that people are now regaining their voice. His campaign, he said, spent less than $1m on advertising, and he was only granted a few minutes on television. Yet he still triumphed, a victory he says, which was a vote against corruption and shows that left-wing politics will no longer prevail, either in South America or the rest of the world.
US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who like other Trump Cabinet members, pulled out last week, was a late edition to yesterday’s program. He joined by video conference, something the WEF has only done a few times in its almost 50-year history, which it said was only justified in exceptional circumstances. Pompeo echoed Bolsonaro’s theme by saying that Brexit, Macron, and Mahathir’s return in Malaysia, the five-star movement and indeed, the election of his own boss, Donald Trump, shows that ordinary folk no longer are allowing themselves to be overlooked. He expressed optimism about a resolution to the US and China Trade War, and said, further progress was imminent in bringing stability to the Middle East and North Korea. Pompeo said that while the Trump administration puts America first, it is also anxious to work in coalitions with other nations to, for instance, question how to reform multilateral institutions, like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank getting them, “Fit for purpose.”
In South African related news, in Davos yesterday Investec joint chief executive, Hendrik du Toit, added his voice to the strong sustainability theme. He made a solid case for companies to appoint a specialised ESG director, a board member who focuses only on environmental, social, and governance issues. At a well-attended breakfast presentation, he warned that businesses are not sufficiently mindful yet of massive potential liabilities that their current businesses usual approach can be building. Monitoring this is likely to become an increasingly important theme for investment companies like his, as society, in particularly the younger generation, starts demanding improved accountability by corporates on what was previously regarded as soft issues. Du Toit’s rational argument that a focus on sustainability is simply good business is articulated in full on BizNews this morning.
This has been your BizNews Flash Briefing coming to you from Davos. Until the next time, cheerio.
Davos 2019 – this coverage of the global conversation on change is brought to you by BrightRock, the first ever needs matched life insurance that changes as your life changes.
