A Sense of Climate Urgency Takes Hold in Davos

Davos is cloaked in white, but its agenda is green. Environmentalism—fighting climate change in particular—has emerged as one of the biggest priorities of the World Economic Forum annual meeting, which is held every January in the Swiss ski village.

It’s easy to poke fun at Davos. In years past, about 1,500 private jet flights have delivered some of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful people to the event, where they pay $70,000 a ticket to talk about how the world should shrink its carbon footprint. There’s a risk that the forum’s spotlight on climate change could backfire by strengthening the impression that keeping the planet from overheating is something that only the elites hanging out at the Davos Congress Centre and the Steigenberger Grandhotel Belvedere care about.